A Scattering of Salts [Paperback]

James Merrill (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 1996

The tragic death of James Merrill in February 1995 coincided with the publication in hardcover of this, his last book of poems. "In these last poems, lucid, deft, fond, shrewd, faithful, Merrill once again reveals himself as our most visual poet, combining a superb eye with an unfailing ear."--Peter Davison, Boston Globe.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his first volume of new poetry in seven years, the recently deceased Merrill (winner of Pulitzer and Bollingen prizes as well as two National Book Awards) returned to the short lyric and dramatic narrative forms that were overshadowed by his 1982 epic trilogy, The Changing Light at Sandover. This is a moving final collection, framed by the opening "A Downward Look," which begins, "Seen from above, the sky/ Is deep..." and the last, "An Upward Look," in which a "departing occupier" has left a "heart green acre." Complicated forms and rhyme schemes hold a rein on emotion, even as the poet delights in playing with language. Merrill's ability to relate everything to the life of the Poet leads him to find?and demonstrate?significance on all fronts, whether grand, e.g., the diurnal rhythms in "An Upward Look," or trivial: an insurance investigator's insistence that a chimney be fixed before a fire is lit moves Merrill to consider his need to take risks in his work, and, later, to hazard merging into "the hearth of a lover's eyes" ("Take Risks"). Here as everywhere, Merrill transforms the everyday into almost supernatural elegance. The poet's own words, more poignant with his death, confirm what critics have long contended: "Eyes shut in all but visionary/ Consent, he lets the words reorganize/ Everything he lives for, until it all fits/ Or until he forgets them."
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Multiple award-winning poet Merrill's trademark eloquence, mastery of the apt but unforseeable rhyme, chiding self-consciousness, and nearly offhand placement of sudden insight could gild virtually any subject, as they do in this last volume to be composed before his recent death. Here one finds meditations on fire, travel, opera, dogs, group therapy-all equal, mysterious parts of a life seemingly discovered only as it is articulated. In "Nine Lives," for example, Merrill knits the plight of a lost kitten, the arrival of a youthful avatar, T.S. Eliot's imagery, a holiday in Greece, and the famous Ouija board of the Sandhover poems into a scintillating fugue on salvation and the compromises accepted in its stead ("We've dropped our masks, renewed our vows/To letters, to the lives that letters house/Houses they shutter, streets they shade"). Though more vital performances came earlier in his career, Merrill's last still elevates the world into something wished for, hoping to fill the reader with aspirations toward "a more exemplary life begun/Tomorrow, truer, harder to get right." For all poetry collections.
Fred Muratori, Cornell Univ. Lib., Ithaca, N.Y.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Knopf (September 17, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679765905
• ISBN-13: 978-0679765905
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,828,074 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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