Maoli

The question the poem raises, the questions student gravitate toward, is “Who or what is Maoli?”

Archive 2006-12-01 Bruce Schauble 2006

And since I, too, always wonder where in heaven or hell Maoli is, and worry that someone will catch me thinking I Know -- or pretending I even have a Clue -- or rejecting a Maoli-moment -- whatever small glimmerings or imaginings drop near me I feel blessed by.

Reader Response Bruce Schauble 2006

The question the poem raises, the questions student gravitate toward, is “Who or what is Maoli?”

Maoli Bruce Schauble 2006

Of course librarians everyplace besides on Maoli will wonder if they are being called lesbians -- so what?

Reader Response Bruce Schauble 2006

Maoli might be taken by many readers to be word invented by Merwin to denote the object of a spiritual quest, That For Which One Seeks.

Archive 2006-12-01 Bruce Schauble 2006

All of which, taken together as a cluster, seem an appropriate set of descriptors for the character of Maoli as it appears in the poem.

Maoli Bruce Schauble 2006

Maoli might be taken by many readers to be word invented by Merwin to denote the object of a spiritual quest, That For Which One Seeks.

Maoli Bruce Schauble 2006

All of which, taken together as a cluster, seem an appropriate set of descriptors for the character of Maoli as it appears in the poem.

Archive 2006-12-01 Bruce Schauble 2006

The Maoli sept worship a goddess of that name in Barwani town.

The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India Volume II R. V. Russell

On the outer side is the northern Konkan, terminated by the Tal-Ghats, the needle-like summits of the Jano-Maoli rocks, and, lastly, the battlemented ridge of Funell, whose bold silhouette stands out in strong relief against the distant blue of the dim sky, like a giant's castle in some fairy tale.

From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan 1861