James Merrill Summary

A lyrical and mystical poet often compared to W. H. Auden and William Butler Yeats, James Merrill (1926-1995) is best known for his series of poems inspired by the automatic writing and messages of sp... Read more

With the completion of The Changing Light at Sandover (1982), which presents the revised "sacred books" of his philosophical verse trilogy with the addition of a coda, James Merrill earned his place a... Read more

In the following essay, originally published in 1977, Kalstone considers the verse of The Fire Screen, Braving the Elements, and Divine Comedies. It would be interesting to know at what point Merrill ... Read more

In the following essay, Ehrenpreis analyzes The Book of Ephraim, Mirabell, and Scripts for the Pageant as a related “three-part enterprise.” Anyone who wants evidence that James Merrill ... Read more

In the following excerpt, Labrie surveys the poetry of Merrill's Water Street, Nights and Days, and Braving the Elements. Gi; water Street =~ Swater Street The most noticeable difference betwee... Read more

In the following excerpt, Yenser explores the themes, imagery, and structure of Merrill's Late Settings and his verse drama The Image Maker. Divides and rejoins, goes forward and then backward.... Read more

In the following review of Merrill's final poetry collection, Vendler investigates the retrospective verse of A Scattering of Salts. James Merrill, who died on February 6 of this year, gave his... Read more

Critical Essay by Edmund White In Merrill's verse there is … something curiously old-fashioned—at least at first glance. In his wielding of poetic forms, Merrill is masterful ... Read more

Critical Essay by Denis Donoghue [If one uses] the usual domestic routines, illnesses, visits, weather, a problem with wallpaper, a failure of the telephone, you have enough, given Mr. Merrill'... Read more

[In the following obituary, Gussow describes Merrill as "heir to the lyrical legacy of W. H. Auden and Wallace Stevens."] James Merrill, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet whose 14 books of... Read more

[An American critic, poet, and educator, Yenser was a friend of Merrill's and wrote the study The Consuming Myth: The Work of James Merrill (1987). In the following tribute, which was delivered... Read more

[Merwin is an esteemed American poet, playwright, essayist, memoirist, and translator. In the following review of A Scattering of Salts, he assesses Merrill's body of work and writes that this ... Read more