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James Merrill's Poetic Quest

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Don Adams

Book Code: GM0250

ISBN: 0-313-30250-2

ISBN-13: 978-0-313-30250-3

DOI:

192 pages

Greenwood Press

Publication: 4/30/1997

List Price: $106.95 (UK Sterling Price: £59.95)

Availability: Out of stock

Media Type: Hardcover

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

Subjects:

Literature » American Literature
Literature » Critical Theory

Series Title: Contributions to the Study of World Literature

Series Number: 81

Endorsement From Timothy Materer
Professor of English, University of Missouri--Columbia: James Merrill as the heir of Plato and Oscar Wilde emerges from Don Adams' close and sensitive reading of the epic and mock-heroic strains in Merrill's poetry. Adams shows Merrill, like W. B. Yeats, confronting the dramatic choice between perfecting his life or his work. Without simplifying the poet's complexity, James Merrill's Poetic Quest reveals a single, deeply serious theme within the dazzling variety of Merrill's poetry.

Description: Relatively little critical attention has been directed towards the explication of James Merrill's difficult poems, much less towards the understanding of his densely-layered symbolism. This is the first comprehensive study to look at Merrill's difficult symbolic system and to provide a close reading of Merrill's epic poem The Changing Light at Sandover. Adams reads Merrill's poetry through various lenses, primarily those of Freudian psychology and of the Jungian archetypal system. His approach allows the reader to view individual works as part of the larger picture of Merrill's quest to save his life through his art.

Table of Contents:

Contents
Preface
Introduction
Time's Damage and Time's Grief: An Introduction to the Quest Model
Heroes Without Name or Origin: The Quest in Merrill's Early Work
The Incarnation and Withdrawal of a God: "The Book of Ephraim"
Solving this Riddle of Appearances: Mirabell's Books of Number
Empty Perfection: Scripts for the Pageant and the Higher Keys
To All, Sweet Dreams: Concluding the Quest
Works Cited
Index

LC Card Number: 96-35022

LCC Class: PS3525

Dewey Class: 811


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