Lowell

Robert Lowell, wow, what a writer! I really am partial to Lowell because of his love of history and his love of preserving it. My favorite of his writings is, For the Union Dead. I had to re-read my history to understand the depth of this poem. Lowell had a connection to this poem he wrote because of one of his ancestors had fought in the Civil War at the same time Colonel Shaw was serving with his Black Regiment. I was amazed at how Lowell felt about the “old South Boston Aquarium.” The whole section was sentimental to him, the aquarium and the park where the bronze relief of Robert Gould Shaw and the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. When they torn down the aquarium it was as if they were taking apart of Lowell’s history away. It just seemed so sad to read, For the Union Dead, Lowell was watching the aquarium being destroyed and bulldozed away and the bronze relief of Colonel Shaw was propped up with a stick, this was hard for him.

Lowell was called the “Father of Confessional Poetry,” because he was tired of the same old, same old poetry and called poetry, “raw and cooked,” he met Allen Ginsberg one time while he was in California. Ginsberg had opened up a whole new world of poetry to young people several years before. Lowell took the lead to form a new type of poetry along with Sylivia Platt, Anne Sexton, and John Berryman. What a group they were. Lowell inspired them to become great poets.