---
product_id: 4384355
title: "The Shadow of Sirius"
brand: "w.s. merwin"
price: "C$2100"
currency: NIO
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 12
url: https://www.desertcart.ni/products/4384355-the-shadow-of-sirius
store_origin: NI
region: Nicaragua
---

# The Shadow of Sirius

**Brand:** w.s. merwin
**Price:** C$2100
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** The Shadow of Sirius by w.s. merwin
- **How much does it cost?** C$2100 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.ni](https://www.desertcart.ni/products/4384355-the-shadow-of-sirius)

## Best For

- w.s. merwin enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted w.s. merwin brand quality
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## Description

The Shadow of Sirius

## Images

![The Shadow of Sirius - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31DwMNNv-XL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Beautiful
  

*by N***H on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 10, 2022*

I am reading a poem a day aloud to myself. The language is so beautiful it needs to be spoken and heard.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Well-Deserved Pulitzer
  

*by S***N on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 17, 2015*

I think it was David Byrne who said something along the lines of, "Talking about art is like dancing about architecture." Apologies if I've misappropriated and mangled the quote, but the point is still there: How does one talk about something that is intended to take you to places beyond descriptive realms via the primary tool of description (language)? I guess one could just say, "It did," or, "It didn't," but then, perhaps, it would be more interesting to talk about how spiritually moving were the textures of the shipping carton, containing the book.This is my first in-depth exposure to Merwin (my educational background is not literature), and I have a lurking fear that, as respected as he is, his other works might be slightly disappointing to me. This is because I have found, The Shadow of Sirius, to be one of the most powerful works of contemporary poetry that I have encountered, along with Louise Glück's, The Wild Iris. What these poets do is deliver me into a realm of aesthetic experience with profound spiritual beauty. There is such thing as "aesthetic knowledge," and Merwin and Glück are educators.Merwin writes of the realm of spirit, whether directly or indirectly, often citing nature and the elements. In fact, shortly after I started the book, I began an index of about 20 commonly used words. Some of the most common are: birds, leaves (or trees), sunlight (or sun, or light), morning, night, seasons (spring, fall, etc.), words (or language, or names), and singing (or voice, or music, or song). So it is the forces of spirit as forces of nature (or vice versa) that move Merwin to poetic song. Magically, mystically, he carries and delivers the reader into realms of spiritual experience beyond description.This is profoundly beautiful work.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Explaining the Inexplicable
  

*by L***A on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 28, 2009*

I do not read a lot of poetry and was not familiar with Merwin, but some of the Pulitzer reviews piqued my interest in The Shadow of Sirius.  The short, somber poems in this volume use deceptively simple language and are pared of all punctuation except a beginning capital letter.  It almost seems that each poem is an unwinding thought that the poet does not want to impede and wishes to leave reverberating in the air like a musician leaves his final note.  The line breaks appear carefully arranged to emphasize ideas or words.  Words and word choice are important to Merwin, who also worked for many years as a translator, but the inability of words fully to articulate experience is also an issue.This slim volume is divided into three sections that deal loosely with youth, Merwin's dead dogs, and age. In interpreting the poems, the reader would gain by knowing some facts about the poet.  For example, "the black dog" in section two refers to Merwin's black chow who went blind.  Merwin now has some problems with his eyes, lived a time in France where he had an old house, reveres the natural environment, was the son of a minister, had a bleak childhood, is now a Zen Buddhist.  These facts leave a print on his poems.  It is possible to say that the poems are about memory, darkness, light, seasons, dogs, birds, parents and that the poems are are about something beyond their subjects.None of the poems explain the books title, nor does the subject of Sirius come up anywhere.  Since Sirius has a smaller shadow star, perhaps Merwin refers with this title to his process of poetry that contains both the desire to capture the flute music and the knowledge this it is impossible.

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*Product available on Desertcart Nicaragua*
*Store origin: NI*
*Last updated: 2026-02-22*