The folding cliffs

The Folding Cliffs is W. S. Merwin's extensive poetic sequence that recounts Hawaiian history, colonization, and cultural loss through a series of lyrical, interlinked poems forming a sweeping narrative.

Merwin employs repetition and variation to evoke oral poetic traditions and to mourn ecological and cultural destruction while offering intimate moments of reflection.

The work reflects Merwin's lifelong environmental concerns and his mastery of poetic line and voice, combining the immediacy of lyric with the scope of epic storytelling.

Its meditative, cumulative approach rewards sustained reading and has been praised for its tonal restraint and moral seriousness.

The Folding Cliffs stands as a major late-career achievement in American poetry.