[74], Shortly after Lincoln's assassination, Lowell was asked to present a poem at Harvard in memory of graduates killed in the war. The book, dedicated to Norton, collected poems Lowell had written within the previous twenty years and was his first poetry collection since 1848. Guv'ment aint to answer to it, The Use of Nature and Emotion in Romantic Literature: Readings from Lowell… James Russell Lowell photographed by Mathew Brady circa 1855-1865 In a society like ours, where every man may transmute his private thought into history and destiny by dropping it into the ballot-box, a peculiar responsibility rests upon the individual. 1. He was a member of the eighth generation of the Lowell family, the descendants of Percival Lowle who settled in Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1639. The death of three of Lowell’s children was followed by the death of his wife in 1853. [15], In late 1839, Lowell met Maria White through her brother William, a classmate at Harvard,[16] and the two became engaged in the autumn of 1840. Copy. Facebook gives people the power to share … He stayed there, along with his daughter Mabel and her governess Frances Dunlap, until January 1861. See more ideas about james russell lowell, lowell… He built poems: he didn't put in the seed, and water the seed, and send down his sun—letting the rest take care of itself: he measured his poems—kept them within formula.". James Russell Lowell: Among My Books; Adversity. [23] There are many references to Lowell's drinking during his college years, and part of his reputation in school was based on it. Under the Willows and Other Poems was released in 1869,[71] though Lowell originally wanted to title it The Voyage to the Vinland and Other Poems. [102], In the last few months of his life, Lowell struggled with gout, sciatica in his left leg, and chronic nausea; by the summer of 1891, doctors believed that Lowell had cancer in his kidneys, liver, and lungs. James Russell Lowell: Fireside Travels; Ambition. [86] Lowell was then offered and accepted the role of Minister to the court of Spain at an annual salary of $12,000. His later poetry includes The Cathedral (1870), a long and ambitious but only partly successful poem that deals with the conflicting claims of religion and modern science. [122] Enemies and friends of Lowell alike questioned his vacillating interest in the question of slavery. Instead, he called for a natural literature, regardless of country, caste, or race, and warned against provincialism which might "put farther off the hope of one great brotherhood". He set sail on June 4 of that year,[58] leaving his daughter Mabel in the care of a governess named Frances Dunlap. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People named its newsletter The Crisis after the poem, and Martin Luther King Jr. frequently quoted the poem in his speeches and sermons. Lowell". James Russell Lowell (/ˈloʊəl/; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. Genre/Form: Biographies Biography: Additional Physical Format: Online version: Scudder, Horace Elisha, 1838-1902. M.L. "[117] Freed slaves, he wrote, were "dirty, lazy & lying". [67] In January 1861, Lowell's father died of a heart attack, inspiring Lowell to move his family back to Elmwood. [106] After his death, Norton served as his literary executor and published several collections of Lowell's works and his letters.[107]. His poem, "Commemoration Ode", cost him sleep and his appetite, but was delivered on July 21, 1865,[75] after a 48-hour writing binge. [26] Lowell was very affected by the loss of almost all of his children. The present Cambridge Edition of Mr. Lowell's poems contains, substantially in the order established by the author, the poems included by him not long before his death in the definitive Riverside Edition of his writings, and in addition the small group contained in the Last Poems, collected by his literary executor, Mr. Charles Eliot Norton. He attempted to emulate the true Yankee accent in the dialogue of his characters, particularly in The Biglow Papers. In using this vernacular, Lowell intended to get closer to the common man's experience and was rebelling against more formal and, as he thought, unnatural representations of Americans in literature. [76], In the 1860s, Lowell's friend Longfellow spent several years translating Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and regularly invited others to help him on Wednesday evenings. He wrote his finest works before he was 30 years old, however, and most of his subsequent writings lack vitality. [120] The couple often gave money to fugitive slaves, even when their own financial situation was not strong, especially if they were asked to free a spouse or child. Truth. not such as lulls to sleep, But sword on thigh and brow with purpose knit! In May 1877, President Hayes, an admirer of The Biglow Papers, sent William Dean Howells to Lowell with a handwritten note proffering an ambassadorship to either Austria or Russia; Lowell declined, but noted his interest in Spanish literature. "[27] Lowell depicted Southerners very unfavorably in his second collection of The Biglow Papers but, by 1865, admitted that Southerners were "guilty only of weakness" and, by 1868, said that he sympathized with Southerners and their viewpoint on slavery. [22] His second volume of poems Miscellaneous Poems expressed these antislavery thoughts, and its 1,500 copies sold well. Get all the lyrics to songs by James Russell Lowell and join the Genius community of music scholars to learn the meaning behind the lyrics. "[20] William Wetmore Story noted the journal's higher taste, writing that "it took some stand & appealled to a higher intellectual Standard than our puerile milk or watery namby-pamby Mags with which we are overrun". Lowell won great popularity in England’s literary and political circles and served as president of the Wordsworth Society, succeeding Matthew Arnold. [69] Lowell returned to Elmwood by January 1861 but maintained an amicable relationship with the new owners of the journal, continuing to submit his poetry and prose for the rest of his life. [98] By this time, most of his friends were dead, including Quincy, Longfellow, Dana, and Emerson, leaving him depressed and contemplating suicide again. James Russell Lowell was born February 22, 1819,[2] the son of the Reverend Charles Russell Lowell, Sr. (1782–1861), a minister at a Unitarian church in Boston who had previously studied theology at Edinburgh, and Harriett Brackett Spence Lowell. [32] He had published these articles anonymously, believing that they would have more impact if they were not known to be the work of a committed abolitionist. Instead, his poem was printed and made available thanks to subscriptions paid by his classmates. During this time, he was admittedly depressed and often had suicidal thoughts. [97] He then spent time in Boston with his sister before returning to Elmwood in November 1889. When he drank, he had wild mood swings, ranging from euphoria to frenzy. "[10] During his undergraduate years, Lowell was a member of Hasty Pudding and served both as Secretary and Poet. James Russell Lowell (n.22 februarie 1819 - d. 12 august 1891) a fost un poet, critic literar și diplomat american, care a aparținut grupării literare Fireside Poets.. A scris o lirică satirică, în care militează pentru aboliționism și susține cauza nordiștilor în războiul civil.A scris și poezii romantice în maniera lui John Keats și William Wordsworth. "[36] Lowell offered his New York friend Charles Frederick Briggs all the profits from the book's success (which proved relatively small), despite his own financial needs. Not failure, but low aim, is crime. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets. Emerson referred to his poem's "high thought & sentiment" and James Freeman Clarke noted its "grandeur of tone". "[119] After his marriage, Lowell at first did not share his wife's enthusiasm for the cause, but he was eventually pulled in. "[127] Fellow Fireside Poet John Greenleaf Whittier praised Lowell by writing two poems in his honor and calling him "our new Theocritus" and "one of the strongest and manliest of our writers–a republican poet who dares to speak brave words of unpopular truth". Abolitionist Samuel Joseph May accused him of trying to quit the movement because of his association with Harvard and the Boston Brahmin culture: "Having got into the smooth, dignified, self-complacent, and change-hating society of the college and its Boston circles, Lowell has gone over to the world, and to 'respectability'. [125], In 1849, Lowell said of himself, "I am the first poet who has endeavored to express the American Idea, and I shall be popular by and by. "I did not make the hit I expected", he wrote, "and am ashamed at having been tempted again to think I could write poetry, a delusion from which I have been tolerably free these dozen years. [30], Despite the failure of The Pioneer, Lowell continued his interest in the literary world. [121] Even so, he did not always fully agree with the followers of the movement. "[136], Lowell's poem "The Present Crisis", an early work that addressed the national crisis over slavery leading up to the Civil War, has had an impact in the modern civil rights movement. God'll send the bill to you. Maria's father Abijah White, a wealthy merchant from Watertown, insisted that their wedding be postponed until Lowell had gainful employment. [110] Unlike many of his contemporaries, including members of Young America, Lowell did not advocate for the creation of a new national literature. "[116] Lowell's satires and use of dialect were an inspiration for writers like Mark Twain, William Dean Howells, H. L. Mencken, and Ring Lardner. Her death left Lowell depressed and reclusive for six months, despite the birth of his son Walter by the end of the year. Updates? "[77] Despite his personal assessment, friends and other poets sent many letters to Lowell congratulating him. [104] He died on August 12, 1891, at Elmwood. [26], Lowell's earliest poems were published without remuneration in the Southern Literary Messenger in 1840. Also that year, the Boston Critic dedicated a special issue to Lowell on his seventieth birthday to recollections and reminiscences by his friends, including former presidents Hayes and Benjamin Harrison and British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone as well as Alfred, Lord Tennyson and Francis Parkman. These writers usually used conventional forms and meters in their poetry, making them suitable for families entertaining at their fireside. Lowell himself was generally a pacifist. Enjoy the best James Russell Lowell Quotes at BrainyQuote. [109] He subscribed to the common nineteenth-century belief that the poet was a prophet but went further, linking religion, nature, and poetry, as well as social reform. 1. [43] Lowell published recollections of his journey in several magazines, many of which would be collected years later as Fireside Travels (1867). [129], Contemporary critic and editor Margaret Fuller wrote, "his verse is stereotyped; his thought sounds no depth, and posterity will not remember him. Anxiety Life Wise. [71], As early as 1845, Lowell had predicted the debate over slavery would lead to war[72] and, as the Civil War broke out in the 1860s, Lowell used his role at the Review to praise Abraham Lincoln and his attempts to maintain the Union. These and other critical essays were collected in the two series of Among My Books (1870, 1876). Easy to use and portable, study sets in James Russell Lowell are great for studying in the way that works for you, at the time that works for you. In 1855 his lectures on English poets before the Lowell Institute led to his appointment as Smith professor of modern languages at Harvard University, succeeding Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. [27] He again considered suicide, writing to a friend that he thought "of my razors and my throat and that I am a fool and a coward not to end it all at once". Lowell graduated from Harvard College in 1838, despite his reputation as a troublemaker, and went on to earn a law degree from Harvard Law School. Intriguing heroes are plenty, villains, not so many. [35], In 1848, Lowell also published The Biglow Papers, later named by the Grolier Club as the most influential book of 1848. Educated at Harvard College, he tried the law, but soon gave it up for literature. He built poems: he didn't put in the seed, and water the seed, and send down his sun—letting the rest take care of itself: he measured his poems—kept them within formula. [135] Modern literary critic Van Wyck Brooks wrote that Lowell's poetry was forgettable: "one read them five times over and still forgot them, as if this excellent verse had been written in water. Barzallai Frost because of his neglect of his studies. [108] He composed his poetry rapidly when inspired by an "inner light" but could not write to order. [94] Lowell was popular enough that he was offered a professorship at Oxford after his recall by President Grover Cleveland, though the offer was declined. They think them unwholesome unless they are swallowed, stones and all. The year 1848 also saw the publication of Lowell’s two other most important pieces of writing: The Vision of Sir Launfal, an enormously popular long poem extolling the brotherhood of man; and A Fable for Critics, a witty and rollicking verse evaluation of contemporary American authors. Opinions wavered concerning African-Americans years earlier and became the godfather to his forehead and considered killing at... He was persuaded to continue teaching through 1877 persons do cherries and diplomat second wife died in 1853, most! To feel more like My old self than I have these ten years after his second wife died in,! 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