Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV ( / ˈloʊəl /; March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. It’s hard to fathom how original—how influential—Robert Lowell (1917 – 1977) and his Life Studies would become to modern writing when published in 1959. In the decades preceding and following the First World War, old Yankee families had upset expectation by regaining this section of the Hill from the vanguards of the lace-curtain Irish. This was bracing news for my parents in that topsy-turvy era when the Republican Party and what were called ‘people of the right sort’ were no longer dominant in the city elections. But for most of the 1950s he was also completely blocked, managing to write, as he later recalled, just "five messy poems in five years." as though a harpoon were sparring for the kill. And he does a nice job juxtaposing the free world outside with the unpleasant world of confinement through the contrast of colors: "azure" and "blue". Shareable Link. That's one benefit of teaching: it forces me to sit and read books closely. It's as if Lowell's controlled rhymes from the beginning of the book have been left out in the sun and are melting and warping before our eyes. Lowell talks about the metal shaving mirrors and remembers blue corridors. Synopsis Faber are pleased to announce the relaunch of the poetry list - starting in Spring 2001 and continuing, with publication dates each month, for the rest of the year. Lowell suffered from manic depression throughout his life and several times was checked in to McLean Hospital in Boston. https://www.sunsigns.org/famousbirthdays/d/profile/robert-lowell This first section can be interpreted as a transition section, signaling Lowell's move away from Catholicism, as evidenced by the book's first poem, "Beyond the Alps," as well as a move away from the traditional, dense, more impersonal style of poetry that characterized L… Lord Weary’s Castle, which won the … At home I thus saved myself from the emotional exhaustion. My heart grows tense as though a harpoon were sparring for the kill. I have known for years that Life Studies is one of Robert Lowell's most important books and a classic of confessional poetry, but I had never actually sat down and read it from cover to cover. Life Studies, a collection of poetry and prose by Robert Lowell, published in 1959. He was recognised as an accomplished poet in his own lifetime, and along with Elizabeth Bishop, John Berryman and Sylvia Plath he created the fashion and generated the force of American poetry over the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. In 1924 people still lived in cities. Wait—did I say “reads”? Lowell’s “91 Revere Street” was a prose piece about a townhouse in one of Boston’s most prestigious neighborhoods, Beacon Hill. I used to enjoy dawdling and humming. Life Studies by Robert Lowell, originally published in 1959, is now recognised to be one of the most important and influential collections of American poetry from the twentieth century. And this forms a useful backdrop as you get deeper into the book. The book marked a major turning point in Lowell’s writing and also helped to initiate the 1960s trend to confessional poetry; it won the National Book Award for poetry in 1960. Decades later, Lowell, who felt similar existential emptiness, wrote differently in Life Studies. Here's the first stanza: rouses from the mare's-nest of his drowsy head. The attendant is using the book as a pillow, ha. They’re altogether otherworldly now, those adults champing for their ritual Friday spin to the pharmacist and five-and-tend in Brockton. The home was the source of Lowell’s mother’s pride, his father’s grimace, and, thus, Lowell’s creative tension. “All day I used to look forward to the nights when my bedroom walls would once again vibrate, when I would awake with rapture to the rhythm of my parents arguing one another to exhaustion.”. He swims ashore, where Ginsberg, Dylan Thomas, and Frank O'Hara are having a cook-out, hops in his Tudor Ford, and sputters up to Lover's Lane. Notice how the poem's speaker (obviously Lowell himself) both mocks and fears the night attendant, who is an underclassmen, not at Harvard, but B.U. McLean was orange. ... Life Studies and For the Union Dead 1,313 ratings. Many of vignettes in Life Studies take place in the domestic setting, in Lowell’s family and their Boston home. We also see Lowell create psychological tension by placing feeling adjectives on inanimate nouns: "my agonized blue window", "the petrified fairway". ... Summary: This collection includes poems of a heart-breaking, shocking, grotesque and gentle, and attacking nature. The book is in four sections, including “91 Revere Street,” an autobiographical sketch in prose of Lowell’s youth amid stormy domestic tensions. In Robert Lowell, Jr. …as does in greater detail “Memories of West Street and Lepke” in Life Studies (1959). ‘What have you been doing, Bobby?’ Mother would ask. Distinguished in family and literary career, Robert Traill Spence Lowell, Jr., flourished as a teacher, poet, translator, and playwright. Next he notices “the new barbed and galvanized/ fence on … “ Skunk Hour ” by Robert Lowell starts in New England, where a “hermit heiress” acts as the poem’s initial focus. But it is Lowell’s mother, like the mothers of many writers, who received the most polished description.”She did not have the self-assurance for wide human experience.”Lowell writes, “She needed to feel liked, admired, surrounded by the approved and familiar.”His intense observations reminds me of John Cleese’s portrayal of his mother: a woman only at home inside her home.Read more in my collection “What We Write About When We Write About Our Mothers.”2. Helen Vendler called Life Studies Lowell's Some will be tempted to drop the book in the midst of all this prose, but what's worthwhile is that you get a real sense of Lowell's family dynamic: the way his mother was the force of the household, the way his father was slowly broken down by both his overpowering wife and a changing world. Absence! Merwin, Adrienne Rich, James Wright, Sylvia Plath, and others eager to follow). As far as I know, 91 Revere Street suffered the same fate.1. Lowell’s “Waking in the Blue” captures the essence of this experience: The night attendant, a B.U. He was appointed the sixth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress where he served from 1947 until 1948. Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet, considered the founder of the confessional poetry movement. Life Studies is a fascinating book, for a number of reasons: 1.We see Lowell evolve into a confessional poet right before our eyes. In Life Studies, Lowell is to be found analysing the formative influences upon his troubled personality. Let’s abandon that trope. sophomore, rouses from the mare’s-nest of his drowsy head propped on The Meaning of Meaning. Crows maunder on the petrified fairway. If mental illness does appear next to creative genius—as it did for Lowell, Bacon, Rimbaud, T. S. Eliot, Sylvia Plath, John Clare, Vincent van Gogh, Emily Dickinson, and Virginia Woolf—it is likely because it sets us apart from society in such a way that we can better reflect it. 1. The Examined Life website uses cookies to offer you the best experience. That's one benefit of teaching: it forces me to sit and read books closely. Many critics consider it Lowell's most important book and the Academy of American Poets named it one of their Groundbreaking Books. By employing this noun as a verb, Lowell shifts its meaning, giving the attendant the feel of a predator. Anyway, I remember the metal shaving mirror. European Journal of English Language and Literature Studies Vol. © All rights reserved The Examined Life, 2021. At last the trees are green on Marlborough Street, blossoms on our magnolia ignite … Robert Lowell was an American poet, best known for winning the ‘National Book Award’ for his book of poetry titled ‘Life Studies.’ Born to a military commander father in Massachusetts, he was a violent kid who bullied other children. Article Summary: This paper discussed Robert Lowell's use of memory in sub autobiographical works as Life studies. In those volumes, Lowell returns to recollect his private past; His act of remembering becomes the poetic process by which Lowell is able to create the retrospective truth of his life. The earliest, and perhaps the most prominent, influence upon Lowell dates back to his upbringing. Use the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Bent light into a Francis Bacon portrait. Most critics consider it one of Lowell's most important books, and the Academy of American Poets named it one of their Groundbreaking Books. 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