W.S. Merwin: Quick Facts

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Sep. 26, 2026

Also Known As	William Stanley Merwin
Born	September 30, 1927 • New York City • New York
Died	March 15, 2019 (aged 91) • Hawaii
Title / Office	poet laureate (2010-2011)
Awards And Honors	Pulitzer Prize (2009) • National Book Award (2005) • Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (1998) • Bollingen Prize (1979) • Pulitzer Prize (1971)
Notable Works	“A Mask for Janus” • “Finding the Islands” • “Migration: New and Selected Poems” • “The Carrier of Ladders” • “The Shadow of Sirius”