James Merrill's Poetry Manuscripts

1. "These city apartment windows." 

2. "A million . . .  Tomorrow wake & groan." 17.1.86.

3. "The salt and pepper shakers look out."

4. "164 East 72nd Street." 31.v.87.

5. "By that dim passage, red-flashing thorugh slats of the blind." 

6. "Sometimes, shocked wide awake." Verso of 5.

7. "164 East 72nd Steet."

8. "164 East 72nd Street."

9. "The deteriorated condition of our widows."

10. "No house can avert[(s] / This end-of-many-days." Draft of Merrill's poem "Pledge," A Scattering of Salts (New York: Knopf, 1995).

11. Page from Daryl Hine, Academic Festival Overture. New York: Atheneum, 1985. Verso of 12.

12. "Ego survival No Few households." 27 vii 89. Draft of Merrill's poem "Pledge," A Scattering of Salts (New York: Knopf, 1995).

13. Page from Daryl Hine, Academic Festival Overture. New York: Atheneum, 1985. Verso of 14.

14. "clumsy  moved to a hotel  'rally round her.'" Two pencil drawings. Draft of Merrill's poem "Pledge," A Scattering of Salts (New York: Knopf, 1995).

15. Page from Daryl Hine, Academic Festival Overture. New York: Atheneum, 1985. Verso of 16.

16. "The windows in this flat--my grandmother's once--." 27-28. X. 88.

17. "A window we saw through  Transparently windowed."

18. "By that dim flashing red through." 29-30 v .89.

19. "On the streets far (bright) side. Childhood's view." 29-30.v.88. Ink sketch: "Le Baiser." 

20. Page from Merrill's "Afterword" to David's Kalstone's Becoming a Poet: Elizabeth Bishop with Marianne Moore and Robert Lowell (1989). Verso of 19.

21. "Nine floors up." 8.viii.91. 

22. Page from Merrill's "Afterword" to David's Kalstone's Becoming a Poet: Elizabeth Bishop with Marianne Moore and Robert Lowell (1989). Verso of 21.

23. "that din of flashing / Crosstown ruby flares." 

24. "12. Nine floors up, like that garden in Purgatory." Syllable counts. 

25. Page from Merrill's "Afterword" to David's Kalstone's Becoming a Poet: Elizabeth Bishop with Marianne Moore and Robert Lowell (1989). Verso of 24.

26. "But little changes in rich neighborhoods."

27. "164 East 72nd Street."

28. "Do I ever wonder where I'll die?"

29. "Auden <once> said that after the Life's storm & drang."

30. Page from Merrill's "Afterword" to David's Kalstone's Becoming a Poet: Elizabeth Bishop with Marianne Moore and Robert Lowell (1989). Verso of 29.

31. "164 East 72nd Street."

32.  "If I've understood your feelings about / Brian." A reference to Peter Hooten's feelings about Merrill's friendship with Brian Walker." See introduction to Key West Aquarium: The Sawfish on this site.

33. "The stylus lifted. Giving up its whole / Lifetime of images." Passage from The Changing Light at Sandover.

34. "Reaching the hospital, alive, The grey wretch."

35. "(DJ): A little spin today?" Passage from The Changing Light at Sandover. 

36. "These rooms werent  made for death."

37. "AC: here with the only volume / I can find a spare of." Note to poet Alfred Corn.

38. "Drizzily pulsing red where the curtains." 30.v.89.

39. "An easy-to-see-through window." 30 v 89.

40. "Gasping in what new pain, where am I."

41. "Unaccountably the flowers grow younger." Draft of Merrill's poem "The Ring Cycle."

42. Page from Merrill's "Afterword" to David's Kalstone's Becoming a Poet: Elizabeth Bishop with Marianne Moore and Robert Lowell (1989). Verso of 41.

43. "162 East 72nd Street."

44. "Meanwhile a millefleurs / Carpet 9 flights up, like Purgatory."

45. Passage from The Changing Light at Sandover. Verso of 44.

46. "Strange, how difficult it has becomes to dwell / Upon one's own dying."

47. Page from Merrill's "Afterword" to David's Kalstone's Becoming a Poet: Elizabeth Bishop with Marianne Moore and Robert Lowell (1989). Verso of 46.

48. "Inside, a different story."

49. Page from Merrill's "Afterword" to David's Kalstone's Becoming a Poet: Elizabeth Bishop with Marianne Moore and Robert Lowell (1989). Verson of 48.

50. "transposed, transported."

51. "Two [word] little Upper East Side."

52. "164 East 73nd Street."

53. "Quirk in the old glass." 11.vi.89.

54. Page from Merrill's "Afterword" to David's Kalstone's Becoming a Poet: Elizabeth Bishop with Marianne Moore and Robert Lowell (1989).

55. "For one another. Early to bed. Hours later." Two pen sketches.

56. Notes. Verso of 55.

57. Notes. Verso of 55. Identical to 56 but with one less post-it note.

58. "The salt and pepper shakers look out."

59. Page from Daryl Hine, Academic Festival Overture. New York: Atheneum, 1985. June 6. Verso of 58.

60. "Things done / before we met / in purple light."

61. "164 East 72nd Street." 

62. "Given to the smash hit." One Post-it note. 

63. "164 East 72nd Street."

64. "in the bedroom mirror."

65. "The mirror opening sleeping /  Shutting one eye the mirror sees." Verso of 64.

66. "The alchemist behind our scenes allows."

67. Page from The Changing Light at Sandover. Verso of 66.

68. "a Lakmé−soon to be broken hearted."

69. Page from The Changing Light at Sandover. Verso of 68.

70. "Widow by the time she died."

71. "164 East 72nd Street."

72. "Juices, blue cornbread, mornings at the gym." Verso of 71.

73. "Juices, blue cornbread, mornings at the gym."

74. Page from The Changing Light at Sandover. Verso of 73.

75. "The salt and pepper shakers look out." 13 vii 89.

76. Page from Daryl Hine, Academic Festival Overture. New York: Atheneum, 1985. Verso of 75.

77. "The salt and pepper shakers look out." 27.V[ii].89.

78. "Such a confession as mine." Verso of 77.

79. "164 East 72nd Street."

80. "164 East 72nd Street." Duplicate of 79.

81. "Widow by the time she died."

82. "Henceforth, awkward / By my own call for help."

83. "163 East 72nd Street."

84. "A gentle achlemist behind them trains."

85. "164 East 72nd Street."

86. "A gentle alchemist behind them trains."

87. 164 East 72nd Street."