Welcome back. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published Steven Axelrod proposes that the key to our understanding of Lowell’s poetic achievement lies precisely in this interpenetration of his life and his art. I believe that what Nick may have liked about it was how intimate a biography this is. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These are human flaws and ones he easily recognized and often admitted shamefully to friends. The book follows the evolution of his poetry, his friendships with other well-known poets, his acquaintance with the Kennedys, his three marriages, especially his long. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. Hamilton is somewhat notorious for his People Magazine approach to his various biographical subjects. For me there are two difficulties with this book: RL suffered from bipolar disorder and thus, was not terribly kind to some of those whom he loved (and he loved many) and the fact that I am not a poet, and find his po. Robert Lowell He is generally considered to be among the greatest American poets of the twentieth century. Robert Lowell (1917-1977) packed a huge amount into his sixty years: a rollercoaster of triumphs and disasters that informed his writing and pushed back the boundaries of what was deemed suitable subject matter for poetry. Since Robert Lowell’s sudden death in 1977 his critical reputation has suffered from the usual post-mortem slump. Gets the basic facts right, but nothing to write home about. by Vintage. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Although I wanted some more detail in places (I seem to always feel this way after reading a biography and perhaps it is an unfair critique), I think Hamilton has done a fine job of informing readers about the tumultuous life of Lowell ('Cal'). Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Lowell was manic-depressive, and it was incredible to me how he managed to work, a prolific poet and teacher, despite having to be hospitalized almost every year with mania and delusion. Born in Boston, Robert Lowell, great-grandnephew of James Russell Lowell and distant cousin of Amy Lowell, was a brilliant and rebellious member of that distinguished family. It has become clear to me that Lowell was a man of immense genius. Robert Lowell 1917-1977. Steven Axelrod proposes that the key to our understanding of Lowell's poetic achievement lies precisely in this interpenetration of his life and his art. A short, brilliant, and very often sad life, with a legacy of some of the 20th century's most remarkable poetry. Originally published in 1978. The Dolphin Letters, 1970-1979: Elizabeth Hardwick, Robert Lowell, and Their Circle Pinterest. Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet, considered the founder of the confessional poetry movement. He attended Harvard College for two years before transferring to Kenyon College, where he studied poetry under John Crowe Ransom and received an undergraduate degree in 1940. Fresh Hearts That Failed Three Thousand Years Ago; With Other Things. I enjoy this genre a lot, the literary biography, and this one seemed to do a good job of describing the life, times and poetry of Robert Lowell. I found mysel. Lowell was born to United States Navy Cmdr. The documentation of Robert Lowell’s life has followed this pattern. Known as one of the fathers of 'confessional poetry' he has been both admired and berated for his use of autobiography in his work. July 19, 2012 | History. His manic illness caused him to act in unbelievably cruel ways at times and I mostly felt immense admiration for his second wife of 23 years, Elizabeth Hardwick, for helping her troubled husband through these times (despite his many infidelities). This was a pretty big investment--500 pages on a poet I cannot stand, but I've wondered since my teens if I was missing something. The Lowells were a Boston Brahmin family that included poets Amy Lowell and James Russell Lowell; clergymen Charles Russell Lowell Sr. and Robert Traill Spence Lowell; Civil War general and war hero Charles Russell Lowell III (about whom Lowell wrote his poem "Charles Russell Lowell: 1835-1864"); and the Federal Judge John Lowell. Refresh and try again. In his poem, "Unwanted", he somewhat regretfully admits, "Alas, I can only tell my own story." I read this because Nick Hornby liked it. Discover Book Depository's huge selection of Robert Lowell books online. I believe that what Nick may have liked about it was how intimate a biography this is. - The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell, The Dolphin Letters, 1970-1979: Elizabeth Hardwick, Robert Lowell, and Their Circle, Lord Weary's Castle: The Mills of the Kavanaughs (Harvest/Hbj Book), The New Priest in Conception Bay (Notable American Authors), The Missouri Review: Confessional (Spring/summer 2005). It’s important to read about something you know absolutely bugger all about. Even his relationship with Elizabeth Bishop was immortalized in print in the form of a play in 2012. Start by marking “Robert Lowell: A Biography” as Want to Read: Error rating book. Last edited by Alan Millar. To see what your friends thought of this book, Hamilton has written a very interesting biography of a very complex poet. Limited to 200 copies of which this copy is numbered 197. What a fascinating life! 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. I read this because Nick Hornby liked it. This all provides pretty good copy, as they like to say, for Jeffrey Meyers’s new book, Robert Lowell in Love, a detailed accounting of the women Lowell pursued and lived and conversed with. Signed by Robert Lowell and Sidney Nolan on limitation page. Bruce Bawer.The Middle Generation: The Lives and Poetry of Delmore Schwartz, Randall Jarell, John Berryman and Robert Lowell.North Haven, CT: Archon Books. Lowell’s confessional work of the 1960s marked a sea change in American letters – then he fell out of favour. The book follows the evolution of his poetry, his friendships with other well-known poets, his acquaintance with the Kennedys, his three marriages, especially his long marriage to the critic and essayist Elizabeth Hardwick, who stayed with him (until their breakup) through his many, many manic episodes, which always included colossal, out-in-the-open obsessions and affairs with other women, and his many hospitalizations. He was appointed the sixth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress where he served from 1947 until 1948. This settled it. Looking for books by Robert Lowell? Collected Poems book. Like Kay Redfield Jamison's "An Unquiet Mind", a must-read for anyone interested in manic-depression and creative genius. Robert Traill Spence Lowell III and Charlotte Winslow in Boston, Massachusetts. He took graduate courses at Louisiana State University where he studied with Robert Penn Warren and Cleanth Brooks. One of those books was The Letters of Robert Lowell edited by Sascha Hamilton in 2005. Robert Lowell (1917-1977) was the renowned and controversial author of many books of poetry, including Day by Day, The Dolphin, and History. in 1940 from Kenyon College, where he had studied underJohn Crowe Ransom and came to know Allen Tate. Original artwork for the front panel of the dust Jacket for Day by Day by Robert Lowell, winner of the 1977 National Book Critic Award for Poetry. Robert Lowell at 100: why his poetry has never been more relevant Read more In the free-ish verse of Epilogue, Lowell solves the problem, as he saw it, of “flattening.” Born in 1917 into an aristocratic Boston family Robert Lowell was not yet thirty when his first major collection of poems, Lord Weary's Castle, won the Pulitzer Prize.With Life Studies, his third book, he found the intense, highly personal voice that made him the foremost American poet of his generation.He held strong, complex and very public political views. Share this book. Books blog Robert Lowell at 100: why his poetry has never been more relevant. He was educated at a preparatory school in Massachusetts, two years at Harvard and then Kenyon College in Ohio, where he studied classics, graduating in 1940. National Book Awards Winner Saskia Hamilton is the author of several books of poetry, including Corridor , named one of the best poetry books of 2014 by The New Yorker and The New York Times Book Review . Although I wanted some more detail in places (I seem to always feel this way after reading a biography and perhaps it is an unfair critique), I think Hamilton has done a fine job of informing readers about the tumultuous life of Lowell ('Cal'). Well-written and comprehensive document of his life, but I'm glad to be putting it back on a shelf. The Collected Poems of Robert Lowell brings together, for the first time, the work of America's pre-eminent post-war poet. Synopsis Edmund Wilson wrote of Robert Lowell that he was the "only recent American poet - if you don't count Eliot - who writes successfully in the language and cadence and rhyme of the resounding English tradition". Although Robert Lowell was born in 1917, Kay Redfield Jamison opens her new biography of the poet seventy-two years before his birth, in 1845, with a Lowell being committed to … In some ways, it was very interesting: Lowell lead an interesting life at an interesting time. 5 5/8Ó by 8 1/2Ópainted onto paper which is wrapped around and taped to a thin piece of cardboard with ÒDay by Day / Robert LowellÓ printed on a 4 3/16Ó x 2 1/8Ó paper label affixed at 13/16Ó below the top edge. Hamilton has written a very interesting biography of a very complex poet. Facebook. Edit. In 1940, he also converted to Catholicism. Robert Lowell Reading His Own Poems (sound recording of Twentieth-Century Poetry in English series), Library of Congress, 1978. I hardly knew anything about Robert Lowell before reading this biography, having only read a handful of his poems and merely glanced through his famous "Life Studies." Hamilton's biography is a myopic ad hominem against a poet he could never hope to understand. He was appointed the sixth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress where he served from 1947 until 1948. An edition of Robert Lowell (1976) Robert Lowell ... Robert Lowell This edition was published in 1976 by Open University Press in Milton Keynes. He was also proud, spiteful, conceited, and egotistical. Still, if you are looking for a story about a tormented genius, this is it. Mine eyes hurt. A belter of a biography even to a layman about a poet I’d never heard of, and, on finishing the book, was glad I hadn’t. Robert Lowell's poetry collection Life Studies is considered by many to have changed the landscape of modern poetry. Robert Lowell: A Reading (sound recording of reading at Poetry Center of the 92nd Street "Y" in New York City, December 8, 1976), Caedmon, 1978. Lowell was manic-depressive, and it was incredible to me how he managed to work, a prolific poet and teacher, despite having to be hospitalized almost every year with mania and delusion. Minstrelsey of Edmund the Wanderer: Collected by His Early Companion, and Intimate Friend, Lieutenant Spence, of the United States' Navy. We’d love your help. Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet, considered the founder of the confessional poetry movement. Robert Lowell was born in 1917 into a wealthy Boston Protestant family, the son of a naval commander. Books mentioned in Nick Hornby's Polysyllabic Spree, New African American Histories and Biographies to Read Now. I found myself alternately pitying and hating Lowell. RL's life is very well documented in his abundant letters. Robert Lowell (1917–1977) was the renowned and controversial author of many books of poetry, including Day by Day (FSG, 1977), For the Union Dead (FSG, 1964), and Life Studies (FSG, 1959). Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “We are not makers of history. In this condensed edition of Selected Poems, Robert Lowell’s poems are brought together from all of his books of verse. A few other books containing Robert Lowell’s poetry were also released after his death in 1977. Be the first to ask a question about Robert Lowell. A superb biography and great starting point for anyone interested in Lowell's life and work. On March 1, 1917, Robert Lowell was born into one of Boston's oldest and most prominent families. Book is in Near Fine Condition, with Near Fine Condition clear heavy glassine dustjacket. 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