Browse Items (206 total)

Mona Van Duyn letter to James Merrill in which Van Duyn requests on behalf of Washington University Libraries to start collecting Merrill's literary papers at Washington University. Van Duyn’s personal inquiry persuaded Merrill to accept the…

James Merrill letter to Daryl Hine describing his and David Jackson's latest sexual partner. Merrill mentions his new relationship with Strato Mouflouzelis and also complains of spiritual and historical debates with Tony Harwood.

See also Journal…

James Merrill letter to Daryl Hine including Merrill's realization that he's using psychoanalytic thinking as a tool for enchantment rather than demystification, making life and art even more intertwined (see also "Under Libra" draft).

Hellen Plummer letter to James Merrill regarding "Lost in Translation" and how much his work keeps impressing her. She shows herself to be a "fair literary critic" in this letter.

James Merrill letter to Tony Parigory discussing typing the Ouija transcripts to make a prose memoir. Merrill also mentions his problem of losing the novel manuscripts.

James Merrill letter to Peter Hooten written in Key West to be read when Hooten wakes up. Merrill is begging Hooten to "get a hold of [his] feelings" and states that "the only permitted feeling is loyal clear-eyed love." This is one of the first…

"Looking at Mummy," Merrill's first poem at age 6, written in his mother's hand (so how much of it she may have written herself remains a question). This experience/poem later influenced “The Broken Home.”

Merrill's first diary, including an entry in which he recounts how he cleverly got out of being de-pantsed by David Mixsell at Lawrenceville School. One of Merrill's drawings is laid in beside the entry.

Journal entry in which Merrill recounts his mother's discovery of his love affair with Kimon Friar.

Journal 59 includes numerous pages of early holograph notes and drafts toward "The Broken Home," one of which is included here. Merrill's most autobiographical poem to date, "The Broken Home" centered on his parents' troubled relationship. It was…