Oh man it's coming in the mail and I cannot wait to re-read the book of ephraim. Book Format: Paperback. Extraordinarily imaginative. “Sandover” really does rival Blake and Milton but its seriousness is mercifully leavened always with the poet’s love of world play and his characteristic air of ironic detachment. Fantastic read! Current selection is: Paperback. February 14th 2006 It is also the greatest example of epic poetry in modern literature. have only read "The Book of Ephraim" as a photocopied handout, but that was well nigh incredible. On strength of its impeccable language and atmosphere alone, The Changing Light at Sandover is worthy of all sorts of praise. Individual parts won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and the entire poem, when it was … James Merrill and his life-partner David Jackson spent decades at the Ouija board (a kind of side-life parallel to their socializing, home-making, and travels) contacting spirits and engaging in an occult odyssey through the levels of ethereal hierarchy. The Changing Light at Sandover is a 560-page epic poem by James Merrill (1926–1995). The Changing Light at Sandover: Including the whole of The Book of Ephraim, Mirabell's Books of Number, Scripts for the Pageant and a new coda, The Higher Keys. Transcripts t. On strength of its impeccable language and atmosphere alone, The Changing Light at Sandover is worthy of all sorts of praise. . The Changing Light at Sandover Book Review: A series of mystical poems explores the author's experiences communicating through a Ouija board with a spirit named Ephraim who guides the poet through a series of conversations with W. H. Auden, W. B. Yeats, Plato, and others. James Merrill. Nowhere within this big, complex, ever morphing poem is there a word that doesn’t belong. The whole of, It’s impossible to encapsulate the brilliance of this epic poem, this “occult splendor” as Harold Bloom describes it. I see you like a lot, See 1 question about The Changing Light at Sandover…, Best Poetry Collections of the 20th Century, Pick Your Poison with These Mystery Subgenre Suggestions. if you're looking for a book-length poem, in formal verse, written with the aid of a ouija board...I recommend this one! The board became a source of poetic inspiration for Merrill, culminating in his prizewinning, uncanny, one-of-a-kind work The Changing Light at Sandover. It is also the greatest example of epic poetry in modern literature. will have to get the full book (and. The standard is the Norton Anthology of Poetry. The Changing Light at Sandover. GET BOOK. Disabling it will result in some disabled or missing features. Kleinzhaler added: “Where a straight line would do, Merrill cannot resist using filigree. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for The Changing Light at Sandover by James Merrill (2011, Trade Paperback) at the best online … Individual parts won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and the entire poem, when it was collected into one volume in 1982, won the National … Should probably read it again. Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry (1983), National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry (1983), What poetry do you recommend? Anyone who finds modern poetry (or poetry in general) off-putting because of perceived "poetic" (i.e. See the photo in the review.) —The New York Review of Books “James Merrill has created a poem as central to our generation as The Waste Land was to the one before.” —The New Leader “In turns comic, elegiac, and darkly prophetic, Sandover is as ambitious in scope as it is audacious in concept . Auden offers a substantial analysis of the literary and personal relationship between two major twentieth-century poets. Mirabell I found very difficult going and, in all honesty can probably be skipped, like most people skip Purgatorio. of Merrill’s long poem The Changing Light at Sandover is indebted to. To see what your friends thought of this book, Sorry, I never saw this question before now. I'll probably reread the first section before continuing. What I liked about this incredible epic poem is not so much the premise (James Merrill and his real-life lover hovering over a "milk glass tabletop" using a Willoware teacup for a Ouji Board pointer as they commune with spirits in a "shoebox of a parlor") but the spectacular language and phrasing. deliberately obscure or "high-falutin") language, will be pleasantly surprised by "The Changing Light at Sandover." James Merrill reads from his piece, "The Changing Light at Sandover," at the first James Merrill Symposium on November 17th, 1994. By the third, I adored it. combining an epic intent with dramatic and lyric meanings and means. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Selected Poems does excerpt The Changing Light at Sandover, presenting a sampler of a poet who wrote “New Critical Rococo” in the words of August Kleinzhaler in the New York Times Book Review. I remember asking him directly if the purported Ouija board statements had been transcribed verbatim, or if this was a poetic device. Merrill’s wit and emotional depth are limitless, and his technical mastery of his craft dazzling. Sorry, I never saw this question before now. I recommend reading an anthology and then reading more by the poets who you like in it. Editorial Reviews. --The New York Review of Books "James Merrill has created a poem as central to our generation as The Waste Land was to the one before." Merrill's verse was smooth and elegantly crafted--although decidedly lacking in moments of astonishing brilliance--from beginning to end; I couldn't detect a metrical misstep or moment that was not expressed precisely in the entire massive work. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 November 2002. James Merrill, The Changing Light at Sandover New York: Atheneum, 1982 Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2014. I've read the first section, 'The Book of Ephraim'; but have no such foothold in The Cantos, or in The Divine Comedy. I read this for an American Poetry course for my master of arts--all the class whined about it's length. --The New Leader "In turns comic, elegiac, and darkly prophetic, Sandover is as ambitious in scope as it is audacious in concept . Top subscription boxes – right to your door, © 1996-2021, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. The pages are nearly perfect. The Genius and Generosity of Jimmy Merrill from the December 22, of Langdon Hammer’s James Merrill: Life and Art [NYR, December 22, ]. —The New York Review of Books “James Merrill has created a poem as central to our generation as The Waste Land was to the one before.” —The New Leader “In turns comic, elegiac, and darkly prophetic, Sandover is as ambitious in scope as it is audacious in concept . The Changing Light at Sandover Book Review: James Merrill’s audacious and dazzling epic poem, The Changing Light at Sandover, remains as startling today as when it first emerged in separate volumes over a period of several years. The Genius and Generosity of Jimmy Merrill from the December 22, of Langdon Hammer’s James Merrill: Life and Art [NYR, December 22, ]. The result of Merrill’s “20 year adventure” with the Ouija board, “Sandover” is a profound, hilarious, creepy, mind-boggling three-volume super nova, re-inventing the cosmos, philosophy (or theosophy) and religion in its own post-modern image. Admittedly, Merrill is not for everyone. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Please please someone anyone--- please produce this as an audio book. —The New York Review of Books “James Merrill has created a poem as central to our generation as The Waste Land was to the one before.” —The New Leader “In turns comic, elegiac, and darkly prophetic, Sandover is as ambitious in scope as it is audacious in concept . Thankfully, The Changing Light at Sandover does not require that.The Book of Ephraim stands alone and whether you like it will probably be the best gauge of whether you will like the whole of Sandover. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2019. 18 $23.18 $ 23. The most gorgeous words and phrases are imbedded into a piece that is basically domestic in nature. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. The result may be the greatest long poem an … Start by marking “The Changing Light at Sandover” as Want to Read: Error rating book. Fantastic and weird. Transcripts there are, we know Merrill did this but to what extent Merrill is taking poetic license with it is sort of a mystery that coincides with how the spirits string along James and David, playfully feeding them bits about the metaphysical structure of the spirit world that may be misleading or misinformed, to be pieced together in retrospect. I'm really enjoying this book. Unfortunately, the content of the poem was beyond frustrating. Review. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. Richard Kenney suggested that I might get a kick out of this book, given my penchant for writing tarot card sonnets. He assured me that he and David Jackson had, in fact, obtained the information exactly as described in the poem. (Whoopty-doo!). I'm really enjoying this book. $23.18 $ 23. Comforting cozies, courtroom theatrics, and cold cases that warm back up...mystery and thriller subgenres are bigger and better than ever these... James Merrill’s audacious and dazzling epic poem. There is nothing else in American poetry like the late James Merrill’s multiple-prize-winning The Changing Light at Sandover, a 560-page epic poem about his evenings spent at the Ouija board with his partner, David Jackson, first published in one volume in 1982. . The result may be the greatest long poem an American has … combining an epic intent with dramatic and lyric meanings and means. On the first read I didn't get it at all. I slammed into a wall in the middle of this, and kind of gave up on it. James Merrill and W.H. Elliot's "The Wasteland" as one of the great long poems of the 20th century. . The presence of the words alone allude to something deeper, because by this book’s premise there’s already a big question within it. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2014. 5.0 out of 5 stars Merrill's Masterpiece. Fantastic read! Refresh and try again. At the same time, improbably, they carried on a forty-year conversation with spirits of the Other World by means of a Ouija board. Individual parts won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and the entire poem, when it was … All about Reviews: The Changing Light at Sandover by James Merrill. combining an epic intent with dramatic and lyric meanings and means. Merrill wrote these poems using a ouija board to communicate with the dead. I read it in a sitting, could not put it down, and then wrote my final paper on it. I met James Merrill many years ago when he visited a modern poetry class I was taking, taught by his literary executor, Dr. Stephen Yenser. “An astonishing performance As near to [a masterpiece] as The Changing Light at Sandover by [Merrill, James]. A poem in the form of a Ouija board, a horde of deceased characters being channeled through Merrill's partnership with his lover, and fittingly dense ruminations on metaphysical concepts makes this daunting poem worth the read and the revelations it can bring. The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry is a good one. So many voluminous verse cosmologies, so little time. combining an epic intent with dramatic and lyric meanings and means. This is a must own masterwork from a poet with tremendous gifts and talent an, possibly, genius - a dazzling work, possibly the single greatest achievement in poetry released in the second half of the last century (that I've read). Nowhere within this big, complex, ever morphing poem is there a word that doesn’t belong. ) Merrill wrote a 600-page poem, excerpted here, entitled “The Changing Light at Sandover,” based on his and his longtime partner’s adventures with … Gripping and absorbing, a novel in verse. Yet, this post-modern epic poem deserves to be placed alongside T.S. It was certainly ambitious and fascinating, but I prefer Merrill's shorter lyric poems. Yet, this post-modern epic poem deserves to be placed alongside T.S. 5.0 out of 5 stars Plato, Dante, Milton, Yeates and now Merrill. I am no where near smart enough for this thing, but it's so beautiful. Elliot's "The Wasteland" as one of the great long poems of the 20th century. God Biology warns of the destruction of all...this is an epic of science, told through the mystic channeling of spirits through the ouija board. The Changing Light at Sandover is Merrill's magnum opus. "The New American Poetry" by Donald Allen is another famous one. . I wrote my thesis on this book, so I know it well. Walmart # 561872206. Other articles where The Changing Light at Sandover is discussed: American literature: New directions: In The Changing Light at Sandover (1982), James Merrill, previously a polished lyric poet, made his mandarin style the vehicle of a lighthearted personal epic, in which he, with the help of a Ouija board, called up the shades of all his dead friends, including the… Average Rating: (3.5) stars out of 5 stars 2 ratings, based on 2 reviews. The point is that it is highly rewarding, and part of the brilliance of it is that it comes off entirely real--and therefore just a little creepy. first read in early 1980's. The result of Merrill’s “20 year adventure” with the Ouija board, “Sandover” is a profound, hilarious, creepy, mind-boggling three-volume super nova, re-inventing the cosmos, philosophy (or theosophy) and religion in its own post-modern image. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published The cover is faded but intact. . This was spectacularly disappointing. : EN, FR, DE, ES & NL. ISBN 13. : 9780525659280. Select Option. Among other things, it is one of the only accounts of a longtime domestic partnership that we have in verse; as they sit in their candle-lit … Admittedly, Merrill is not for everyone. About The Changing Light at Sandover. The presence of the words alone allude to something deeper, because by this book’s premise there’s already a big question within it. The poem is phenomenal. I've finished the first Book. LibraryThing is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers But as a comparison of the extant transcriptions and the published work, along with a comparison of subsequent drafts of the latter, will demonstrate, everything in Sandover went through a process of revision by Merrill alone, starting with the transcription itself. You can still see all customer reviews for the product. Welcome back. 31 reviews. Needless to say, it makes for a strange epic poem. Read reviews from world’s largest community for readers. Fascinating. This page works best with JavaScript. His poetry is dense, cyclical, scientific, and at times deliberately aloof. Like most great literature, it may be approached on multiple levels, and reveals new vistas with each rereading. of Merrill’s long poem The Changing Light at Sandover is indebted to. The Changing Light at Sandover is vast and often dizzying, as the poet and his companion at the Ouija board, David Jackson, advance to successively higher spirit guides. James Merrill’s audacious and dazzling epic poem, The Changing Light at Sandover, remains as startling today as when it first emerged in separate volumes over a period of several years. James Merrill’s audacious and dazzling epic poem, The Changing Light at Sandover, remains as startling today as when it first emerged in separate volumes over a period of several years. And grounded beneath the flights of phantasmagoria, we discover a beautiful account of a marriage, Merrill’s relationship with his life partner David Jackson, that I don’t think can beg comparison anywhere in our literature. Each of these works was originally published separately, but they were later combined into Merrill’s epic work, The Changing Light at Sandover (1982). by Knopf. I get more out of Merrill's shorter work, without the sci-fi aspects of. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. The Changing Light at Sandover is Merrill's magnum opus. Tour de force stuff all the way. The Outlaw Bible. Language. Divided into four sections (four being a mystical number [seasons, elements, etc] and possibly alluding also to Eliot's "Four Quartets"), Sandover, is, as far as I am aware, the longest single poem in the modern cannon. Unusually for a poem of its epic nature, though, the greatest asset of The Changing Light at Sandover is its mastery of linguistic rhythm and nuance. A poem in the form of a Ouija board, a horde of deceased characters being channeled through Merrill's partnership with his lover, and fittingly dense ruminations on metaphysical concepts makes this daunting poem worth the read and the re. 18. Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2000. “An astonishing performance As near to [a masterpiece] as The Changing Light at Sandover by [Merrill, James]. Very dense (it is Poetry). Don't be put off by the Ouija stuff: the heart of this poem isn't some sort of half-baked spiritualism, but simply the relationship between two people that love each other - the poet and David Jackson. The premise is that a good chunk of what’s in here, indicated by caps, are transcripts from communicating with actual spirits via ouijia. A Reader's Guide to James Merrill's The Changing Light at Sandover book. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for The Changing Light at Sandover : A Poem by James Ingram Merrill (1992, Hardcover) at the best … Verified Purchase. eeee! . A welcome return to paperback: James Merrill’s most famous and celebrated work. Sometimes described as a postmodern apocalyptic epic, the poem was published in three volumes from 1976 to 1980, and as one volume "with a new coda" by Atheneum (Charles Scribner's Sons) in 1982 (ISBN 978-0-689-11282-9). I have little love for epic poetry as a form but this book has converted me. Merrill’s wit and emotional depth are limitless, and his technical mastery of his craft dazzling. I recommend reading an anthology and then reading more by the poets who you like in it. [1] The review is reprinted in Helen Vendler, Part of Nature, Part of Us: Modern American Poets (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1980), 205-10. An epic poem about a long term gay couple and the spirits of the dead they speak to with a Ouija board. This long poem about communicating with the dead is a complex web of self-references and is as eerie as a good horror flick. James Merrill's audacious and dazzling epic poem, The Changing Light at Sandover, remains as startling today as when it first emerged in separate volumes over a period of several years. His poetry is dense, cyclical, scientific, and at times deliberately aloof. The premise is that a good chunk of what’s in here, indicated by caps, are transcripts from communicating with actual spirits via ouijia. . The Changing Light at Sandover is one of the more remarkable poetic works to have been published in the West since T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land (1922). Book Format. “Sandover” really does rival Blake and M. It’s impossible to encapsulate the brilliance of this epic poem, this “occult splendor” as Harold Bloom describes it. Currently reading this extraordinary epic. The same isn't true of The Changing Light at Sandover. Second time through this epic poem. Review. The poem moves, from the cosmic to the domestic, from Merrill's departed friends to the voices of … We’d love your help. 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