The Changing Light at Sandover
Encyclopedia
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
poem by James Merrill
James Merrill
James Ingram Merrill was an American poet whose awards include the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Divine Comedies...
(1926–1995). Sometimes described as a postmodern apocalyptic
Apocalypse
An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
epic, the poem was published in three separate installments between 1976 and 1980, and in its entirety in 1982 (see 1982 in poetry
1982 in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature .-Events:*Final edition of This Magazine published....
). Already established in the 1970s among the finest poets of his generation, Merrill made a surprising detour when he began incorporating occult
Occult
The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...
messages into his work.
With his partner David Jackson
David Noyes Jackson
David Noyes Jackson was the life partner of poet James Merrill . A writer and artist, Jackson is remembered today primarily for his literary collaboration with Merrill....
, Merrill spent more than 20 years transcribing supernatural
Supernatural
The supernatural or is that which is not subject to the laws of nature, or more figuratively, that which is said to exist above and beyond nature...
communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
s during séance
Séance
A séance is an attempt to communicate with spirits. The word "séance" comes from the French word for "seat," "session" or "sitting," from the Old French "seoir," "to sit." In French, the word's meaning is quite general: one may, for example, speak of "une séance de cinéma"...
s using a ouija board
Ouija Board
Ouija Board is a Thoroughbred mare racehorse owned by Edward Stanley, 19th Earl of Derby and trained by Ed Dunlop. In a career spanning four seasons, she won 10 of her 22 races, 7 of them Group 1s, including the Epsom Oaks in 2004 and the Hong Kong Vase in 2005...
. In 1976, Merrill published his first ouija board narrative cycle, with a poem for each of the letters A through Z, calling it The Book of Ephraim. (The Book of Ephraim appeared as part of the 1976
1976 in literature
The year 1976 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Saul Bellow won both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.-New books:*Kingsley Amis – The Alteration...
collection Divine Comedies
Divine Comedies
Divine Comedies is the seventh book of poetry by James Merrill . Published in 1976 , the volume includes "Lost in Translation" and all of The Book of Ephraim...
, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
The Pulitzer Prize in Poetry has been presented since 1922 for a distinguished volume of original verse by an American author. However, special citations for poetry were presented in 1918 and 1919.-Winners:...
in 1977.)
In 1976 Merrill believed he had exhausted the inspiration provided by the ouija board. The supernatural spirits thought otherwise, however, ordering Merrill to write and publish further installments, Mirabell: Books of Number
Mirabell: Books of Number
Mirabell: Books of Number by James Merrill is a volume of poetry published in 1978 .Mirabell is the second of three volumes comprising the epic 560-page poem called The Changing Light at Sandover, which was published in its entirety in 1982....
in 1978 (which received the National Book Award
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...
for Poetry in 1979) followed by Scripts for the Pageant in 1980. The complete three-volume work, with a brief additional coda, appeared as The Changing Light at Sandover in 1982.
In live readings, Merrill was able to impersonate the narrating voices of (deceased) poet W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
and late friends Maya Deren
Maya Deren
Maya Deren , born Eleanora Derenkowsky, was an American avant-garde filmmaker and film theorist of the 1940s and 1950s...
and Maria Mitsotáki
Maria Mitsotáki
Maria Mitsotáki was an Athens socialite, born to a prominent Greek political family. She allegedly appeared in Ouija board séances to her friends James Merrill and David Jackson , becoming a major character in Merrill's The Changing Light at Sandover, a book-length supernatural epic poem...
. He also claimed to give voice to otherworldly spirits including a first century Jew named Ephraim, and Mirabell (a ouija board guide).
Writer Alison Lurie
Alison Lurie
Alison Lurie is an American novelist and academic. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her 1984 novel Foreign Affairs. Although better known as a novelist, she has also written numerous non-fiction books and articles, particularly on children's literature and the semiotics of dress.-Personal...
, a longtime friend of Merrill and Jackson, described the creative genesis of the poem in her memoir Familiar Spirits (2001).