(Copper Canyon Press, 2016), was composed during the difficult process of losing his eyesight. When he could no longer see well enough to write, he dictated poems to his wife, Paula. It is a book about aging and the practice of living one's life in the present. Writing about Garden Time in The New York Times, Jeff Gordinier suggests that "Merwin's work feels like part of some timeless continuum, a river that stretches all the way back to Han Shan and Li Po." In 2017, Copper Canyon Press published The Essential W. S. Merwin, a book which traces the seven decade legacy of Merwin's poetry, with selections ranging from his 1952 debut, A Mask for Janus, to 2016's Garden Time, as well as a selection of translations and lesser known prose narratives. Merwin's literary papers are held at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. The collection consists of some 5,500 archival items, and 450 printed books. Death Merwin lived on land that was part of a pineapple plantation, on the northeast coast of Maui, Hawaii. W.S Merwin died on March 15, 2019, in his sleep at his home, as reported by his publisher Copper Canyon Press. Awards 1952: Yale Younger Poets Prize for A Mask for Janus 1954: Kenyon Review Fellowship in Poetry 1956: Rockefeller Fellowship 1957: National Institute of Arts and Letters grant 1957: Playwrighting Bursary, Arts Council of Great Britain 1961: Rabinowitz Foundation Grant 1962: Bess Hokin Prize, Poetry magazine 1964/1965: Ford Foundation Grant 1966: Chapelbrook Foundation Fellowship 1967: Harriet Monroe Memorial Prize, Poetry magazine 1969: PEN Translation Prize for Selected Translations 1948–1968 1969: Rockefeller Foundation Grant 1971: Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for The Carrier of Ladders (published in 1971) 1973: Academy of American Poets Fellowship 1974: Shelley Memorial Award 1979: Bollingen Prize for Poetry, Yale University Library 1987: Governor's Award for Literature of the state of Hawaii 1990: Maurice English Poetry Award 1993: The Tanning Prize for mastery in the art of poetry 1993: Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize for Travels 1994: Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award 1999: Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress, a jointly-held position with Rita Dove and Louise Glück 2005: National Book Award for Poetry for Migration: New and Selected Poems 2004: Golden Wreath Award of the Struga Poetry Evenings Festival in Macedonia 2004: Lannan Lifetime Achievement Award 2008: Golden Plate Award, American Academy of Achievement