| Name: |
James Merrill |
| Variant Name: |
|
| Birth Date: |
|
| Death Date: |
|
| Place of Birth: |
|
| Place of Death: |
|
| Nationality: |
|
| Gender: |
|
| Occupations: |
|
James Merrill's poetic career has moved steadily from accomplishment to vision; it is no extravagance to predict that his "sacred" books, when completed, will be regarded as a major poetic statement. But "sensational effects have subtle causes," Merrill once observed ("Pola Diva" in Braving the Elements), and the greatness of his recent work is best illuminated by the progress toward larger articulations that has been there from the start in this fastidious poet whose wit and playfulness no longer preclude openness or revelation.
Born in New York City, James Ingram Merrill attended the Lawrenceville School, and was graduated from Amherst College in 1947. For the past twenty-five years he has divided his time between Athens and Stonington, Connecticut, where he shares a house with his friend David Jackson. At the beginning, his poetry was recognized for its elegance, its rococo presentation of nacreous objects or fanciful scenes; subsequently, his themes became more personal, more deeply plumbed, and the poetry was taken more seriously by critics and general readers.
This is a free page. This page contains 151 words. This
biography contains 7,936 words (approx. 26 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our James (Ingram) Merrill Access Pass.
