I created the following page as an experiment with the internet's potential for annotation and commentary on literary texts -- in this case, James Merrill's short poem "The Victor Dog." Annotated words and phrases appear within the text of the poem as links; following one of these links will bring up the relevant note in the frame at the left-hand side of the page. In addition, some of the notes include external links. Following these will launch the external pages in a new browser window.
To learn more about James Merrill's poetry, I recommend the James Merrill Discussion Forum website. A few of the poems can be found at Ken Hope's page. Washington University has a James Merrill site that includes symposium transcripts and a catalogue from an exhibit of Merrill's papers.
This project was designed for educational purposes only. "The Victor Dog" is from Selected Poems, 1946-1985 by James Merrill (New York: Knopf, 1992). Annotations, layout, and introductory materials are mine. Please e-mail me your comments or suggestions.
Take me back.
Last update: 20.
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