James Merrill

James Merrill

James Ingram Merrill (March 3, 1926 – February 6, 1995) was an American poet whose awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1977) for Divine Comedies. His poetry falls into two distinct bodies of work: the polished and formalist (if deeply emotional) lyric poetry of his early career, and the epic narrative of occult communication with spirits and angels, titled The Changing Light at Sandover, which dominated his later career. Although most of his published work was poetry, he also wrote essays, fiction, and plays.

Read more about James Merrill:  Life, Awards, Style, Works By Merrill, Works About Merrill

Famous quotes containing the words james and/or merrill:

    When we of the so-called better classes are scared as men were never scared in history at material ugliness and hardship; when we put off marriage until our house can be artistic, and quake at the thought of having a child without a bank-account and doomed to manual labor, it is time for thinking men to protest against so unmanly and irreligious a state of opinion.
    —William James (1842–1910)

    Tonight they have stepped out onto the gravel.
    The party is over. It’s the fall
    Of 1931. They love each other still.
    —James Merrill (b. 1926)