Lowell vs. Lowell

            Like one big family poets have similarities and differences. Some are vast and some are not. Amy Lowell and Robert Lowell are not only both poets but also they are related. The differences and similarities in their poems range from their form to the subjects that they discuss, thus making an interesting comparison.  Giving the reader deeper insight in how their backgrounds affect their writing and how that is portrayed in their writing.

            Amy Lowell was born into a wealthy family in Brookline. She attended private schools during her early education and also was educated by governesses and European travel. Needless to say she was well educated and well off from the start. Once she hit her twenties, she started to work harder on her poetry and had her first poet published at thirty-eight. She was the most popular during the First World War (Perkins & Perkins, 2010, p. 1532)

            A. Lowell had a unique style that made readers attracted to her poetry. One of the main things is her form in them. She seemed to have a visual pattern that she followed in her line length that went medium, shortest, short, longest, long, medium, long, medium, long, short, ect. This line length one can see almost throughout the entire poem “Patterns” and also in “A Decade”. (Lowell, 1916, p. 1534) (Lowell, 1919, p. 1535)

            The form in her poems is not the only thing that was unique to A. Lowell. The subjects that she discussed in the way that she does are also unique. In her poem “Patterns” she discusses one of the time periods main concerns, which was war and how it affected the people in the United States. The way she portrays the main character and how the story plays out it makes out the girl and her lover to be victims of the war. In her poem “A Decade” she also discusses main concerns of the time period and displays how people feel about what is going on around them. Reading these two poems the reader gets a good sense for what the people of the time period thought and believed about their society.

            One of the main things that one looks at after knowing A. Lowells background is her wealth. Coming from wealth many people would assume that it would affect her writing. Looking farther into her writing and her topics one is drawn to the conclusion that her wealth affects her perspective on things. This is mostly displayed in her poem “Patterns”.  Throughout the poem it seems as though the girl is similar to A. Lowell herself, she is well off and somewhat sheltered from the world. That is why the girl feels as though she is a victim of what has happened. If this poem was written from a person’s point of view that was not wealthy it may have focused more on how they were going to survive after the lover’s death. (Lowell, 1916, p. 1534)

            Robert Lowell was raised very similar to Amy as that he was also born into wealth and was well educated. Like Amy he attended Harvard University. He was first published in his late twenties and two years later won a Pulitzer Prize. Unlike Amy Lowell he had a little bit earlier start and a family history of literature and poetry. (Perkins & Perkins, 2010, p. 1859)

            R. Lowell’s poems are very similar in form in comparison to A. Lowell. He seems to follow the same pattern in line length: medium, shortest, short, longest, long, medium, long, medium, long, short, ect. This is noticeable in almost all of his poems including “For the Union Dead”, “Skunk Hour”, and “The Neo-Classical Urn”. (Lowell, 1960, p. 1865)

            Many of R. Lowell’s poems are also about important topics during the time period. Even though he does not seem to focus on that in all of his poems like A. Lowell does, one poem that he does is “For the Union Dead”. He seems to try to keep a large variety of subjects in his works. In doing this the reader gets a better understanding as to how he feels regarding a variety of different subjects.

            In R. Lowell’s writing it seems as though he is less sheltered than A. Lowell. The reader sees this in the topics that he discusses and also the way that he describes them. The fact that they lived in different time periods could be part of that. Another aspect of that could be because A. Lowell is a female and lived a more sheltered life because of that.

            Both Amy Lowell and Robert Lowell wrote amazing and inspiring poetry. They influenced people and taught them about the way life was during their time. With similar yet different lifestyles so is their poetry similar but different. The similarities are what make the reader think, and the differences are what make the reader intrigued. Making both poets famous for what they do and how their writing effects people then and now.

 

 

 

 

References

Lowell, A. (1916). Patterns. In G. Perkins, B. Perkins, J. Phelan, & E. Renker (Eds.), The American Tradition in Literature (12th ed., pp. 1532-1535). New York: McGraw Hill.

Lowell, A. (1919). A Decade. In G. Perkins, B. Perkins, J. Phelan, & E. Renker (Eds.), American Tradition in Literature (12th ed., p. 1535). New York: McGraw Hill.

Lowell, R. (1960). For the Union Dead. In B. Perkins, G. Perkins, J. Phelan, & E. Renker (Eds.), American Tradition in Literature (12th ed., pp. 1864-1867). McGraw Hill: New York.

Perkins, B., & Perkins, G. (2010). Robert Lowell (1917-1977). In G. Lowell, B. Lowell, J. Phelan, & E. Renker (Eds.), American Tradition in Literature (12th ed., pp. 1858-1860). New York: McGraw Hill.

Perkins, G., & Perkins, B. (2010). Amy Lowell (1874-1925). In G. Perkins, B. Perkins, J. Phelan, & E. Renker (Eds.), The American Tradition in Literature (12th ed., pp. 1531-1532). New York: McGraw Hill.