The Inner Room (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
James Merrill, whose craft has frequently been noted, does not disappoint his readers in The Inner Room. In this book he uses a number of quatrains with an abba rhyme; his skill somehow reminds one of a lapidary's, with each word set as if it were a jewel. In the sequence “For a Bestiary,” the first poem, “Carp,” provides an excellent example. He begins with a clichéd action, feeding bread to the fish, which leads him to the literary cliché of “bread on the waters.” This is quickly transformed into “literary crusts,” a “half fiction” for the shiny...
[The entire page is 1740 words long]
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