Robert Lowell # Robert Lowell is often considered the doyen of what is called “Confessional Poetry” in the tradition of Gerard Manly Hopkin’s. Kay Redfield Jamison in “Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character”, claims though he became a public person, he was never a public poet; he was, instead, a figure beheld in contemplation, working out the meanings of his thinking in plain view with what Joyce Carol Oates called Lowell’s ironic dignity”.

Skunk Hour # Robert Lowell’s acknowledgement of his emotional and psychological fragility is his strength, not his weakness. Lowell is often considered the doyen of what is called “Confessional Poetry” in the tradition of Gerard Manly Hopkins. Critics claim that, “all art is solipsistic; engaging with anything outside one’s mind cannot be done unless through the lens of the self”. Kay Redfield Jamison in “Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character”, claims though he became a public person, he was never a public poet; he was, instead, a figure beheld in contemplation, working out the meanings of his thinking in plain view with what Joyce Carol Oates called Lowell’s ironic dignity”.

Memories of West Street and Lepke # This poem is a reflection and self-assessment of Robert Lowell’s past - jail sentence, his present - a professor at Boston Univerisity and the future of his young daughter. While self-deprecating, the tone is detached, objective with ironic dignity. He refuses to wallow in maudlin self-pity. His problems are a reflection of his times – the tranquillised fifties. His affluent heritage is contrasted with his past protests and his present predicaments.

In Flanders Fields # John McCrae - 1872-1918 In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up our quarrel with the foe: