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
