Selected Poems of James Merrill

Table Of Contents

Introduction

From First Poems, 1951
The Black Swan
The House

From The Country of a Thousand Years of Peace, 1959
The Country of a Thousand Years of Peace
The Lovers
A Renewal
Upon a Second Marriage
The Charioteer of Delphi
Mirror
Marsyas
The Doodler
Voices From the Other World
In the Hall of Mirrors
A Dedication

From Water Street, 1962
An Urban Convalescence
After Greece
For Proust
Scenes of Childhood
Angel
Swimming by Night
A Tenancy

From Nights and Days, 1966
Nightgown
The Thousand and Second Night
Time
Charles on Fire
The Broken Home
The Current
The Mad Scene
From The Cupola
Days of 1964

From The Fire Screen, 1969
Lorelei
The Friend of the Fourth Decade
Words for Maria
To My Greek
Last Words
Another August
Mornings in a New House
Matinées
The Summer People

From Braving the Elements, 1972
Log
After the Fire
Days of 1935
18 West 11th Street
Willowware Cup
From Up and Down
Flèche d’or
Days of 1971
The Victor Dog
Syrinx

From Divine Comedies, 1976
The Kimono
Lost in Translation
Chimes for Yahya
Yánnina
Verse for Urania
The Will

From The Changing Light at Sandover, 1982
From The Book of Ephraim
From Scripts for the Pageant

From Late Settings, 1985
Grass
The Pier: Under Pisces
The School Play
Page From the Koran
Santo
Bronze
Channel 13
Paul Valéry: Palme
After the Ball

From The Inner Room, 1988
Little Fallacy
Arabian Night
The Parnassians
Ginger Beef
Dead Center
Losing the Marbles
Investiture at Cecconi’s
Farewell Performance
Processional

From A Scattering of Salts, 1995
A Downward Look
Nine Lives
Snow Jobs
The Instilling
My Father’s Irish Setters
Vol. XLIV, No. 3
b o d y
Pledge
Family Week at Oracle Ranch
Overdue Pilgrimage to Nova Scotia
Self-Portrait in TyvekTM Windbreaker
An Upward Look

From Collected Poems, 2001
After Cavafy
Oranges
In the Pink
Rhapsody on Czech Themes
Christmas Tree
Koi
Days of 1994

Notes
Short Chronology
Suggestions for Further Reading