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Article: Robert Lowell. Collected Poems.(Book Review)
- Article from:
- World Literature Today
- Article date:
- September 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 University of Oklahoma. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Robert Lowell Collected Poems. Frank Bidart, David Gewanter, eds. New York. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. 2003. xvii + 1,186 pages $45. ISBN 0-374-12617-8
IN HIS POEM "History," Robert Lowell (1917-77) wrote: "History has to live with what was here, / clutching and close to fumbling all we had-- / it is so dull and gruesome how we die, / unlike writing, life never finishes." The sometimes tormented poet also wrote in "The Republic" that "There's a madness that is woe, / and there is a wisdom that is madness." I first began to read a lot of Lowell a few years ago, and I admired his wide thematic range and his contemplative language, which embraced nature, social life, ...