At college I'd seen my dead frog's limbs twitch under some applied stimulus or other - seen, but hadn't believed. Didn't dream of thinking beyond or around what I saw. James Merrill More Quotes by James Merrill More Quotes From James Merrill The day is breaking someone else's heart. James Merrill breaking-someone heart Strange about parents. We have such easy access to them and such daunting problems of communication. James Merrill strange communication parent Class is classlessness. James Merrill class But those two plays left me on fresh terms with language. I didn't always have to speak in my own voice. James Merrill air play two The simplest science book is over my head. James Merrill science-books simplest book And, as I have said, it's made me think twice about the imagination. If the spirits aren't external, how astonishing the mediums become! Victor Hugo said of his voices that they were like his own mental powers multiplied by five. James Merrill voice imagination thinking In life, there are no perfect affections. James Merrill perfect inspire life Before trying a novel I wrote a couple of plays. James Merrill couple play trying Arthur Young's Reflexive Universe - fascinating but too schematic to fit into my scheme. The most I could hope for was a sense of the vocabulary and some possible images. James Merrill arthur fit vocabulary He puts his right hand lightly on the cup, I put my left, leaving the right free to transcribe, and away we go. We get, oh, 500 to 600 words an hour. Better than gasoline. James Merrill words free better go I'd like to think the scientists need us - but do they? Did Newton need Blake? James Merrill us need like think Knowing some Greek helped defuse forbidding words - not that I counted much on using them. You'll find only trace elements of this language in the poem. James Merrill words find you language
