Merwin's A Mask for Janus (1952), a collection of traditional songs, ballads, and carols, earned the approval of W. H. Auden and the Yale University Younger Poets series. The Dancing Bears (1954), a volume rich with fable, probes alienation, as does Green with Beasts (1956), a bestiary, or animal book, expressing lessons learned from animals. More family-oriented is The Drunk in the Furnace (1960), a collection of verse portraits. After an unproductive period, Merwin recaptured his poetic voice for The Moving Target (1963), an experiment in flowing rhetoric that employs a halting line marked by long pauses, but uninhibited by punctuation. A cult favorite, The Lice (1969), predicts the destruction of those who lose their connections with divinity and nature. Composing these harsh poems was so devastating to Merwin that he feared he would never write again. He reclaimed his vision with Animae (1969) and a Pulitzer Prize winner, The Carrier of Ladders (1970), a tribute to history's role in self-redemption. He refocused on the present in Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment (1973), followed by a somber work, The Compass Flower (1977).
After shifting residence to Hawaii in the late 1970s, Merwin took heart in new encounters with seascapes and native culture, as displayed in the adapted haiku of Finding the Islands (1982). Returning to boyhood, he issued Opening the Hand (1983), which preceded another somber work, The Rain in the Trees (1987), and Travels (1993). In addition to anthologies, he published prose stories, essays, and vignettes in The Miner's Pale Children (1970), Houses and Travelers (1994), and Unframed Originals: Recollections (1994). Winner of the PEN translation prize, he also published Selected Translations: 1948–1968 (1979), as well as translations of the Cid, Sanskrit love verse, medieval epics, and numerous other literary works.
