July 1, 1998
Mary Winslow
Her Irish maids could never spoon out mush Or orange-juice enough; the body cools And smiles as a sick child Who adds up figures, and a hush Grips at the […]
April 1, 1998
The Drowning Poet
The drowning poet hours before he drownedHad whirlpool eyes, salt at his wrists, and woreA watery emphasis. The sea was awareAs flowers at the bedside of a woundOf an imminent […]
April 1, 1998
Entrance from Sleep
From the Summer 1947 Issue. To wake into the afternoon for youIs a familiar gesture. Upon the eye,As dawn to the shade-embroidered fountain bringsThe young fern’s wisdom, the first world […]
April 1, 1998
James Merrill’s Early Work: A Revaluation
A number of poems by James Merrill (1926-1995) appeared in The Kenyon Review in 1947 and 1949: “Dancing, Joyously Dancing,” “The Drowning Poet,” “Cloud Country,” “Entrance from Sleep,” and “Transfigured […]
April 1, 1998
Cloud Country
From the Summer 1947 Issue. How like a marriage is the season of clouds.The winds at night are festive and constellationsLike stars in a kaleidoscope dissolveAnd meet in astounding […]
April 1, 1998
Dancing, Joyously Dancing
From the Summer 1947 Issue. And all throughout a Breughel matineeThose buxom waltzes rang. Good people, criedThe fiddler, dance! Fiddler, the dancers cried,Addressing perhaps the sun, teach us this joyThat […]
April 1, 1998
Transfigured Bird
1 . That day the eggshell of appearance split And weak of its own translucence lay in the dew. A child fond of natural things discovered it. Though it was […]
April 1, 1998
Dream and Waking
From the Summer1958 Issue. Softening the marbles, dayIs dawning, which two elms vein.Presently, slow as crochet,White veils grow across the scene.Now that my life has lost its wayI watch for […]
January 1, 1998
The Artificial Nigger
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Flannery O’Connor work that follows is reprinted as it was originally written for The Kenyon Review (Spring 1955). Any departures from current style, spellings, and usage have been […]
January 1, 1998
The Action of Mercy
I see from the standpoint of Christian orthodoxy. . . . For me the meaning of life is centered in our Redemption of Christ and what I see in the […]
July 1, 1997
Coal Barges
From THE KENYON REVIEW, SPRING 1957 Not to heaven go these, strung together, The color of coffins, staid as hearses, beating Their wake across the coils of the black river, […]
July 1, 1997
A Wit in Age
From THE KENYON REVIEW, SPRING 1957 Who could conjure up the ridiculous Out of all the world's postures, and wring Laughter from the straightest faces, Perceives still with unfailing Sharpness […]