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Robert Lowell Quotes

1917–1977 United States

Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV (March 1, 1917 – September 12, 1977) was an American poet. Among his relatives were James Russell Lowell, Percival Lowell and Amy Lowell.

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Random Robert Lowell quote

43 quotes

Pity the planet, all joy gone
from this sweet volcanic cone;
peace to our children when they fall
in small war on the heels of small
war—until the end of time
to police the earth, a ghost
orbiting forever lost
in our monotonous sublime.

Near the Ocean (1967)

Once fishing was a rabbit's foot—
O wind blow cold, O wind blow hot,
Let suns stay in or suns step out:
Life danced a jig on the sperm-whale's spout—
The fisher's fluent and obscene
Catches kept his conscience clean.

Lord Weary's Castle (1946)

Two months after marching through Boston,
half the regiment was dead;
at the dedication,
William James could almost hear the bronze Negroes breathe.
Their monument sticks like a fishbone
in the city's throat.
Its Colonel is as lean
as a compass-needle.
He has an angry wrenlike vigilance,
a greyhound's gentle tautness;
he seems to wince at pleasure,
and suffocate for privacy.

For the Union Dead (1964)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Robert Lowell (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.