Everything about Life Studies totally explained
Life Studies is the fourth book of poems by
Robert Lowell. Many critics consider it Lowell's most important book and the Academy of American Poets named it one of their
Groundbreaking Books. (External Link
)
Composition
Some of the poems were written after Lowell's stay in the
McLean Hospital in
Belmont,
Boston in early
1958. The manuscript was competed in the summer of 1958, and sent to
Farrar, Straus & Cudahy in October.
Publication
Life Studies was first published in London by
Faber & Faber. This was to allow for it to be entered for selection by the
Poetry Book Society, one condition being that the first edition must be British. Because of the rush to release the book in Britain, the British first edition doesn't include the "91 Revere Street" section. The first American edition was published in
1959 by
Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, New York, and won the
National Book Award for Poetry in 1960. Lowell's previous books were
Land of Unlikeness,
Lord Weary's Castle, and
The Mills of The Kavanaughs.
Structure
The book is in four parts. Part One contains four poems:
- Beyond the Alps
- The Banker's Daughter
- Inauguration Day: January 1953
- A Mad Negro Soldier Confined at Munich
Part Two is a long prose passage entitled "91 Revere Street"
Part Three contains four poems:
Ford Madox Ford
For George Santayana
To Delmore Schwartz
Words for Hart Crane
Part Four is titled "Life Studies" and comprises:
I
II
Critical Response
M. L. Rosenthal wrote a review, entitled 'Poetry as Confession' which first applied the term 'confession' to Lowell's approach, and led to the name of the school of Confessional poetry.
John Thompson in The Kenyon Review spotted a key aspect of the book's significance: "For these poems, the question of propriety no longer exists. They have made a conquest: what they've won is a major expansion of the territory of poetry."
Historical significance
Life Studies is commonly seen as the first confessional book of poetry, although Kirsch questions the validity of this view.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Life Studies'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://life_studies.totallyexplained.com">Life Studies Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
