Stuart Fitzrandolph Merrill (August 1, 1863 in

Hempstead, New York The Town of Hempstead is the largest of the three towns in Nassau County (alongside North Hempstead and Oyster Bay) on Long Island, in New York, United States. The town's combined population was 793,409 at the 2020 census. It occupies the s ...

– December 1, 1915 in

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

) was an American poet, who wrote mostly in the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European family. Like all other Romance languages, it descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire. French evolved from Northern Old Gallo-R ...

. He belonged to the

Symbolist Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

school. His principal books of poetry were ''Les Gammes'' (1887), ''Les Fastes'' (1891), and ''Petits Poèmes d'Automne'' (1895). Stuart Merrill - reading

Life

Merrill was the product of a conservative, wealthy, Protestant upbringing. In 1866, his father George received a diplomatic appointment to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where Merrill would learn French and live for the next 19 years.

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French Symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools o ...

was one of Merrill's school instructors. His classmates included future symbolists

René Ghil René François Ghilbert (27 September 1862 – 15 September 1925), known as René Ghil, was a French poet. He was a disciple of Stéphane Mallarmé, a major contributor to the Symbolism (arts), symbolist movement in France, although they later ...

and Pierre Quillard. Merrill ran a weekly journal, ''Le fou'', before returning to the States in 1884 to attend law school. On April 15, 1887, he went to Madison Square Theater in New York to hear

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

give his famous " Death of Abraham Lincoln" lecture. Afterwards, he had the opportunity to meet Whitman, an experience he later recorded in the magazine "Le Masque."Stuart Merrill, ''Walt Whitman'' (Toronto: Henry S. Saunders, 1922) Also in 1887, Merrill published his first book of poems, ''Les gammes'', in Paris, receiving wide critical acclaim in Europe. As his literary career took off he participated in radical political causes, siding with the

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or hierarchy, primarily targeting the state and capitalism. Anarchism advocates for the replacement of the state w ...

in the famous Haymarket riots. When

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from the 188 ...

attempted to circulate a petition in London calling for the release of

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Fflahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish author, poet, and playwright. After writing in different literary styles throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular and influential playwright ...

, imprisoned for

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

, Merrill made a similar attempt to get notable artists and intellectuals in the United States to voice support for Wilde. Merrill's father disinherited him for his politics, but his mother continued to support him financially throughout his life. In 1890, Merrill published ''Pastels in Prose'', a collection of his translations of French prose poems. This was his only book to be published in America during his lifetime. The same year, he returned to Europe permanently. He married in 1891. For the years 1893–1908, his address was 53 Quai de Bourbon,

Île Saint-Louis Île Saint-Louis (), in size, is one of two natural islands in the Seine river, in Paris, France (the other natural island is the Île de la Cité, where Notre-Dame de Paris is located). Île Saint-Louis is connected to the rest of Paris by fo ...

, Paris. Several more books, including ''Les fastes'' in 1891 and ''Petits poèmes d’automne'' in 1895, were published before his death of heart disease in 1915. In 1927 a small traffic way in the

17th arrondissement of Paris The 17th arrondissement of Paris (''XVIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le dix-septième'' (; "the seventeenth"). The arrondissement, known as Batignol ...

took the name Place Stuart-Merrill.

Works

* ''Les gammes'' (''The Ranges''), Vanier, Paris, 1887 * ''Pastels en Prose'', Harper & Brothers, New York, 1890 * ''Les Fastes'' (''The Record''), 1891 * ''Petits Poèmes d'Automne'' (''Little Autumnal Poems''), 1895 * ''Les quatre saisons'' (''The Four Seasons''), Mercure de France, Paris, 1900 * ''Walt Whitman'', Henry S. Saunders, 1922 * ''Prose et vers : œuvres posthumes'' (''Prose and Verse: Posthumous Works''), A. Messein, Paris, 1925 * ''The White Tomb: Selected Writing'', Talisman House, 1999

References

External links

* * *
Poems by Stuart Merrill

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Merrill, Stuart 1863 births 1915 deaths People from Hempstead (village), New York French-language poets American male poets American poets in French American writers in French Symbolist poets French–English translators 19th-century American translators 19th-century American male writers American expatriates in France