James Ingram Merrill (March 3, 1926 – February 6, 1995) was an American poet. He was awarded the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made ...

for poetry in 1977 for ''

Divine Comedies {{italic title ''Divine Comedies'' is the seventh book of poetry by James Merrill (1926–1995). Published in 1976 (see 1976 in poetry), the volume includes " Lost in Translation" and all of ''The Book of Ephraim''. ''The Book of Ephraim'' is ...

.'' His poetry falls into two distinct bodies of work: the polished and formalist lyric poetry of his early career, and the epic narrative of occult communication with spirits and angels, titled ''

The Changing Light at Sandover ''The Changing Light at Sandover'' is a 560-page epic poem by James Merrill (1926–1995). Sometimes described as a postmodern apocalyptic epic, the poem was published in three volumes from 1976 to 1980, and as one volume "with a new cod ...

'' (published in three volumes from 1976 to 1980), which dominated his later career. Although most of his published work was poetry, he also wrote essays, fiction, and plays.

Early life

James Ingram Merrill was born in New York City, to Charles E. Merrill (1885–1956), the founding partner of the

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment ba ...

investment firm, and Hellen Ingram Merrill (1898–2000), a society reporter and publisher from

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which th ...

. He was born at a residence which would become the site of the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion, which Merrill would lament in the poem " 18 West 11th Street" (1972). Merrill's parents married in 1925, the year before he was born; he would grow up with two older half siblings from his father's first marriage, Doris Merrill MagowanPhilanthropist Doris Magowan dies at 87
, ''San Francisco Examiner'', 6 April 2001. Retrieved 16 June 2013. and Charles E. Merrill, Jr. As a boy, Merrill enjoyed a highly privileged upbringing in educational and economic terms. His father's 30-acre estate in

Southampton, New York Southampton, officially the Town of Southampton, is a town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the town had a population of 69,036. Southampton is included in the stret ...

, for example, known as " The Orchard," had been designed by

Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect. He was also a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms. He designed many houses for the rich, in addition ...

with landscaping by

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...

. (The property was developed in 1980 with 29 luxury condominiums flanking the central gardens, while the home's vast ballroom and first-floor public reception areas were preserved.)Bing.com
3D aerial view of "The Orchard"
Hill St., Southampton, New York.J. D. McClatchy

''The New Yorker'', 27 March 1995. Merrill's childhood governess taught him French and German, an experience Merrill wrote about in his 1974 poem '' Lost in Translation''. From 1936 to 1938, Merrill attended St. Bernard's, a prestigious New York grammar school. "I found it difficult to ''believe'' in the way my parents lived. They seemed so utterly taken up with engagements, obligations, ceremonies," Merrill would tell an interviewer in 1982.J. D. McClatchy, interviewer
The Art of Poetry No. 31: An Interview with James Merrill
''Paris Review'', Summer 1982. "The excitement, the emotional quickening I felt in those years came usually through animals or nature, or through the servants in the house ... whose lives seemed by contrast to make such perfect ''sense''. The gardeners had their hands in the earth. The cook was dredging things with flour, making pies. My father was merely making money, while my mother wrote names on place-cards, planned menus, and did her needlepoint." Merrill's parents separated when he was eleven, then divorced when he was thirteen. As a teenager, Merrill boarded at the Lawrenceville School, where he befriended future novelist

Frederick Buechner Carl Frederick Buechner ( ; July 11, 1926 – August 15, 2022) was an American author, Presbyterian minister, preacher, and theologian. The author of thirty-nine published books, his work encompassed different genres, including fiction, autob ...

, began writing poetry, and undertook early literary collaborations. When Merrill was 16 years old, his father collected his short stories and poems and published them as a surprise under the name ''Jim's Book.'' Initially pleased, Merrill would later regard the precocious book as an embarrassment. Today, it is considered a literary treasure worth thousands of dollars.

''The Black Swan''

Merrill was drafted in 1944 into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...

and served for eight months. His studies interrupted by war and military service, Merrill returned to

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educati ...

in 1945 and graduated ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' and

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...

in 1947. Merrill's senior thesis on French novelist

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel '' In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous ...

heralded his literary talent, and his English professor upon reading it declared to the Amherst graduating class that Jim (as he was known there) was "destined for some sort of greatness." ''The Black Swan'', a collection of poems Merrill's Amherst professor (and lover) Kimon Friar published privately in Athens, Greece, in 1946, was printed in just one hundred copies when Merrill was 20 years old. Merrill's first mature work, ''The Black Swan'' is among Merrill's scarcest titles. Merrill's first commercially published volume was ''First Poems'', issued in 990 numbered copies by

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers i ...

in 1951.

''A Different Person''

Merrill's partner of three decades was David Jackson, a writer and artist. Merrill and Jackson met in New York City after a performance of Merrill's play ''The Bait'' at the Comedy Club in 1953. (Poet

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Und ...

and playwright

Arthur Miller Arthur Asher Miller (October 17, 1915 – February 10, 2005) was an American playwright, essayist and screenwriter in the 20th-century American theater. Among his most popular plays are ''All My Sons'' (1947), '' Death of a Salesman'' (1 ...

walked out of the performance.) Together, Jackson and Merrill moved to

Stonington, Connecticut The town of Stonington is located in New London County, Connecticut in the state's southeastern corner. It includes the borough of Stonington, the villages of Pawcatuck, Lords Point, and Wequetequock, and the eastern halves of the villages of ...

in 1955, purchasing a property at 107 Water Street (now the site of writer-in-residency program, the James Merrill House, sponsored by the Stonington Village Improvement Association in Stonington Borough).Swansburg, John
The View From/Stonington; If the Walls Could Talk, It Would Be Poetry

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

, 28 January 2001. " the 1950s he established the Ingram Merrill Foundation, which until it ceased to exist in 1996, gave grants to writers, artists and other foundations. By the mid-90s, Merrill was donating around $300,000 a year through the foundation." Retrieved 24 April 2013. For most of two decades, the couple spent winters in Athens at their home at 44 Athinaion Efivon.Moffett, Judith
Days of 1973: A Week in Athens
''Notre Dame Review'', Summer/Fall 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2013. Greek themes, locales, and characters occupy a prominent position in Merrill's writing. In 1979, Merrill and Jackson largely abandoned Greece and began spending part of each year at Jackson's home in

Key West, Florida Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Isla ...

In his 1993 memoir ''A Different Person'', Merrill revealed that he suffered

writer's block Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Mike Rose found that this creative stall is not a result of commitment problems or th ...

early in his career and sought psychiatric help to overcome its effects (undergoing analysis with

Thomas Detre Thomas P. Detre, M.D. (17 May 1924 – 9 October 2010) was a psychiatrist, academic, and senior administrator at the University of Pittsburgh, eulogized as the "visionary" leader most responsible for the transformation the university's teaching ho ...

in Rome). "Freedom to be oneself is all very well," he would write. "The greater freedom is not to be oneself.""It ended badly—with Hemingway (a student none of us knew, invited for his looks) pistol-whipping our poor drunken Somerset Maugham under a blossoming tree—but what was an ointment without flies? In memory the party shimmers and resounds like a Fête by

Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most infl ...

. Freedom to be oneself is all very well; the greater freedom is not to be oneself." James Merrill, ''A Different Person'', Knopf 1993, p. 129. Merrill painted a candid portrait in his memoir of gay life in the early 1950s, describing friendships and relationships with several men including Dutch poet Hans Lodeizen, Italian journalist Umberto Morra, U.S. writer

Claude Fredericks Claude Fredericks (October 14, 1923 – January 11, 2013) was an American poet, playwright, printer, writer, and teacher. He was a professor of literature at Bennington College in Vermont for more than 30 years, from 1961 to 1992. In the late 194 ...

, art dealer

Robert Isaacson Robert Isaacson (1 September 1927, St. Louis, Missouri – 5 November 1998, New York City) was a collector, scholar, and art dealer eulogized upon his death as "the Berenson of nineteenth century academic studies."Draper, James David (biograp ...

, David Jackson, and his partner from 1983 onward, actor Peter Hooten.

The Ingram Merrill Foundation

A prodigious correspondent and the keeper of many confidences, Merrill's "chief pleasure was friendship".White, Edmund, editor. ''Loss Within Loss: Artists in the Age of AIDS.'' Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 2001, p. 282. Introducing Merrill at a December 13, 1993 New York poetry reading at the YMHA, novelist

Allan Gurganus Allan may refer to: People * Allan (name), a given name and surname, including list of people and characters with this name * Allan (footballer, born 1984) (Allan Barreto da Silva), Brazilian football striker * Allan (footballer, born 1989) (A ...

said: "His genius for friendship is, if possible, his single greatest genius. He has, almost secretly, created a foundation dedicated to encouraging gifted young painters and writers. The foundation makes raids of vigilante kindness. It had helped those young artists who are healthy and those who discover they are dying just as they've begun." Answering to "Jim" in his youth and to "James" in published adulthood (and to "JM" in letters from readers), he was called "Jimmy", a childhood nickname, by friends and family until the end of his life. Despite great personal wealth derived from an unbreakable trust made early in his childhood, Merrill lived modestly.Merrill, James. ''A Different Person: A Memoir'', New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993, Chapter I. "As it happened, my father had taken a much earlier step to ensure his children's independence, by creating an unbreakable trust in each of our names. Thus at five years old I was rich, and would hold my own pursestrings when I came of age, whether I liked it or not. I wasn't sure I did like it. The best-intentioned people, knowing whose son I was and powerless against their own snobbery, could set me writhing under attentions I had done nothing to merit." Reprinted in ''Collected Prose'', Knopf, 2004, p. 461. (Before his father's death, Merrill and his two siblings renounced any further inheritance from their father's estate in exchange for $100 "as full quittance";Merrill, James. ''A Different Person: A Memoir''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993, Chapter XVI; reprinted in ''Collected Prose'', Knopf, 2004, pp. 619-620. as a result, most of Charles Merrill's estate was donated to charity, including "The Orchard.") A philanthropist in his own right, Merrill created the Ingram Merrill Foundation in the 1950s, the name of which united his divorced parents. The private foundation operated throughout the poet's lifetime and subsidized literature, the arts, and public television, with grants directed particularly to writers and artists showing early promise. Merrill met filmmaker Maya Deren in 1945 and the poet

Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979) was an American poet and short-story writer. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the National Book Awar ...

a few years later, giving critical financial assistance to both and providing funds to hundreds of other writers, often anonymously.Merrill, James. ''A Different Person'', Knopf, 1993, Chapter II. Mustered out of the army in early 1945, Merrill returned to Amherst and civilian life, and soon began attending Kimon Friar's weekly lectures and workshops at the New York YMHA. Friar introduced Merrill to city friends including

Anaïs Nin Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell (February 11, 1903 – January 14, 1977; , ) was a French-born American diarist, essayist, novelist, and writer of short stories and erotica. Born to Cuban parents in France, Nin was the d ...

, W. H. Auden, and Deren. Merrill served as a Chancellor of the

Academy of American Poets The Academy of American Poets is a national, member-supported organization that promotes poets and the art of poetry. The nonprofit organization was incorporated in the state of New York in 1934. It fosters the readership of poetry through outreach ...

from 1979 until his death. While wintering in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, he died on February 6, 1995, from a heart attack related to

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

. His ashes and the remains of David Jackson are buried side by side at Evergreen Cemetery, Stonington. Jackson's former wife and Merrill's friend, Doris Sewell Jackson is buried behind them. In tribute to Merrill, ''The New Yorker'' republished his 1962 poem, "The Mad Scene", in its March 19, 1995 edition.James Merrill
“The Mad Scene”
''The New Yorker'', March 19, 1995. The poem originally appeared in
Poetry Magazine
' in October/November 1962, and in the collection ''Water Street'' (Atheneum).

Awards

Beginning with the prestigious Glascock Prize, awarded for ''The Black Swan'' when he was an undergraduate, Merrill would go on to receive , including the 1977

for Poetry for ''

''. Merrill was honored in mid-career with the Bollingen Prize in 1973. Merrill received the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1983 for his epic poem ''

'' (composed partly of supposedly

supernatural Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...

messages received via the use of a Ouija board). In 1990, he received the first Bobbitt National Prize for Poetry awarded by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The libra ...

for ''

The Inner Room "The Inner Room" is a poem by Arthur Conan Doyle, first published in his 1898 poetry collection ''Songs of Action''. Unlike most of Doyle's poetry, the poem is "a deeply personal, highly introspective effort," which has been interpreted as "descri ...

''. He garnered the National Book Award for Poetry twice, in 1967 for ''Nights and Days''"National Book Awards – 1967"

National Book Foundation The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...

. Retrieved 2012-03-03.
(With acceptance speech by Merrill and essay by Megan Snyder-Camp from the Awards 60-year anniversary blog.) and in 1979 for '' Mirabell: Books of Number''."National Book Awards – 1979"
National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-03-03. He was elected a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...

in 1978. In 1991, he received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...

Style

A writer of elegance and wit, highly adept at wordplay and puns, Merrill was a master of traditional poetic meter and

form Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data * ...

who also wrote a good deal of free and

blank verse Blank verse is poetry written with regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th century", and Pa ...

. (Asked once if he would prefer a more popular readership, Merrill replied "Think what one has to ''do'' to get a mass audience. I'd rather have one perfect reader. Why dynamite the pond in order to catch that single silver carp?"Merrill, James. "On 'Yánnina': An Interview with David Kalstone", ''Saturday Review'', December 1972; reprinted in ''Collected Prose'', New York: Knopf, 2004, p. 83.) Though not generally considered a Confessionalist poet, James Merrill made frequent use of personal relationships to fuel his "chronicles of love & loss" (as the speaker in '' Mirabell'' called his work). The divorce of Merrill's parents — the sense of disruption, followed by a sense of seeing the world "doubled" or in two ways at once — figures prominently in the poet's verse. Merrill did not hesitate to alter small autobiographical details to improve a poem's logic, or to serve an environmental, aesthetic, or spiritual theme. As Merrill matured, the polished and taut brilliance of his early work yielded to a more informal, relaxed, and conversational tone.Fraser, Caroline
The Magician: Collected Poems by James Merrill
''Los Angeles Times'', 4 March 2001. Retrieved 14 June 2013. Already established in the 1970s among the finest poets of his generation, Merrill made a surprising detour when he began incorporating extensive

occult The occult, in the broadest sense, is a category of esoteric supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving otherworldly agency, such as magic and mysticism a ...

messages into his work (although a poem from the 1950s, " Voices from the Other World," foreshadows the practice).Bornhauser, Fred. Interview with James Merrill in ''Contemporary Authors'', New Revision Series, vol. 10 (Detroit: Gale Research Company, 1983). Quoted in ''Collected Prose'', Knopf, 2004, pp. 135-136. The result, a 560-page apocalyptic epic published as ''

'' (1982), documents two decades of messages dictated from otherworldly spirits during

Ouija The ouija ( , ), also known as a spirit board or talking board, is a flat board marked with the letters of the Latin alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words "yes", "no", occasionally "hello" and "goodbye", along with various symbols and gra ...

séances hosted by Merrill and his partner David Jackson. ''The Changing Light at Sandover'' is one of the longest epics in any language, and features the voices of recently deceased poet W. H. Auden, Merrill's late friends Maya Deren and Greek socialite

Maria Mitsotáki Maria Mitsotáki (Μαρία Μητσοτάκη; 1907–1974) was an Athens socialite, born to a prominent Greek political family. She allegedly appeared in Ouija board séances to her friends James Merrill (1926–1995) and David Jackson (1922� ...

, as well as heavenly beings including the

Archangel Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

. Channeling voices through a Ouija board "made me think twice about the imagination," Merrill later explained. "If the ''spirits'' aren't external, how astonishing the ''mediums'' become!

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

said of his voices that they were like his own mental powers multiplied by five." In Langdon Hammer's ''James Merrill: Life and Art'', Hammer quoted

Alison Lurie Alison Stewart Lurie (September 3, 1926December 3, 2020) was an American novelist and academic. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her 1984 novel ''Foreign Affairs''. Although better known as a novelist, she wrote many non-fiction book ...

's writing of her experience with the Ouija board in ''Familiar Spirits: A Memoir of James Merrill and David Jackson'' as: Lurie's response after reading Merrill and Jackson's collaborative effort in ''The Changing Light at Sandover'': ''"I sometimes had the feeling that my friend's mind was intermittently being taken over by a stupid and possibly even evil intelligence"''. According to Stoker Hunt, author of ''Ouija: The Most Dangerous Game'', before his death Merrill warned against the use of the Ouija board. Following the publication of ''The Changing Light at Sandover'', Merrill returned to writing shorter poetry which could be both whimsical and nostalgic: "Self-Portrait in TYVEK Windbreaker" (for example) is a conceit inspired by a windbreaker jacket Merrill purchased from "one of those vaguely imbecile / Emporia catering to the collective unconscious / Of our time and place." The Tyvek windbreaker — "DuPont contributed the seeming-frail, / Unrippable stuff first used for Priority Mail" — is "white with a world map." "A zipper's hiss, and the Atlantic Ocean closes / Over my blood-red T-shirt from the Gap."Marshall, Kathe Bonann
James Merrill in Iowa City, October 1992
. Retrieved 19 March 2013.

Works by Merrill

Since his death, Merrill's work has been anthologized in three divisions: ''Collected Poems'', ''Collected Prose'', and ''Collected Novels and Plays''. Accordingly, his work below is divided upon those same lines.

Poetry collections

*''The Black Swan'' (1946) *''First Poems'' (1951) *''The Country of a Thousand Years of Peace'' (1959) *''Water Street'' (1962) *''Nights and Days'' (1966) *''The Fire Screen'' (1969) *''Braving the Elements'' (1972) *''The Yellow Pages'' (1974) *''

'' (1976), with " Lost in Translation" and ''The Book of Ephraim'' *'' Mirabell: Books of Number'' (1978) *''Scripts for the Pageant'' (1980) *''

'' (1982) ::composed of ''The Book of Ephraim'' (1976), ''Mirabell: Books of Number'' (1978), and ''Scripts for the Pageant'' (1980), with an added coda, "The Higher Keys" *''

Late Settings ''Late Settings'' is a 1985 collection of poetry by James Merrill (1926–1995). His first book since ''The Changing Light at Sandover ''The Changing Light at Sandover'' is a 560-page epic poem by James Merrill (1926–1995). Som ...

'' (1985) *''The Inner Room'' (1988) *''A Scattering of Salts'' (1995)

Poetry selections

*''Selected Poems'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 1961) *''Two Poems: "From the Cupola" and "The Summer People"'' (London: Chatto & Windus, 1972) *''From the First Nine: Poems 1946–1976'' (1982) *''Selected Poems 1946–1985'' (1992)

Prose

*''Recitative'' (1986) - essays *''A Different Person'' (1993) - memoir

Novels

*''The Seraglio'' (1957) *''The (Diblos) Notebook'' (1965) *''Samos'' (1980), published by Sylvester & Orphanos

Drama

*''The Birthday'' (1947) *''The Bait'' (1953; revised 1988) *''The Immortal Husband'' (1955) *''The Image Maker'' (1988) *''Voices from Sandover'' (1989; videotaped for commercial release in 1990)

Posthumous editions

* *''Collected Poems'' (2001) *''Collected Novels and Plays'' (2002) *''Collected Prose'' (2004) *''The Changing Light at Sandover'' (with the stage adaptation "Voices from Sandover") (2006) *''Selected Poems'' (2008)

Contributions

*''Notes on Corot'' (1960) - Essay in an exhibition catalog from the Art Institute of Chicago: ''COROT 1796-1875, An Exhibition of His Paintings and Graphic Works, October 6 through November 13, 1960''

Recordings

* ''Reflected Houses'' (cassette audio recording, 1986) * ''The Voice of the Poet: James Merrill'' (cassette audio book, 1999)

Works about Merrill

* *

Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking worl ...

, ed. ''James Merrill'' (1985) * Piotr Gwiazda, ''James Merrill and W.H. Auden: Homosexuality and Poetic Influence'' (2007) * Nick Halpern, ''Everyday and Prophetic: The Poetry of Lowell, Ammons, Merrill and Rich'' (2003) * Langdon Hammer, ''James Merrill: Life and Art'' (2015) eview_in:_The_New_Yorker,_April_13,_2015:_http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/13/out-of-this-world-books-dan-chiasson.html" ;"title="The_New_Yorker.html" ;"title="eview in: The New Yorker">eview in: The New Yorker, April 13, 2015: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/13/out-of-this-world-books-dan-chiasson">The_New_Yorker.html" ;"title="eview in: The New Yorker">eview in: The New Yorker, April 13, 2015: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/04/13/out-of-this-world-books-dan-chiasson/small> * David Kalstone, ''Five Temperaments'' (1977) * Ross Labrie, ''James Merrill'' (1982) * David Lehman and Charles Berger (academic), Charles Berger, ''James Merrill: Essays in Criticism'' (1983) * Christopher Lu, ''Nothing to Admire: The Politics of Poetic Satire from Dryden to Merrill'' (2003) *

, ''Familiar Spirits: A Memoir of James Merrill and David Jackson'' (2000) * Tim Materer, ''James Merrill's Apocalypse'' (2000) * Brian McHale, ''The Obligation Toward the Difficult Whole: Postmodern Long Poems'' (2004) *

Judith Moffett Judith Moffett (born 1942) is an American author and academic. She has published poetry, nonfiction, science fiction, and translations of Swedish literature. She has been awarded grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts an ...

, ''James Merrill: An Introduction to the Poetry'' (1984) *

, ''Unlikely Friends - James Merrill and Judith Moffett: A Memoir'' (2019) * Peter Nickowitz, ''Rhetoric and Sexuality: The Poetry of Hart Crane, Elizabeth Bishop, and James Merrill'' (2006) * Robert Polito, ''A Reader's Guide to James Merrill's "The Changing Light at Sandover"'' (1984) * Guy Rotella, ed. ''Critical Essays on James Merrill'' (1996) * Reena Sastri, ''James Merrill: Knowing Innocence'' (2007) * *

Helen Vendler Helen Hennessy Vendler (born April 30, 1933) is an American literary critic and is Porter University Professor Emerita at Harvard University. Life and career Helen Hennessy Vendler was born on April 30, 1933, in Boston, Massachusetts, to George ...

, ''Last Looks, Last Books: Stevens, Plath, Lowell, Bishop, Merrill'' (2010) * Helen Vendler, ''The Music of What Happens: Poems, Critics, Writers'' (1988) * Helen Vendler, ''Part of Nature, Part of Us: Modern American Poets'' (1980) * Helen Vendler, ''Soul Says: Recent Poetry'' (1995) * Stephen Yenser, ''The Consuming Myth: The Work of James Merrill'' (1987)

Gallery

File:James Merrill House, Stonington, CT, 2.jpg, James Merrill House, Stonington, Connecticut File:James Merrill and David Jackson House, Key West, FL.jpg, James Merrill and David Jackson House, Key West, Florida File:Evergreen Cemetery, Stonington, CT.jpg, Jackson and Merrill graves, Evergreen Cemetery, Stonington, Connecticut

References

External links

'James Merrill House and Its Disembodied Transmissions'
in ''Cordite Poetry Review''
The James Merrill Digital Archive: Materials for ''The Book of Ephraim''
* * James Merrill Papers. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. * Stephen Yenser Papers Relating to James Merrill. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
James Merrill House Museum & Writer-in-Residence ProgramStuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Emory University
James Ingram Merrill collection, 1923-2000
*Materials related to James Merrill in th
Robert A. Wilson collection
held b
Special Collections, University of Delaware
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merrill, James 1926 births 1995 deaths 20th-century American poets AIDS-related deaths in Arizona 20th-century American memoirists United States Army personnel of World War II Amherst College alumni Bollingen Prize recipients Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Formalist poets American gay writers Glascock Prize winners Lawrenceville School alumni American LGBT poets LGBT people from New York (state) National Book Award winners Pulitzer Prize for Poetry winners United States Army soldiers Writers from New York City American male poets 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers Merrill family Military personnel from New York City