"Lost in Translation" draft

Item

Merrill, James. 1972. “‘Lost in Translation’ Draft.”, James Merrill: Life and Archive, accessed February 11, 2026, https://digitalexhibits.library.wustl.edu/s/james-merrill-life-and-archive/item/18410

Title: "Lost in Translation" draft
Description: Fragmentary typescript and holograph drafts, dated October 12-15, 1972, with extensive annotations, toward one of Merrill's most highly-regarded poems. The finished poem, dedicated to Richard Howard, recounts Merrill as a boy in 1937 working with his multilingual governess on a jigsaw puzzle, which he uses as a metaphor for poetry, translation and memory.; There is a total seventy-two manuscript pages toward "Lost in Translation" in the James Merrill Papers. The poem was published in The New Yorker in 1974 and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Divine Comedies in 1976.
Date: 1972: October 12; 1972: October 15
Type: Manuscripts
Format: paper; jpeg
Creator: Merrill, James
Extent: five pages
Language: English
Source: James Merrill Papers (MSS083), Box 133, Folder 3338
Identifier: MSS083_3338_LostInTranslation_041.jpg; MSS083_3338_LostInTranslation_042a.jpg; MSS083_3338_LostInTranslation_042b.jpg; MSS083_3338_LostInTranslation_043.jpg; MSS083_3338_LostInTranslation_044.jpg
Rights: In copyright
Subject: Merrill, James, 1926-1995.

Item sets: Merrill

Site pages: Love and Money - Manuscripts

Media: MSS083_3338_LostInTranslation_041.jpg; MSS083_3338_LostInTranslation_042a.jpg; MSS083_3338_LostInTranslation_042b.jpg; MSS083_3338_LostInTranslation_043.jpg; MSS083_3338_LostInTranslation_044.jpg