James Merrill, Postmodern Magus : Myth and Poetics

by SMITH EVANS LANSING

• ISBN13: 9781587296963
• ISBN10: 1587296969
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-08-15
• Publisher: Univ of Iowa Pr

Summary

One of the unique voices in our century, James Merrill was known for his mastery of prosody; his ability to write books that were not just collected poems but unified works in which each individual poem contributed to the whole; and his astonishing evolution from the formalist lyric tradition that influenced his early work to the spiritual epics of his later career. Merrill's accomplishments were recognized with a Pulitzer Prize in 1977 forDivine Comediesand a National Book Critics Circle Award in 1983 forThe Changing Light at Sandover. In this meticulously researched, carefully argued work, Evans Lansing Smith argues that the nekyia, the circular Homeric narrative describing the descent into the underworld and reemergence in the same or similar place, confers shape and significance upon the entirety of James Merrillrs"s poetry. Smith illustrates how pervasive this myth is in Merrillrs"s work not just inThe Changing Light at Sandover, where it naturally serves as the central premise of the entire trilogy, but in all of the poetrs"s books, before and after that central text. By focusing on the details of versification and prosody, Smith demonstrates the ingenious fusion of form and content that distinguishes Merrill as a poet. Moving beyond purely literary interpretations of the poetry, Smith illuminates the numerous allusions to music, art, theology, philosophy, religion, and mythology found throughout Merrillrs"s work.

Author Biography

Evans Lansing Smith is professor of English at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Table of Contents

Overture	p. 1
First Poems	p. 19
The Country of a Thousand Years of Peace	p. 38
Water Street	p. 55
Nights and Days	p. 61
The Fire Screen	p. 79
Braving the Elements	p. 88
Divine Comedies	p. 114
The Book of Ephraim	p. 140
The Changing Light at Sandover	p. 165
The Inner Room	p. 188
Late Settings and A Scattering of Salts	p. 226
Coda	p. 241
Notes	p. 243
Bibliography	p. 253
Index	p. 263
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