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The Early Life of Late Poet James Merrill

Merrill died Monday at age 68. The son of the founder of the Merrill Lynch brokerage house, Merrill traveled to Europe at age 24, a newly published poet "meaning to stay as long as possible". That was in 1950. His memoir "A Different Person" detailed his two and a half years there, and featured encounters with psychoanalysts, new and old lovers, and Alice Toklas. Merrill wrote eleven books of poems, and was the winner of two National Book Awards, the Bollingen Prize for Poetry, and the Pulitzer Prize. (Rebroadcast)

07:32

Other segments from the episode on February 7, 1995

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, February 7, 1995: Interview with Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor; Obituary for Art Taylor; Obituary for James Merrill; Review of five CDs by Sir Thomas Beecham.

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