Losing a Language by W. S. Merwin
"Losing a Language" by W. S. Merwin explores the profound sense of loss associated with the diminishing use of specific words and the meanings they once conveyed. The poem reflects on how older generations may still recall words that hold deep significance, while contemporary language often lacks the specificity to describe nuanced experiences. Merwin suggests that as certain words fade from use, so too does the knowledge and understanding they encapsulated, leading to a broader cultural and emotional disconnection. The poet critiques modern language, hinting at its euphemistic tendencies and how this linguistic shift can obscure reality. By juxtaposing evocative images, such as extinct feathers and shared memories of rain, Merwin seeks to capture the essence of this loss, inviting readers to feel the weight of what has been forgotten. The poem serves as a poignant reminder of the relationship between language and identity, knowledge, and the human experience, encouraging a reflection on the words we use and the meanings that may be slipping away.
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Losing a Language by W. S. Merwin
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1988 (collected in The Rain in the Trees, 1988)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
The title of this poem sets the tone of loss, and the first two lines qualify the loss of a language in the way “the old still remember something they could say.” The poem exemplifies instances in which words that could once describe a particular situation, “standing in mist by a haunted tree” or “The verb for I,” do not exist in contemporary language. This poem can also be a lament for the act of finding the precise word, the mot juste of the twentieth century modernists, and in the contemporary generation, “everywhere instead of a name there is a lie.”
The poet seems to be referring to the euphemistic nature of contemporary language, political correctness, and maybe even contemporary poetry. When the poet states, “nothing that is here is known,” one senses that without the words to name or describe a thing, one loses the knowledge of that thing, so that the loss of language is also the loss of knowledge. The end of the poem presents the reader with two images, extinct feathers and “the rain we saw,” which seems to be the poet’s attempt at rescuing the precise knowledge of things through poetry. Instead of explaining the loss of language in common terms, the poet offers two potent images to exemplify the feeling of loss, leaving the reader with a profound emotion.
Bibliography
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