The Realm of Hazard: James Merrill Goes West

Abstract

Abstract:Just as Merrill's previous volume, The Fire Screen, was pervaded by Greece, Braving the Elements is pervaded by the American West, a region generally not thought much of in connection to either Merrill's life or his art. In this essay I argue for the importance of that region to both, focusing mainly on the period of the late 1960s and early 1970s but also looking ahead to the work Merrill would do in the future and in which the West would continue to play an important role, most notably The Book of Ephraim in particular and The Changing Light at Sandover in general, poems the central concerns of which, from climate change to atomic weapons research, are concerns that continue to affect the West to this day.