{"id":117039,"date":"2017-10-24T13:00:20","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T17:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=117039"},"modified":"2017-10-24T12:09:39","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T16:09:39","slug":"redux-richard-wilbur-1921-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/24\/redux-richard-wilbur-1921-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"Redux: Richard Wilbur (1921\u20132017)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every week, the editors of <\/em>The Paris Review\u00a0lift the paywall on a selection of interviews, stories, poems, and more from the magazine\u2019s archive. You can have these unlocked\u00a0pieces delivered straight to your inbox every\u00a0Sunday by signing up for the Redux newsletter<\/a>. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo: Vincent Tolentino<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

This week, we celebrate the late Richard Wilbur<\/a>, whose poems have a way of turning up where we might not expect them\u2014in an essay on threesomes by Kristin Dombek<\/a>, for example, or a poem about lying by Robert Hahn<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Richard Wilbur, The Art of Poetry No. 22
\n<\/a><\/strong>Issue no.\u00a072 (Winter 1977)<\/em><\/p>\n

I often don\u2019t write more than a couple of lines in a day of, let\u2019s say, six hours of staring at the sheet of paper. Composition for me is, externally at least, scarcely distinguishable from catatonia.<\/p>\n

\u201cLetter from Williamsburg,\u201d by\u00a0Kristin Dombek
\n<\/a><\/strong>Issue no. 205 (Summer 2013)<\/em><\/p>\n

After I stopped believing in God, I would sometimes wake in a panic at being alone without supernatural support. So I memorized Richard Wilbur\u2019s poem \u201cLove Calls Us to the Things of This World,\u201d to say to myself in the morning. When I woke with someone in my bed, I would recite it to him or her:<\/p>\n

The eyes open to a cry of pulleys,
\nAnd spirited from sleep, the astounded soul
\nHangs for a moment bodiless and simple
\nAs false dawn.
\nOutside the open window
\nThe morning air is all awash with angels \u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cTell the Truth,\u201d by\u00a0Robert Hahn
\n<\/a><\/strong>Issue no. 127 (Summer 1993)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0To claim, at a dead party, to have spotted a grackle,\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0When in fact you haven\u2019t of late, can do no harm.<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0Your reputation for saying things of interest\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0Will not be marred, if you hasten to other topics,\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0Nor will the delicate web of human trust\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0 \u00a0Be ruptured by that airy fabrication.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014Richard Wilbur, \u201cLying\u201d<\/p>\n

You wake and reach for the phone. No one is harmed
\nif you call your wife to claim you have seen the Pacific
\nat dawn, running for miles over the quick
\nblossom-and-fade of an image, on the glassy sand,
\nwhen the mist and the lightly stippled sea were a single
\ntone of gray. A simple invention. Meanwhile,
\nfar below, the trackless beach and the green,
\nheaving ocean are beginning, only now,
\nto be disclosed in the wide panes of your room \u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you like what you read, get a year of <\/a><\/em>The Paris Review<\/a>\u2014four new issues, plus instant access to everything we\u2019ve ever published.\u00a0<\/em>Order now, and get a copy of our\u00a0upcoming\u00a0<\/em>Women at Work<\/a>\u00a0for only $10.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every week, the editors of The Paris Review\u00a0lift the paywall on a selection of interviews, stories, poems, and more from the magazine\u2019s archive. You can have these unlocked\u00a0pieces delivered straight to your inbox every\u00a0Sunday by signing up for the Redux newsletter. \u00a0   This week, we celebrate the late Richard Wilbur, whose poems have a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31006],"tags":[21356,31221,31222,16106,31223],"class_list":["post-117039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-redux","tag-andre-roberson","tag-kristin-dombeck","tag-letter-from-williamsburg","tag-richard-wilbur","tag-tell-the-truth"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nREDUX: Richard Wilbur (1921\u20132017)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This week, we unlock our 1977 interview with Richard Wilbur, as well as a few pieces where his poems have unexpectedly shown up.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2017\/10\/24\/redux-richard-wilbur-1921-2017\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Redux: Richard Wilbur (1921\u20132017) by The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"October 24, 2017 \u2013 Every week, the editors of The Paris Review\u00a0lift the paywall on a selection of interviews, stories, poems, and more from the magazine\u2019s archive. 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