Merrill, James Ingram

▪ 1996

      U.S. poet (b. March 3, 1926, New York, N.Y.—d. Feb. 6, 1995, Tucson, Ariz.), perfected the technique of wittily using rhyme and meter to produce lyric and epic poems that dealt with love and loss. His superb craftsmanship was showcased in a body of work that celebrated his eclectic and elegant style, securing him renown as one of the most important figures in American literature. In 15 volumes of verse he mastered such diverse forms as sonnet, haiku, and epigram, besides publishing novels, plays, and essay collections. He was the son of Charles E. Merrill, a founder of the investment firm now known as Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. While attending Amherst (Mass.) College, Merrill privately printed Jim's Book: A Collection of Poems and Short Stories (1942). His education was interrupted by military service during World War II, but he earned a B.A. in 1947, after which he devoted himself to writing. He produced several volumes of poetry before achieving critical acclaim with Water Street (1962), followed by Nights and Days (1967), for which he won the first of two National Book Awards. The Fire Screen (1969) and Braving the Elements (1972) appeared before Merrill was awarded the Bollingen Prize in 1973 and a Pulitzer Prize for Divine Comedies (1976), a poetry collection. Mirabell: Books of Number (1978) earned him a second National Book Award. The last two volumes and a third, Scripts for the Pageant (1980), were republished as a trilogy with a new epilogue in The Changing Light at Sandover (1982), which was particularly notable because Merrill admitted using a Ouija board to summon and converse with spirits as diverse as W. H. Auden and the archangel Gabriel. As his work became more introspective, Merrill explored such themes as wealth, homosexuality, AIDS, and senility. His last collection of poems, A Scattering of Salts (1995), was published posthumously.

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