Following The Second Four Books, this collection returns to print a large body of work by one of the premier poets of this century. W.S. Merwin was the first recipient of the Tanning Prize. "The terms of the Tanning Prize stipulate that it be given to 'a master' ... here be fore us, and for many years to come, we have in William Merwin an embodied emblem of the best we can hope for, both as artist and citizen of the world". -- James Merrill.