Selected Poems: Expanded Edition Including selections from Day by Day

by Lowell, Robert

• ISBN13: 9780374530068
• ISBN10: 0374530068
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-01-09
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summary

Selected Poemsincludes over 200 works culled from Robert Lowell's books of verseLord Weary's Castle,The Mills of the Kavanaughs,Life Studies,For the Union Dead,Near the Ocean,History,For Lizzie and Harriet, andThe Dolphin. Edited and with a foreword by the poet Frank Bidart, who also edited Collected Poems of Robert Lowell, this volume is a perfectly chosen representation of "the greatest American poet of the mid-century" (Richard Poirier,Book Week). Robert Lowell (191777) was the renowned and controversial author of many books of poetry, includingFor the Union Dead(1964) andLife Studies(1959), both published by FSG, which also published hisCollectedPoemsin 2003. Selected Poemsincludes over two hundred works culled from Robert Lowell's books of verseLord Weary's Castle,The Mills of the Kavanaughs,Life Studies,For the Union Dead,Near the Ocean,History,For Lizzie and Harriet, andThe Dolphin. Edited and with a foreword by the poet Frank Bidart, who also editedCollected Poems of Robert Lowell, this revised and expanded edition is a chosen representation of "the greatest American poet of the mid-century" (Richard Poirier,Book Week). Edited and with a foreword by the poet Frank Bidart, this revised and expanded edition of over two hundred works culled from Lowell's book of verse is a chosen representation of "the greatest American poet of the mid-century" (Richard Poirier,Book Week). "The concise but passionate prose of Frank Bidart's brief introductory essay argues that Lowell is more than the upper-crust Yankee his cultural references can make him seem to be. Lowell's confessional frankness and personal subject matter don't merely make a self-serving self-portrait; as Bidart writes, 'Robert Lowell was a transgressive artisthis art again and again broke taboos, both thematic and formal. If what you're looking for from your poetry is redemption and honesty in a distinctively American key, you won't find it in denser form anywhere else, Lowell asks elemental questions about memory, family, America and art, and his intimacy distills a compassion for all."Katie Peterson,Chicago Tribune "Selected Poems[has] resuscitated conversation about one of the most stylish and ambitious poets of the 20th century. The features that make Lowell exciting to readtechnical brilliance, as well as the instinct to deviate from it; a persuasive, public, rhetorical voice; dark interiorityare all on display inSelected Poems. What is also here, which Lowell excluded from the earlierSelected, is '91 Revere Street,' a remarkable prose memoir that demonstrates just how clear he was capable of being about his life."Los Angeles Times "Selected Poemsdemonstrates with unequivocal clarity that Robert Lowell's poems, not the least bit dated, remain as stunning and impressive now as they seemed back then, when they took American poetry by storm six decades ago."Steve Kowit,The San Diego Union-Tribune "This selectiona much-expanded version by Bidart of Lowell's own late-life cullingbrings the Herculean effort of restoring Lowell's oeuvre to print and prominence near completion. Next to the colossalCollected Poems, this is a formidable book in its own right, offering a distilled view of the arc of Lowell's whole career and of each of his individual books. From the early formal triumphs ofLord Weary's CastleandThe M

Author Biography

Robert Lowell (1917–77) was the renowned and controversial author of many books of poetry, including For the Union Dead (1964) and Life Studies (1959), both published by FSG, which also published his Collected Poems in 2003.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Frank Bidart	xiii
FROM Lord Weary s Castle (1946)
The Exile's Return	3
The Holy Innocents	4
Colloquy in Black Rock	5
The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket	6
In Memory of Arthur Winslow (Death from Cancer)	11
Mary Winslow	12
The Drunken Fisherman	13
Between the Porch and the Altar	15
The Ghost	19
In the Cage	22
At the Indian Killer's Grave	23
Mr. Edwards and the Spider	26
After the Surprising Conversions	28
The Death of the Sheriff (Nol Me Tangere)	30
Where the Rainbow Ends	31
FROM The Mills of the Kavanaughs (1951)
The Mills of the Kavanaughs	35
Falling Asleep over the Aeneid	38
Her Dead Brother	41
Mother Marie Therese	42
The Fat Man in the Mirror	46
Thanksgiving's Over	47
Life Studies (1959)
PART ONE
Beyond the Alps	53
The Banker's Daughter	55
Inauguration Day: January 1953	57
A Mad Negro Soldier Confined at Munich	58
PART TWO
91 Revere Street	61
PART THREE
Ford Madox Ford	95
For George Santayana	97
To Delmore Schwartz	99
Words for Hart Crane	101
PART FOUR: LIFE STUDIES
I
My Last Afternoon with Uncle Devereux Winslow	105
Dunbarton	110
Grandparents	112
Commander Lowell	114
Terminal Days at Beverly Farms	117
Father's Bedroom	119
For Sale	120
Sailing Home from Rapallo	121
During Fever	123
Waking in the Blue	125
Home After Three Months Away	127
II
Memories of West Street and Lepke	129
Man and Wife	131
"To Speak of Woe That Is in Marriage"	132
Skunk Hour	133
FROM For the Union Dead (1964)
Water	137
The Old Flame	139
Middle Age	141
The Mouth of the Hudson	142
Fall 1961	143
Florence	144
Eve and Tooth	146
Alfred Corning Clark	148
Child's Song	150
The Public Garden	151
Going to and fro	152
Myopia: a Night	154
The Drinker	156
Hawthorne	158
Jonathan Edwards in Western Massachusetts	160
Tenth Muse	164
The Neo-Classical Urn	165
Caligula	167
July in Washington	169
Buenos Aires	170
Soft Wood	172
New York 1962: Fragment	174
The Flaw	175
Night Sweat	177
For the Union Dead	178
FROM Near the Ocean (1967)
Near the Ocean	183
1. Waking Early Sunday Morning	183
2. Fourth of July in Maine	187
3. The Opposite House	191
4. Central Park	192
5. Near the Ocean	194
FROM History (1973)
History	199
Man and Woman	199
Alexander	200
Death of Alexander	200
Hannibal 1. Roman Disaster at the Trebia	201
Marcus Cato 234-149 B.C.	201
Marcus Cato 95-46 B.C.	202
Cicero, the Sacrificial Killing	202
Nunc est bibendum, Cleopatra's Death	203
Juvenal's Prayer	203
Attila, Hitler	204
Mohammed	204
Death of Count Roland	205
Joinville and Louis IX	205
Dante 3. Buonconte	206
Dames du Temps Jadis	206
Coleridge and Richard II	207
Bosworth Field	207
Sir Thomas More	208
Anne Boleyn	208
Death of Anne Boleyn	209
Charles V by Titian	209
Marlowe	210
Mary Stuart	210
Rembrandt	211
The Worst Sinner, Jonathan Edwards' God	211
Watchmaker God	212
Robespierre and Mozart as Stage	212
Saint-Just 1767-93	213
Napoleon	213
Waterloo	214
Beethoven	214
Coleridge	215
The Lost Tune	215
Margaret Fuller Drowned	216
Abraham Lincoln	216
Verdun	217
Dream of Fair Ladies	217
Serpent	218
Words	218
Sunrise	219
Randall Jarrell 1 October 1965	219
Randall Jarrell 2	220
Randall Jarrell 3	220
T.S. Eliot	221
Ezra Pound	221
William Carlos Williams	222
Robert Frost	222
Stalin	223
Caracas I	223
The March 1	224
The March 2	224
Worse Times	225
Ulysses	225
Fever	226
Two Walls	226
For Robert Kennedy 1925-68	227
For Eugene McCarthy	227
Publication Day	228
Lévi-Strauss in London	228
The Nihilist as Hero	229
Reading Myself	229
For Elizabeth Bishop 4	230
Death and the Bridge	230
Ice	231
End of a Year	231
FROM For Lizzie and Harriet (1973)
PART ONE
Harriet, born January 4, 1957	235
Harriet	235
Elizabeth	236
These Winds (Harriet)	236
Harriet	237
PART TWO
Snake	238
Christmas Tree	238
Dear Sorrow	239
Harriet's Dream	239
Left Out of Vacation	240
Das Ewig Weibliche	240
Our Twentieth Wedding Anniversary (Elizabeth)	241
The Hard Way (Harriet)	241
Words for Muffin, a Guinea-Pig	242
End of Camp Alamoosook (Harriet)	242
Bringing a Turtle Home	243
Returning Turtle	243
Growth (Harriet)	244
The Graduate (Elizabeth)	244
Long Summer	245
No Hearing	245
No Hearing	246
Outlivers (Harriet and Elizabeth)	246
My Heavenly Shiner (Elizabeth)	247
It Did (Elizabeth)	247
Seals	248
Obit	248
FROM The Dolphin (1973)
Fishnet	251
Window	251
The Serpent	252
Symptoms	252
Voices	253
Old Snapshot from Venice 1952	253
Fall Weekend at Milgate	254
Records	255
Mermaid	256
In the Mail	258
Flounder	258
Exorcism	259
Plotted	259
The Couple 26o
Artist's Model	260
Mermaid Emerging	261
Angling	261
Leaf-Lace Dress	262
Late Summer at Milgate	262
Robert Sheridan Lowell	263
Careless Night	263
Wildrose	264
Ivana	264
Lost Fish	265
Sick	265
Plane-Ticket	266
Christmas	266
Christmas	267
Dolphin	267
From Selected Poems (1976)
NINETEEN THIRTIES
First Things	273
First Love	273
1930's	274
Searching	274
1930's	275
1930's	275
1930's	276
Bobby Delano	276
1930's	277
Long Summers	277
Long Summers	278
Long Summers	278
1930's	279
1930's	279
Anne Dick 1. 1936	280
Anne Dick 2.1936	280
Father	281
Mother and Father 1	281
Mother and Father 2	282
Returning	282
Mother, 1972	283
Father in a Dream	283
To Daddy	284
Will Not Come Back	284
MEXICO
Mexico (1, 3-10)	287
Eight Months Later	292
1. Eight Months Later	292
2. Die Gold-Orangen	292
FROM Day by Day (1977)
Ulysses and Circe	295
Our Afterlife I	302
For John Berryman	304
Square of Black	306
In the Ward	308
DAY BY DAY
from Part I
The Day	310
Domesday Book	311
Marriage	314
from Part II
Robert T.S. Lowell	317
For Sheridan	319
Grass Fires	320
St. Mark's, 1933	322
Suburban Surf	324
from Part III
Ten Minutes	326
Notice	328
Shifting Colors	329
Unwanted	331
The Downlook	335
Thanks-Offering for Recovery	337
Epilogue	338
FROM Last Poems (1977)
Summer Tides	341
Notes	345
Chronology	407
Index of Titles	411
Index of First Lines	415