Robert Lowell
He is widely considered one of the most important American poets of the postwar era, known for combining public and personal themes in his work and for his role in the confessional poetry movement.
- born
- March 1, 1917
- died
- September 12, 1977
- field
- Poetry
- nationality
- American
- known_for
- Confessional poetry, Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1947, 1974), National Book Award (1960)
Lore & Background
Lowell was born to U.S. Navy Cmdr. His mother was a descendant of signer of the U.S. He also had Jewish ancestors on both sides, including Maj. Mordecai Myers and the Mordecai family of Raleigh, North Carolina. As a youth, Lowell was described as 'thick-witted, narcissistic, thuggish' and was nicknamed 'Cal' after Caliban and Caligula. He attended St. summa cum laude in classics. He converted from Episcopalianism to Catholicism partly in rebellion against his parents.
Reader's Guide
Lowell's significance lies in his stylistic range and his influence on American poetry. He wrote in both formal metered verse and free verse, with some poems falling between the two. His 1959 book 'Life Studies' won the National Book Award and marked a new emphasis on intense, uninhibited discussion of personal and family struggles, aligning him with the confessional poetry movement. However, much of his work combined public and personal themes and did not conform to a typical confessional model.
Did You Know?
- Lowell was a conscientious objector during World War II and served time in federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut.
- He was nicknamed 'Cal' after the Shakespearean character Caliban and the Roman emperor Caligula.
- Lowell's parents were sixth cousins, both descended from Philip Livingston.
- He set up a tent on poet Allen Tate's lawn and lived in it for two months.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Robert Lowell?
Robert Lowell (1917–1977) was an American poet from a storied Boston family whose ancestry reaches back to the Mayflower. He is celebrated for weaving raw personal experience—mental illness, marital strife, inherited guilt—into poems that also grapple with politics and history, and for helping shape the confessional poetry movement.
What major awards did Robert Lowell receive?
Lowell was a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry (1947 and 1974) and also took home the National Book Award in 1960. Those accolades solidified his standing as one of the defining American poets of the postwar decades.
How is Robert Lowell connected to confessional poetry?
Confessional poetry is a mid-century American trend in which writers treat their own psychological wounds, family dysfunction, and private obsessions as primary subject matter. Lowell is routinely named a central figure of that school, especially for collections that strip away the veneer of his privileged upbringing to expose depression, rage, and self-doubt.
What was Robert Lowell's family background?
Born Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV in Boston, he grew up in the old New England Brahmin class with a genealogy stretching to the Mayflower. That inherited status became a persistent source of tension in his verse, where he interrogated privilege, ancestral guilt, and the pressure of living up to a name.
How did Robert Lowell die?
Lowell was killed in a car crash in New York City on September 12, 1977, at the age of sixty. His well-documented battles with bipolar disorder and repeated hospitalizations make his death one of the most discussed and mourned episodes in twentieth-century literary biography.
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