*Apr 11, 2026 | "Envoy from D'Aubigné"

From the W.S. Merwin collection, The Carrier of Ladders (1970)
-- I read from the LOA omnibus edition, and follow its typography.

There is available from VOCA (University of Arizona Poetry Center) a recording of Merwin providing a brief introduction and then reading this poem here. (Scroll down and select this poem from the right-hand list.)

"Envoy from D'Aubigné"

Go book

go
now I will let you
I open the grave
live
I will die for us both

go but come again if you can
and feed me in prison

if they ask you why
you do not boast of me
tell them as they
have forgotten
truth habitually
gives birth in private

Go without ornament
without showy garment
If there is in you any
joy
may the good find it

for the others be
a glass broken in their mouths

Child
how will you
survive with nothing but your virtue
to draw around you
when they shout Die die

who have been frightened before
the many

I think of all I wrote in my time
dew
and I am standing in dry air

Here are what flowers there are
and what hope
from my years

and the fire I carried with me

Book
burn what will not abide your light

When I consider the old ambitions
to be on many lips
meaning little there
it would be enough for me to know
who is writing this
and sleep knowing it

far from glory and its gibbets

and dream of those who drank at the icy fountain
and told the truth

I puzzled over the verse included in The Carrier of Ladders and it was for me an unusual reading experience. Most of the poems did not suggest an overall "meaning" to me at first, nor did I "like" or "dislike" them. Mostly I found individual lines that appealed to me, and resonated with meaning I took from sections but which did not usually seem to cover the full poem. So I was left feeling I missed much of the content of each poem, and similarly the collection.

Reading it multiple times (it is not too long, 85 pages and typically with verse that includes a lot of white space on the page), I began to recognise that certain ideas or words appeared across poems: departure, for one; memory, for another. I could not quite pin it down, but the collection appeared to have a strong social commentary, with references to the American genocide against indigenous nations, or abandoned homesteads.

I purposefully avoided reading accounts or summaries online. I will do that now that I've finished the reading on my own.

Merwin included an epigraph to the collection, so I'll add that here:

. . . The bearer of the dead
Says to the carrier of ladders,
It is the day for carrying loads,
It is the day of trouble.

DAHOMEY SONG

If I remember correctly, this particular Merwin poem was written about the publication of a book. He is sending it out as an envoy to the world, separately from him as the author.

Hm. It's not a poem to cozy up to, is it? It's strident, authoritative. And bitter. From the poem alone, we don't know why it takes that tone. The title seems to be the only clue, so much so that Merwin himself in that audio gives the background to the audience before reading it.

At the moment, I can read it two, maybe three ways. It is the narrator's (Merwin's?) sending off of his work into the unappreciative public. It is a religious book that is being sent out and off into the world that will persecute it. Or it is an homage to poets, and others, of history who told the truth and paid the icy price.

He says in that audio it is "again, this kind of projection" which is at least a kind of motive, to speak for moments and people in history. Would you say that was the theme of the collection? That reminds me how sometimes a music album is to be judged only by assessing the whole album, not a single song.

And that epigraph from Dahomey, an African country known best for selling its own people into slavery. Did you find that a helpful as the theme of The Carrier of Ladders ?

I tell ya, E, I feel much as you described: ambivalent. I lacked the context, even after I listened to his audio, to summon an emotional connection, even a thinking connection to the thin context he offered. Rather esoteric, unless maybe one is French?

Good on you, though, for selecting this and hopefully it will launch some kind of discussion that gives it a better appreciation than just a few phrases that resonate. Over the coming week I'll spend some time with Google to see if I can find any kind of key to unlock a better respect for it. And if *you* find something, I hope you'll come back to help decode it for us.

To read a whole book of poems like that, deserves some props to you. It would have been a DNF from me, impatient that I am.

>3 saskia17: If I remember correctly

Yes, I took this poem as addressing the book it was published in, The Carrier of Ladders, though I'm not certain Merwin confirms that's his intention. He mentions in his reading it also mirrors the intent of D'Aubigné, from whom he borrowed this idea of addressing a book in verse.

But Merwin seems to be addressing not just this book, or any particular book, but books as opposed to authors. The book has a purpose separate from that of the author. And he seems to be reminding himself of his purpose as a poet, as well as the purpose of poetry in general.

The narrator hints at this in the closing stanzas:

When I consider the old ambitions
to be on many lips
meaning little there
it would be enough for me to know
who is writing this
and sleep knowing it

At one time, the narrator dreams of writing and being praised for that writing, remembered and quoted ("to be on many lips"). But now, better to consider who one is, the truth of oneself. At the same time, let the book be a carrier of truth to others, even though those others be unaware of the author ("truth habitually / gives birth in private").

I found it relevant to our current moment, with so much dissembling and insincere talk. The way to counter that is not to shout to be heard and acknowledged above the din. Focus on what is true, and be sincere in applying that to oneself, and trust the book's truth will make its way to others ("may the good find it"). And for the rest, especially those who may try to mis-use it to twisted ends, may it serve as a burr or gadfly and awaken them to their error ("a glass broken in their mouths").

>5 elenchus: OH! That is a much better reading than i had given it. I change my mind. Strident, no. The bitterness is a hard-won lesson, humbly accepted.

Excellent, E. I'm so glad you followed up with that understanding of it.

I'm curious, overall do you like this book, Merwin's work here, better than ambivalence?

>4 DebiCates: Did you find that a helpful as the theme of The Carrier of Ladders ?

I deliberately refrained from looking up the reference, so I wasn't aware of that notoriety: a country best known for selling its own into slavery. But the quote itself suggests hardship, and a social context for that hardship. Those responsible for carrying (and presumably, honoring) the bodies of the dead address those who are carrying tools, and saying: we are in a bad way, both of us. It suggested to me these two activities were linked, it wasn't by chance that ladder-carrying was going on while also there was a need for burying one's kin. The one was connected to the other.

I think this is what attuned me to the various hints at Merwin's concern for social injustice, the references to genocide and abandoned homes. There is another poem in the collection, "The Gardens of Zuñi" for example. It doesn't explicitly mention Spanish conquest or even Pueblo destruction, it is very abstract. But for me the hint is there, more than hint. And this partly is why reading was so ambivalent, I could start to see meanings, but I always wondered if those were my own invention rather than from the poems.

>7 elenchus: It's an interesting dichotomy, sounds like to me. The specific references (in titles apparently) without specific reference in the poem itself. That's an interesting thing. Explores the universality of certain terrible predicaments.

Perhaps.

Now I wonder much more about Merwin. I have his book here, The Book of Fables. I'm going to crack it open. I just finished a book of poetry yesterday. Perfect timing.

>1 elenchus: Thank you for sharing this poem. It demands a lot but it rewards diving into the history.

I will add The Carrier of Ladders to my TBR pile (which is a great library unto itself).

The act of releasing the book from the grave, even if that means dying, or freeing the book even if it means one's imprisonment is a striking switch, with a similar tone to the writings of the martyrs in the early church.

And the following stanza, 'if they ask you why / you do not boast of me / tell them as they / have forgotten / truth habitually / gives birth in private,' an instruction to his books as if it is a disciple, traveling outward in a way the speaker can't do -- I assume he was in exile with a death sentence hanging over him if caught at this point.

Though he's not completely given to humility suggesting the envoy, the book, 'for the others be / a glass broken in their mouths' repeatedly lifting the stature and the expectations of the written word to be teacher, judge, torturer for those who are delusional, destroyer, and survivor of all those wishes for his demise. In a way, the opposite of Shakespeare who wrote of literary greatness as his own immortality -- placing 'greatness' as secondary to spreading the message. It echoes the early protestant preference for plainness, and antipathy for fancy ceremony and dec oration.

In the end, returning to the idea of martyrdom, linking glory and gallows, opting for integrity over fame. Which is interesting considering Merwin was the rare poet who could support himself from his poetry and translations.

I'm often skeptical when poets eliminate punctuation that it always has a purpose, but this is perfectly fitting with the Huguenot beliefs that the speaker would have embraced.

If Merwin's whole collection is like this it will won't be the kind of poetry collection that's read in a few sittings.

>6 DebiCates: I'm curious, overall do you like this book, Merwin's work here, better than ambivalence?

I try to be accepting of ambivalence, to have the capacity for holding contradictory or unreconciled thoughts without getting frustrated or insisting that one must be wrong. Definitely a difficult practice, though. Not sure if this undermines my intent, but often I consider that capacity for ambivalence a holding action: ultimately, when I've learned more about the situation or found a way to weigh the various factors, I will come to a position that is less ambivalent.

That did happen here, and while I don't feel I "know" what Merwin intended in quite the same way I typically feel I know what a novel's author intended, still the work to understand this poem seem to bring me to a place that seemed less ambivalent. Effort well spent.

>9 DAGray08: If Merwin's whole collection is like this ...

For me, it very much is. Having a guide to gain insight is much appreciated, so your comments here are part of that for me.

>1 elenchus: elenchus: I really like the personification of art here. The narrator has given so much to their book, to the point where the book becomes a living thing in itself, even capable of giving back to the narrator by 'feeding them in prison.'

As @Debicates mentioned, the book that is being sent seems to expected to be controversial. After reading it and thinking over it for a while, I gave Agrippa d’Aubigné (1552-1630) a google and looked up the history of his controversial protestantism in France. He published a universal history book in 1616 which was condemned by the court and burnt. The idea of burning books is carried into this poem, with phrases like "the fire I carried with me," and "burn what will not abide your light." Echoing some of @DAGray08's thoughts here, but it almost seems as though this narrator views his book as only valuable because it may be burned, because it truths is so potent its audience will "shout Die die.' . There's this interesting idea in the poem that it is better something be hated, denied and banned, than forgotten, illustrated in how the narrator wishes their book to be a "glass broken in their mouths," (what an evocative image).

I'm curious whether the rest of The Carrier of Ladders is quite controversial, whether W.S. Merwin felt he was similarly releasing such a dangerous book, or whether he is merely commenting on others who have done such things.

>10 elenchus: I try to be accepting of ambivalence, to have the capacity for holding contradictory or unreconciled thoughts without getting frustrated or insisting that one must be wrong.

i've been thinking about this for a few days now. I'm not sure I know how to embrace this, but it seems like it's the sort of thing that would be helpful in life. Why do we always have to have an opinion, a judgement? Must have something to do with the ego, and the dislike of discomfort.

Just wanted to say that your dilemma and your approach has stuck with me.

>12 DebiCates: the dislike of discomfort

I believe this is what's behind my struggle. I agree it's generally a challenging thing to do, holding contradictory thoughts or being patient with ambivalence. But on top of that, my personality strongly skews toward routine and structure and control, which amplifies those challenges. I'm trying to counter that with awareness, and acknowledging I don't have to be in control to be okay, and I might even enjoy some things that are not predictable or clear! Try not to get in my own way through this exaggerated anxiety over the world.

>13 elenchus: >12 DebiCates: The solution may be as simple as admitting — "I don't know." — and being okay with that.

Let things remain a mystery, or magic even, because as hard as you might try, there are always going to be an infinite number of things you don't know exist; let alone understand.

The poetry, art, science, music, ideas etc. that resonate with you reflect your own understanding of the world. There are more than 8 billion of those 'understandings', all unique, none right or wrong because most importantly - our own judgement/opinion of anything is coloured by our unique understanding.

>14 TonjaE: Tonja, you are right. We can expect too much of ourselves (to be smarter, more sensitive, plant a flag). Yet, as you say, "I don't know" and "I don't know what I think" can be an honest friend, the kind that keeps one humble and open still to further understanding. I was struck by E's willingness to share a poem while in that state, and to say so.

>11 Interstellar_Octopus: The idea of burning books is carried into this poem

This is an example of where specific lines from a poem struck me, before I had a sense of the full poem. I really liked how Merwin took the idea of book burning, a stance of ignoring unpleasant ideas and rather than having a dialogue or refuting them, instead chooses to remove the ideas from sight, even prevent others from engaging with those ideas ... takes that idea or stance, and turns it on its head. Instead of people destroying books, the book destroys ideas, presumably bad ideas, through the light of its better ideas.

Book
burn what will not abide your light

And all that in two lines.