"Tony: Ending the Life"

Item

Merrill, James. 1993. “‘Tony: Ending the Life’”. Series_IV_Manuscripts, James Merrill: Life and Archive, accessed February 11, 2026, https://digitalexhibits.library.wustl.edu/s/james-merrill-life-and-archive/item/38526

Title: "Tony: Ending the Life"
Description: "Tony: Ending the Life," published in A Scattering of Salts, is an "expansive elegy for his friend" (Tony Parigory, who died in summer 1993 of AIDS), "and (it is all but explicit) himself." Merrill had been largely silent about his AIDS diagnosis but it came out in his poetry. Included here are three of a total 61 manuscript pages.
Subject: Merrill, James, 1926-1995
Creator: Merrill, James
Source: James Merrill Papers (MSS083) - Box 139, Folder 3621
Date: 1993: November
Relation: Series_IV_Manuscripts; Exhibit Cases 9-10: Love and Death; James Merrill: Life and Art, pp. 773-4; See also November 27, 1973 letter from Merrill to Parigory, photograph of Merrill and Parigory, and For James Merrill: A Birthday Tribute.
Format: 3 leaves. Recto and verso.; 3 jpegs. 600 ppi.
Language: English
Type: Manuscript
Rights Holder: Washington University in St. Louis
Rights: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Identifier: Tony_Ending_The_Life_001.jpg
Tony_Ending_The_Life_002.jpg
Tony_Ending_The_Life_003.jpg

Item sets: Merrill; Merrill Life Archive

Site pages: Love and Death - Manuscripts

Media: Tony_Ending_The_Life_001.jpg; Tony_Ending_The_Life_002.jpg; Tony_Ending_The_Life_003.jpg