Original poem reprinted online here: "To The New Year" by W.S. Merwin Originally read: January 1, 2013 More information about the Poet: W.S. Merwin So here's what I wrote on my notes: "'that do not stir' is important here because the simile is not on the leaves but the ambiguous 'you' that is the representation of sunlight." So old me, I agree that 3/4 of the first stanza describes the "you" but I'm not so sure that the "you" is the representation of sunlight. "You" gives off "the first sunlight," what else gives off sunlight? The sun (well it's in the wording sun-light)? What am I trying to get to? Okay. So I think previously I wrote that "you" in a story refers to the speaker, or an audience. There's more possible ways (I think I concluded), and here's one. The "you" in the poem is a construct of the speaker. The speaker first states the you then starts to d...
Formerly the RetailMFA, This is the Poetry Blog of Darrell Dela Cruz