Skip to content
TrackPodcasts
artsMar 13, 202411:29pending

James Merrill's "The Octopus"

The Daily Poem

About this episode

"A master of forms, Merrill’s later poetry rarely feels formal. In the Atlantic Monthly, poet X.J. Kennedy observed that “Merrill never sprawls, never flails about, never strikes postures. Intuitively he knows that, as Yeats once pointed out, in poetry, ‘all that is personal soon rots; it must be packed in ice or salt.’”

-via Poetry Foundation



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe

Get every episode summarized

Each time The Daily Poem publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.

Email me new episodes

Free for 3 shows. No card needed.

No transcript yet

This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.

James Merrill's "The Octopus"

The Daily Poem

0:00
11:29

More episodes

More from The Daily Poem

View all episodes →