Poet James Merrill Dies Of Heart Attack

Pulitzer Prize winning poet James Merrill, whose long, distinguished career included 14 books of verse, died of a heart attack Monday. He was 68.

Merrill, who lived in New York City, was on vacation.

Merrill won every major literary award, including the Pulitzer (“Divine Comedies, 1976) and two National Book Awards (“Nights and Days,” 1967 and “Mirabell: Books of Number,” 1978).

In addition to poetry he wrote novels, plays and essays. A memoir titled “A Different Person” came out in 1993, and his 15th volume of poetry, “A Scattering of Salts,” is scheduled to be published in March.

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