The Selected Letters of Robert Lowell

by Robert Lowell

One of the most influential American poets of the twentieth century, Robert Lowell was also a prolific letter-writer who corresponded with some of the most remarkable writers and thinkers of his day, including Elizabeth Bishop, Edmund Wilson, Robert Kennedy, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, William Empson, T. S. Eliot, Robert Frost and Marianne Moore. These letters document the transformation of Lowell's work over the course of his career; the development of his reading habits; the germination of his moral beliefs (he famously opposed the WWII draft in a personal letter to President Roosevelt and was jailed as a conscientious objector); his engagement with politics and the anti-war movement of the 1960s. They also illuminate another side of the intimate life that was the subject of so many of his his deep friendships with other writers; the manic-depressive illness he struggled to endure and understand;...

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction

852 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Robert Lowell, born Robert Traill Spence Lowell, IV, was an American poet whose works, confessional in nature, engaged with the questions of history and probed the dark recesses of the self. He is generally considered to be among the greatest American poets of the twentieth century.

His first and second books, Land of Unlikeness (1944) and Lord Weary's Castle (for which he received a Pulitzer Prize in 1947, at the age of thirty), were influenced by his conversion from Episcopalianism to Catholicism and explored the dark side of America's Puritan legacy.

Under the influence of Allen Tate and the New Critics, he wrote rigorously formal poetry that drew praise for its exceptionally powerful handling of meter and rhyme. Lowell was politically involved—he became a conscientious objector during the Second World War and was imprisoned as a result, and actively protested against the war in Vietnam—and his personal life was full of marital and psychological turmoil. He suffered from severe episodes of manic depression, for which he was repeatedly hospitalized.

Partly in response to his frequent breakdowns, and partly due to the influence of such younger poets as W. D. Snodgrass and Allen Ginsberg, Lowell in the mid-fifties began to write more directly from personal experience, and loosened his adherence to traditional meter and form. The result was a watershed collection, Life Studies (1959), which forever changed the landscape of modern poetry, much as Eliot's The Waste Land had three decades before.

Considered by many to be the most important poet in English of the second half of the twentieth century, Lowell continued to develop his work with sometimes uneven results, all along defining the restless center of American poetry, until his sudden death from a heart attack at age 60. Robert Lowell served as a Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets from 1962 until his death in 1977.

Reviews

[N · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last year, wandering unprepared overseas, I ran out of literary reads and began to scour the cities I was in - at this time, Barcelona, Spain - for a book to buy. Luckily, I found La Central, who had by far the best selection of books in foreign tongues, with literary taste head and shoulders above all other bookstores I had been to elsewhere in the city, and in neighboring countries, who only seemed to shelve (pardon me) poorly written, cheap reads, like the Twilight series.

At home in the states, I had Robert Lowell's "Collected Poems", though I had hardly cracked it open, as so far, as well as, a volume containing the complete correspondence between him and Elizabeth Bishop, left half-read for my return. Having liked Lowell well enough (he's since become one of my favorite poets/writers), and having an affectionate fondness for old-fashioned letters, I shelled over fifteen euros from my dwindling funds, and left.

I ended up reading this repeatedly, in a row, before I made it home. Its eight-hundred and eighty-eight pages and no preset plot, made it pleasant to reread, verses say, a mystery, in which there wouldn't be much reason when you already know it's conclusion.

It begins a bit tedious, however, he immensely improves in the craft of correspondence as the letters go, and in the course of this collection, communicates with many notable poets and writers, such as Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, Flannery O'Connor, Allen Ginsberg, T.S. Eliot, and William Carols Williams. At times he is truthful, playful, endearing, dreadful, in the middle of one of his manic-depressive episodes...

These letters are an unflinching look at his relationships, his thought process, his career, and the ups and downs, the ins and outs, of his sixty years. Especially recommended for fans of Robert Lowell.

P.S. Note on the actual book, invest in the hardback edition, if you can. I am almost obsessively careful with my books, and still, after a couple full reads of the paperback, the binding came undone and nearly half the book fell away from the spine.

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The letters of a brilliant poet and a deeply troubled man make for endlessly interesting exploration, but always tinged with sadness.

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me almost three months to finish and that is unusual for me. Robert Lowell was a New England blue blood who wrote tight poetry and loved women intellectuals. He also struggled with manic depression. His letters represent all that and much more. His mind grappled with not only the vicissitudes of his illness and the effect that had on those he loved but on politics, metaphysics, and mortality. Here is a snippet:

--By the way the opening poems of Dolphin were written on a very bad typewriter and under heavy Thorazine. Of course they were doggedly rewritten later but retain the confusion of their circumstance.--

His lifelong friendship with Elizabeth Bishop is well represented, as is his relationship with Adrienne Rich.

This was somehow exactly my cup of tea. The intersection of Boston, poetry, and heart struggle.

[The American Conservative]

'This book will interest many readers. Lowell devotees will find details of his life and tastes unavailable elsewhere. Students of 20th-century literature will value Lowell’s observations about his contemporaries. Poets can trace Lowell’s artistic development and see how he wrestled with his craft.

Ideologues of the Left or Right won’t find much to like here, however. Though Lowell cared about politics, he cared infinitely more about his art. Warfare and other worldly events were his muses, not his masters. '

Read the full review, "Life Studies in Letters," on our website:
http://www.theamericanconservative.co...

[Kate Levin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't remember why I bought this. I think I was interested in his relationship with Elizabeth Bishop.

[Kelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Robert....crazy man. Good letters.

[Beep · Rating 3 out of 5]

These letters reveal how complicated and exhausting Lowell's life was, and I got tired just reading them. I can't imagine what he and his loved ones endured.

[Jenni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting stuff.