%3525 " “3 2 fife f 7 1611 1 AMY LO W ELL M HU

A Ske tch of H er Life an d H er !lace in Con temporary Am erican Litera ture

B Y RICHAR! HU NT

HIS biographical resum e of Miss Amy is gi ven in re spon se to a desire on the part of ' many readers “ to know something more about the poet and critic whose genius has been such a st im u

lating element in the modern poetry renaissance . seems to have had more than ‘The

a normal quota of literary gentlemen . The first col on is t , , a merchant of Bristol , Somer 16 3 7 set , England , who arrived in Newburyport in , wrote an ode on the death of Governor Winthrop

’ which contains the following nai ve quatrain !

’ He re ou h av e Lowe ll s lo al y y ty, !e n n e h sle n er skill d wit d , An d w h n o oo oe r it it g d p t y, ” B ut l ll ce rta in y good wi . ’ - Mis Lowell s great grandfather , , a sce n dan t of di this gentleman , gained consider g able local fame by his newspaper articles signed The “ ll Rebe and The Norfolk Farmer . The best-known literary man in the family was James l of Russel Lowell , the poet , who was a cousin Miss 9 ( 5 0 75 8 2 L 0 e ! ' ’ ’ Lowe lf a at he ! ss s r n , g df r Mi Lowell s brother , Presi ’ . H fi dent A Lawrence Lowell of arvard U niversity , a s many people know , possesses the literary gift , as did her other brother , the late Professor Percival Lowell . ’ i t fl , in the long run , Miss Lowell s ancestors of the direct line have been distinguished chiefly for a ge n eral good standing in business and the professions , and for an abundant energy which has led them into i or o . He r altruistic , scholarly artist c avocati ns great ” grandfather, the Boston Rebel already referred n ot con to , was a lawyer , but he found time only to tribute to the papers but also to engage in hort icul

as . tural pursuits . His greenhouse in Roxbury , M s an fl contained the first orchids grown in America , Miss Lowell 1s still ln possession of a number of large azalea bushes which were brought to this country and presented to him by the famous French landscape ’ gardener Michaux . Miss Lowell s grandfather , John

Amory Lowell , a pioneer in the New England cotton industry and first Trustee of t he now famous Lowell

Institute , was also a horticulturist by avocation , and “ ” the Roxbury place , Broomley Vale , which he in it his h e r e d from father , was renowned for its gardens l f and glass houses . n the Brookline place where Miss

Lowell now lives , her father , Augustus Lowell , car ried on the horticultural traditions of the family .

Though he too was a business man , he found time personally to plan the extensive gardening about t h place and to do much of the superintending him self . At least two qualities appear in Miss Lowell ’ s t he poetry which are markedly atavistic ! namely , 3 vi or of mind which f ‘ kee n interests in life an of

garden flowers . M e n many kinds of nature poets , but

none exactly like Miss Lowell . She is the poet of that nature which is the product of landscape gardening !e o a e e and architecture . As g through her p g s find ourselves in old secluded gardens where fountains s ( play into cool ba ins , paths wind an d flowering shrubbery , marble steps lead - garden seats . Her poems are sweet scented with narcissus !

allthe da ffodils n Are blowi g a n d t he bright blue sq uills .

h rt ic lt ur And no wonder , with three generations of o u ist s behind her ! She has lived her whole life in the of atmosphere ancestral garden flowers , and the visi tor at her house to-day will notice the greenhouses and will be delighted by the many vases of flowers which cover her tables and fill the rooms with t heir

fragrance . ’ /f Miss Lowell s mother , was Miss Katharine dau ht Bigelow Lawrence , g , at

C on of . one time Minister to the St James , was an

accomplished musician and uist , speaking five

languages , singing , and playing three instruments . w Miss Lowell was supposed to ge t her early education “ o Wa s in the private scho ls , but her real teacher her w ‘ l’ mother , and to her e m a y trace Miss Lowe l s thor r ough g ounding in the French language , and , devel 4 AMY LOWELL

e oping from this , her deep int rest in French literature

and history . I! s F Miss Lowell was born in Brookline , Mas , e bru

' -i 9 1874 . x ary , It was thirty s years before her first - poem appeared in print , and thirty eight years before

her first volume was published , yet her career as a poet may be said to have started in childhood when m she Ishe began storing up i pressions , to which 1 showed an early and extreme sensitiveness . \ The m portance of the years previous t o her recognition is

evident . !The first of the two periods into which these years were naturally divided extended from early child 1902 un on hood to the year , and was the period of c ' f scious assimilation and of finding hersel . She wrote a verses when she was thirteen , and t an early age had - r vague aspirations toward story writing . Her litera y

impulses , however , indicated nothing precocious , as they were still indeterminate means occu pied first place in her though found an outlet for the most part in healthy pastimes o as tennis and horseback riding , in her devoti n to the ’ f n d animals on her ather s place , a in reading many 11 books ln the large family library . When she was eight years old she was taken to Europe and was whirled in true American style Hol through Scotland , England , France , Belgium ,

land , Italy , Germany , Norway , Denmark and

Sweden . Her mind was greatly stimulated by the

im r ssion s s om e of . n e wan d swiftly changing p e tt which , o enhanced by such i magi nary fears as all children AMY LOWELL 5

for un le as know , recurred months afterward with p - v ant vividness When she was twenty on e her mother

died , and the ext year she went abroad again . The 9 - on win t e r of 18 7 9 8 she passed the Nile , and the on following winte r a fruit ranch in El Cajon , Cali of of e forn ia . This is typical the variety exp rience which it has been her good for tune t o have had since

childhood . In fact New has been tempered by he sum 05 h f _ 1 89 9 19 s e mers o and again pa Europe , and during the winter and Spring of 1908 she went t o of Greece and Turkey . After the death her father in 1900 , she purchased the family place in Brookline , an d for a while devoted herself to educational and x ' library work in the interests of the town / But about this time s he began quite strongly to feel the poetic

of being a poet .

' year, then , marks he e trance upon the

second period of her artistic car r . She ha d fully decided that poetry was her natural mode of expres

sion , and for eight long years we find her serving a

solitary and faithful apprenticeship . reading the

masters , learning the technique of poetry , and de

v elopin g he r genius by constant exerci se . It was a o s he disc uraging struggle , for was her only critic , but to this fact is undoubtedly due much of her individu

ality and excellence . Spending her time mostly be tween Brookline and her summer

. H . she N , wrote many poems , but poned all publication till she should be quite sure of 6 AMY LOWELL

He r herself . first published poem appeared in the ” f 9 or 1 10 . Atlantic Monthly, August , Two years of later her first volume poetry came out . “ - ” A Dome of Many Coloured Glass was a typical first book iin that it icon t ain e d various poems of the sort which every poet must write before fully re aliz ing his own individuality. But it is this very fact which gives the volume much of it s human quality . ’ In Miss Lowell s later books this quality is more veiled by the method , but the moment we recognize the ourselves penetrating to the human Many of the poems in her first book foreshadowed he gv ividn e s s of image pre se n t at ion t firm n e ss of t on e , he h , and the imaginative , m power, which ake her later volumes so peculiarly her own It 1s worth remarking that the volume Opens with a f o . sort free verse poem Yet , when this poem was vers li bre written , had not broken into the magazines “ and Ima is was a word not heard of . Miss Lowell ha already been reaching certain in de pe n d ent conclusions about tendencies in the poetic art and had experimented in the free forms and the possi she bilit ie s of a more vivid imagery . One of the poems “ ”

In . had written , but not published , was a Garden U pon visiting England again in 19 13 it was natural i that she should have been drawn to the Imag sts ,

cryst allizing into a school . She met Ezra and s oon discovered that the tenets of the s were essentially which she had

from her own consideration of the subject . AMY LOWELL

For the strengthening of t hese tenets in the public

she . mind , agreed to join forces with the Imagists “ ” In a Garden was included in the first Imagist An “ t holo Im a is t e s gy , Des g , published in the spring of 19 14 of under the imprint Albert and Charles Boni , con New York . Since then she has been a regular “ r tributo to the annual Imagist Anthology , Some ” Mitflin Imagist Poets , published by Houghton — — 19 15 16 17. n o on e Company , in But who is at all ’ acquainted with Miss Lowell s poetry can think of ! f f " her primarily as an Imagist . She is primarily herself . Before the appearance of her second book Miss Lowell had occasion t o visit Euro time whic partly in behalf of Imagism , by

. re leaps About this time , also , she by quest the authorized translation of Edmond Ros ’ “ ” t e t h and s Pierrot qui Pleure Pierrot qui Rit , w ich l 19 15 was given as an opera in Boston n February , , l with Maggie Teyte n the role of Columbine . ’ r Miss Lowell s second volume of poetry , Swo d ” 19 14 Blades and Poppy Seed , published in , proved to be one of the literary events of the year . Though

' it is her first volume to contain vers li bre and Imagism c fully onscious of itself as such , there is ample evi ! of dence her respect for the classics . We find fre e verse and sonnets !pictorial pieces and lyrics !long

narratives in rhymed couplets or stanzas , with a flavor of romance and mystery ! imagistic cameos ! a n d of , perhaps most important all , the first exam c —ro a a ples of polyphoni p se which hve ever p pe a re d m this language . 8 AMY LOWELL

It has n ow been amply proved that free verse is “ ” n ot n e w t hin a g in poetry . But polyphonic prose i s n e w a n d , never pretended otherwise . True , it has certain French prototypes in the work of Paul Fort -!ol- and Saint Roux , but it is a debatable question whether these would ever have aff ected our literature had not Miss Lowell detected their possibilit ie s flThe “ ” name polyphonic prose , which Miss Lowell owes / t o Mr. m e re l t o the ! John Gould Fletcher , refers y

The rhythm of polyphonic prose is an ever—chang ing succession of all the rhythms t o be found existing

‘ 5 by themselves in simpler poe t rylxThere are the met z ric rhythms ( dactylic , iambic , trochaic , anapestic ,

and the free verse rhythms ( called cadences) . Each of these should be employed in its proper place to express the particular mood or situation or effect

required . Sometimes there are key rhythms which recur at intervals like visible arts of a thread woven l “ throu h . g the whole fabric Rhythmically , poly ” phonic prose is the most elastic of all t e t ic he‘ pg i and is especially adapted t o t li e treatment of n o r g many phases or aspects , or epic

sub e ct s or b e dramatic j y subjects that need to pre ff sented in a series ! The rhythmic e ect is orchestral! ” not simple . In polyphonic prose we find that of rhyme also is employed in a new way . Instead being an emphatic or special part of the poem or a n conve ient device . like the bars in music , it occurs

unexpectedly and subtly , ridding the movement of

s all sound monotony . This is one of the facts which AMY LOWELL 9

make polyphonic prose the mw gtm th e a which has yet been evolved , allowing poet , s it m does , to adapt his usic at will to each new feeling of and situation , and to cover all phases a complex - and many sided subject . ' a ! Many people enjoyed Sword Bl des and o é i i Sg edfi who had never cared much for poetry . lh s

is undoubtedly because , in such poems as The ” “ Great Adventure of Max B re uck and The Book of of Hours Sister Clotilde , Miss Lowell proved her — self an excellent story teller , and because the picture element in Some of her other poems pleases the eye

in much the same way that pictures themselves do .

' w For this reason there are many artists a m on g Miss ’ Lowell s admirers . In her power to see and reveal dazzling color and connotation is implied a nature which poets of the preceding epochs have never developed to quite the i Imagistic degree . It requires a sort of scientific m ’ is is on e of Miss Lowell s very spe o late brother , Dr . Percival L well , the famous astronomer and discoverer of the canals on l Mars , we find the same gift exercised n scientific i n rather than artistic directions . During the winter of 19 15 16 Miss Lowell gave on many lectures poetry in Boston , New York and

Chicago , and published a number of critical articles

F A as well as poems in the magazines . or some years drinking deep at the wells of French fter the publication of her second book she wa s calle d o . upon to answer s many questions that 10 AMY LOWELL

' it can almost be said she had the bus ess of b eing a critic thrust upon her . He r critical studies of the

French poets , and her own thorough schooling in i re at ve . work , had made her well fitted for the task 1 q He r of third book , then , was a book critical essays , - Six French Few criticisms of t o day are s o for at once penetrating and such good reading , Miss Lowell makes us live and breathe with each of her six poets , and finds room for many shrewd and entertaining observations about the ways of poets in general . Many pages in the back of the book are de voted to her translations of the more important poems of each man . This in itself is a valuable con - t ribution our of t ra n sla . to literature , and many her g tions will doubtless become standard . llMiss L Women

’ ' ' to a llow a variety of poetic effects . !There ° ‘ is pleasing evidence that her Ima s t ic owers have not waned !her touch has grown firm e r without los ‘ ’ “ in g its delicacy !an cLshe ha s deve lope d polyphonic ” “ n prose to a finer point . Among the most otable “ - ” “ ” “ poems are The Cross Roads , Malmaison , The “ ” Hammers andW he Cross-Roads is a powerful polyphonic in which the dramatic effects are strangely secured through ghostly atmospheres . “ ” m be “The next two are long narratives , Mal aison “ ” “ ” ing in polyphonic prose and The Hammers i n vers libre t he a fluent , rhymed , but added to purely AMY LOWELL 1 1 narrative element is an epic and dramatic element which has never heretofore been successfully em “ ” i . a ployed by an American poet P tterns , which s o of n ot ab fidb eat rt lyric in feeling , is a pem m y , s w e 11 1 o e an must a wMay as a re at on claim that W gi srn m r mt re ad l t he e l M mldi be tion to these should mentioned the four poems , “ ” composing The Overgrown Pasture group , which are remarkable f or their adaptation of authentic New l o Eng and r Yankee dialect to rhythmic free verse . One would not suppose that dialect could be true to

i . l fe and also rhythmic , but it is here The innate tragedy of these pictures of Ne v ngal rfi gount ryJi fe ! is t h e more telling because of the utter simplicity and

realism with which they are drawn . 1 Miss Lowell ’ s fifth and latest book Tendencies ” / Mode r i in American Poetry , publ shed in October , b p ’ 19 17 fs of , f as the name implies , another book critical Everybody knows the feeling which is some times provoked by absolute simplicity in a poem !the “ m reader exclaims Why , I could have written it y ” self ! kn owing well that these simple effects are t the very hardest o achieve . This same feeling is pro ’ voke d by Miss Lowell s new book of criticism !the reader wonders why the new poetry movement has

hitherto seemed such a confusing jumble . Thanks to f the perspective a forded by a few years , and to Miss

Lowell , the true and significant aspects of the new movement are being separated from the false and “ ” meaningless aspects , the fringe is being clipped , and the loo se ends are being pulled out and thrown 12 AMY LOWELL

away . As we have remarked , it seems so simple z when analy ed by Miss Lowell . She sees i n the new movement only three vital ten de n cie s six , and chooses poets who best exemplify these tendencies . They are Robinson and Frost ( rep - resenting realism , direct speech and the non mili tant spirit in art), Masters and Sandburg ( represent ing realism , direct speech and the reforming , militant

“ ” ' spirit) , and John Gould Fletcher and H . D . ( rep resenting the Imagist principles , romanticism , and that peace of mind as regards social and ethical ideas f or which the militants are still fighting) . This v ol ume is the first which has appeared dealing with the n modern poetry renaissance , and for this reaso is ex V t re m e ly im port an f It n ot only elucidates the new movement with masterly good sense , but is valu able as a series of critical biographies of s ixof our most important living poets . In preparing this book Miss Lowell used facts furnished and authorized by each poet himself , and has carefully analyzed the poetry

i . of each , giving copious quotat ons - What 1s the all inclusive quality which has enabled Miss Lowell to exert such a W on t he m W X-bl m ? She is con “ cerned with the best that is known and tholi ght in t he world. It IS her inherent New England culture expressing itself in terms of the new a ge . Provincial ism and Puritanism have given way to cosmo oli tanis d the liberal outlook , without any sacrifice ‘ of good literary taste and respect for the best tradi tion s /j The New England poet h as always been fore AMY LOWELL 13 f most in representing the peculiar spirit o his time . It was the New England poet who n ot only nurtured the traditions of the mother country before America s had realized its nationalism , but who fir t figured forth the objects and ideas which were peculiarly “

. our own American Coming down to day , it is ( t o quote from Miss Lowell herself) an interesting com - mentary on the easy scorn with which non M g landers regard New England that two of the s ixpoets ( whom she discusses as the most significant of the day) should be of the very bone and sinew of New ” England . These two are , of course , Robinson and

Frost . There is a third whom Miss Lowell does n ot mention , namely , herself .

7 19 1 . AMY LO W ELL

The L ast Three B ooles

B Y A L RO Y L H . SNO W

N the career of every poet there comes a time of fullest expansion , a time when the construe tive work is all done and after which further pro duction , fine though it may be , represents only a tilling of old fields which have already produced richly . With Miss Lowell that time has not come u Each new volume of hers shows the technical mas t e ry of those that had preceded it !each ha s the same rh t h fire and color in its phrases , each the same y t mical con rol , each the same sheer instinct for the beauty of things !but every volume reveals this old m technical power applied to new the es , moving out and making new fields her own . It was with reason that Professor William Lyon “ ” ‘ Phelps declared in the Bookman that the vers a t ilit y of Amy Lowell is so notable that it would be v in t o e a \ predict the nature of her futur production , \ or to at tempt to s e t a limit to her . In spite of her assured position in contemporary literature , ” on e feels that her career is only beginning . There t n “ ” had been indica io s in Men , Women , and Ghosts ’ of Miss Lowell s control of the novel verse form of Polyphonic Prose !there had been no hint that she

16 AMY LOWELL - understood . Starting in the revolution rocked King

" dom of the Two Sicilie s with the red heart of Vesu i vins smoking behind them , their story works n e vit ably through the fire O f their personal triumph to the

Of Trafalgar . Vivid stuff it is O f which this

made . is - - t o But rich as Sea Blue and Blood Red , my ’ mind the real significance of Can Grande s Castle ” lies in t wo poems ! The Bronze Horses and Guns ” as Keys !and the Great Gate Swings . At this point on it would be possible to cavil various matters , to ask if sometimes Opulence ha s n ot been pushed to - over richness , or rhetorical emphasis to shrillness ! t o but raise such questions ( very important though , t they may be so far as form is concerned) would be to distract attention from the really significant point about these two poems . Do they mark the way to the modern epic ? The epic as written by Homer can never be written again ! the balance Of n ai ve t é and refinement which produced him belongs to the child w hood of the world . In Dante and Milton , later rit of f ers great epics , there is a marked increase o the subjective element . The subjective is characteristic of the poetry of sophisticated peoples carried far, ' it is hostile to the spirit of the O figin alepic . If we are to continue in the subjective vein , as we must unless by a miracle the world can become young again , the question arises ! are we thereby automatically f or bidden epic themes ? Perhaps the answer to that “ ’ question lies in t wo of the poems of Can Grande s ” Castle . AMY LOWELL 17

Guns a s Keys . and the Great Gate Swings deals W it l’ l of y the Opening Japan by Commodore Perry , of t wo with the meeting, civilizations !surely a theme

epic in sweep if there ever was one . But whereas in the O ld epic attention would have been focussed on of the bare narrative of a sequence events , in Miss Lowell ’ s poem there is not only a genuine power in

the handling of dramatic action , but there is also a heavy emphasis on the play of two contrasting national temperaments !on the subjective elements

which lie before and beyond the action . It is that of or attitude approach , rather than the form , the is pointillistic technique , which significant in Miss ’ t Lowell s handling of these themes . It poin s the

’ way to the lyrical as opposed to the austere epic .

But quite aside from its literary interest , Guns

as Keys is excellent reading for itself, with its deli - cate handling of the lacquer work civilization of Japan as an opposite of the bluff Yankee nature which sends steam frigates shouldering against dis “ a n tant seas in pursuit of trade . Hedge Island , f other O the four poems in the volume , good as it is in ‘‘ ” ° Ke s 1n its way , cannot compare with Guns as y

power . It i s only in The Bronze Horses , the last a poem in the book , th t we find anything comparable ‘‘ ‘ ’ to Guns as Keys . In The Bronze Horses Miss

Lowell again treats a major theme , for these bronze horse s s o k , which have had varied a career in the

world , become in the poem the symbol of eternal

time treading down the centuries . U ntouched and serene they look down upon the greatness and decay 18 AMY LOWELL

of three empires . They see a Roman triumph !they see Byzantium sacked by the crusaders ! they seer! of Venice mistress the Mediterranean , and Venice impotent . The poem is largely conceived , and , if it ” u be be not so firmly handled as G ns as Keys , it is cause the richness of detail sometimes blurs the main r outlines of the poem . Fo Miss Lowell has a fine passion for the vivid and sparkling . It is small won der Professor John Livingston Lowes declared ( in Convention and Revolt in Poetry ” ) that “ ‘Can ’ ’ Grande s Castle challenges through its vividness . and contagious zest in life and color , an unreluctant ad miration ” a vividness and zest he feels native to lVIis s Lowell . ln To some readers who , spite of the fineness of ” ln Guns as Keys , could not escape a lurking fear spired by the intricate novelty Of the form and the ’ l ” very Opulence of Can Grande s Cast e as a whole , ’ “ O Miss Lowell s next book , Pictures f the Floating ” 19 19 World , published in , m It is M e s that you can pick up and

of c e Open at random , sure oming upon b autiful pages !it is one of those still more rare volumes to il which you can return , sure that the glamorous lusion of its poetry will not be dispelled by re reading . “ Pictures of the Floating World is purely a book f L - f . o ac o lyrics The first two sections the volume , J quer Prints and Chinoiseries ” deal with Japanese and Chinese themes . They are delicately done , cap turing t he f ragility of atmosphere the poet seeks . AMY LOWELL

” The Lacquer Prints particularly are , in their

7 1 f briefness , saturate with the pure emotion o beauty of of l The rest the book , and the greater part it , dea s with subjects nearer home ! people , places , the poet herself . The technique of these poems is that of the true

! modernist . The poet perceives the world keenly and !sh sensitively e presents it objectively to the reader .

of s in e a n on of All the overtones deep feeling , that q u n ot poetry , are present , but they do crowd into the poems in blurred comments and moralistic tag ings . The poems are distinct and brilliant in presentation of surfaces -but it is a dull reader who does n Ot fe el the surge of emotion bene “ fine piece in this re spe ct is Vernal Equinox with ' its building up of the feeling of spring out Of the scent of hyaci nths and the quivering of candles in the warm n t wet wind , u til the emotion of the poem breaks ou “ ” in that poignant last line . The Letter , which also f has justly been a favorite with readers o poetry , is a “ ” companion piece in emotion to Vernal Equinox . Again it is the fie rce n e s s of longing for the absent on e

t he rh th which gives poem its intensity , and it is the y m ic all y Objective treatment which gives it force . We feelwith the poet that while all about is drenched in - the scalding lustre of the moon , such love emotion cannot be compressed into the “ Little cramped ” t words of a letter . And this ability which Miss Lowell has of making t he reader identify himself

k . fl ‘ h AMY LOWELL

Splay of feeling he is drawn irresistibly in and sha re r ‘ of ade a the poetic emotion . “ ” e lfish Solitaire , with its delight in the un con

' strainedly lovely , has a charm peculiar to itself , and “ Madonna Of the Evening Flowers is so well f known as scarcely to need the bush O praise . Her garden is always an inspiration to Miss Lowell and “ ” in the Madonna Of the Evening Flowers , where it is made the setting for a poem of direct personal feel

of . ing , she has written one her best lyrics As another ‘ poet has said Of it ! Madonna of the Evening Flow ’ ” e rs s o . , a poem peaceful that to read it is to feel rest

There are other poems , widely varied in nature , which — “ — deserve comment there is not space to give V e f ” “ ” “ Tran sie n s nius , Summer Rain , On a Certain ” “ Critic , A Shower and many more . And perhaps f better than any o these I have mentioned , there is ” Appuldurcom be Park with its fundamental pas ' sion and despair . But with this volume one might praise endlessly ! ’ he high quality of Miss Lowell s work has brought t recognition throughout the country . The even s uring these years have been mainly bound

ant literary work , original and crit

and with the honors it has brought her . Numer ous universities , anxious to learn something of the s uc new movement , have asked her to read and the

s in. cess Of the e readings , emphasizing as they do spirited fashion the fact that the new poetry is meant for the ear , has been remarkable . Miss Low in is an art i If a com le m e n t ar art to that AMY LOWELL 21

No on e who has heard her can ever f or

rie n ce . Twice Miss Lowell has been in v it a 19 18 e d, by Tufts in M y , , and by Columbia in

1920 t o . June , , give the Phi Beta Kappa poem By Columbia she was made an honorary member of the New York Delta of the Phi Beta Kappa Society an honor very rarely accorded to a woman . And in the same month she was given the degree of Doctor f ” U of o . Literature by Baylor niversity Waco , Texas ooks a , p e A she p legend , as makes clear in he rpreface , means not simply a story , but an ex

i ’ pression of man s curiosity about both t he natural y vorld and his own strange mind ! in the primitive c ages he is cons ious Of this curiosity , and , as a measure of true or merely speculative understanding of comes to him , he expresses it through the medium a legend . This need of explaining external phenom ena , or unaccountable action , is the basis Of the true ’ “ f legend everywhere . In Miss Lowell s A Legend o ” on Porcelain , for example , the disasters which fall the porcelain maker are attributed to the in t e rve n tion Of demons an intervention only possible be cause his daughter has neglected certain supe rst i “ tious rites . Memorandum C on fide d by a Yucca to - ” a Passion Vine is based upon another , and very common type of legend . Primitive man saw that Lt he re were spots on the clear silver of the moon and felt the need of explaining the phenomenon !in this case the spots are attributed to the marks m ade by - - the paws of a satyr fox who attacked the moon god 22 AMY LOWELL

n dess on her descent to earth . We have a better u de rs t an din n ow but f ' g of the shadows in the moon , i ) such legends are perennially attractive ! they are r rooted in ou race consciousness .

The first poem in the volume , Memorandum ” Con fide d - is e by a Yucca to a Passion Vine , bas d , as on f I mentioned , the fox story , with the Peru o the f ’ Incas or a setting . It is done with Miss Lowell s of customary use sumptuous detail , but with a touch ( as the title would indicate) of faintly quizzical hu mor at the adventures of the love-distracted fox seek

ing alas ! the moon . The scenes in The Temple ’ of the Sun are typical of Miss Lowell s workmanship . he 1 S n ot h J garden rich , with natural flowers , but wit blossoms and fruits carefully wrought out of precious

metals and jewels . Even the but terflies are of tur i m q uo se and the lizards of silver . The Te ple itself so t he is of gold , built that the light of sun bursts at s on daybreak , while the prie ts chant , the image of he l on the god . T sunrise scene at The Temp e is e of

the best parts of the poem . Complementing it are the fin e passages describing the dance of the Inca of mothers in the garden at night , and the descent the luminous moon-goddess into the centre of the

ring the y form . The North American Indian is represented by two “ legends . Funeral Song for the Indian Chief Black ” i bird is , I believe , very close to the Indian Spirit n) its picturing of the burial of the dead chieftain on

his living horse . But important as it may be in an

effort to preserve some memory of a dying race , the

24 AMY LOWELL

sadness , and her voice was like the coiling of the sea !

hi m t h . and frees from e gift that was a curse Again , ’ S this legend , in Miss Lowell hands , becomes the tale an Of the extinction Of the Indian races , one after of other , before the furious march superior strength

and overweening ambition . - ” Witch Woman , also an Indian legend but this of of time Yucatan , is one of the best poems the book t and , for hat matter , that Miss Lowell has ever

written . All her power of Sharp visualization is needed to bring out the potentialities of the scene where the witch dances naked in the moonlight on lf se a the c i f edge with the curling , white fanged , far

below !and Miss Lowell makes the most of her m a! - t ri l u . e a with a truly so l satisfying adequacy Again , at the moment when the flesh falls away and there

is left a skeleton dancing , sharp against the red moon , all the delicacy O f her touch is needed to keep the fin e poem from shifting into the grotesque . But the ’ ness of touch is there the macabre is Miss Lowell s forte and the poem is kept with sure artistry in the

correct tone . And I cannot but mention the last two. l lines of the poem . They are Simplicity itse f and

they are pure inspiration . One has to look far in English poetry for a conclusion which sums up so perfectly and S O powerfully the body of the poem it f ’ “ ends . The conclusion o Browning s My Last ” ‘ Duchess is the only comparison that c om e s t o m j u

mind . ” The Gavotte in D Minor is another poem ln this volume which shows Miss Lowell ’ s artistry at AMY LOWELL 25

t its very best . The poem is oo intricately wrought to I i i be thoroughly analyzed here . But from the s gn fi cant title ( an integral part of the poem as every good

title is) to the very last line , every word Shows the

mastery of her workmanship . The skilful way in - - which she makes fresh the old love and above rhyme , m of the flexibility of the rhythm , the delicate chi e the music ! they are all evidence of her control of the

poetic medium . n o or But poet , alive dead , can consistently main “ tain a level throughout an entire volume . In C on ” fide d by a Yucca there is a slight tendency t o let details blur the main outline O f the poem ( a fault “ ”Which Miss Lowell fell into in the earlier The ” Bronze Horses and in A Legend of Porcelain the ’ fault recurs . Yet , so characteristic Of Miss Lowell s manner is the exquisite workmanship of this latter n f poem , I believe it will be o e o the best liked in the

volume . Potentially it is the most dainty in senti on of ment , based , as it is , the legend the beautiful ‘ girl who , absorbed in beauty and love , neglected the a t rites which would have kept the demons bay , and later redeemed her error with labor and pain before

the fiery porcelain furnaces . But. the poet is so e u

tranced with the fragile beauty . the color and grace ‘ - fulness of the porcelains which Chou Kiou paints . of and the exotic loveliness the Chinese civilization , \ ‘th at sometimes She seems to let description over

weight the poem . Taken one by one such passages are equal to some of the best Of Miss Lowell ’ s short lyrics !but in so long a poem our capacity t o react to 926 AMY LOWELL

- the dainty loveliness is over taxed , unless perchance a s has ? ) the reader fall in love , the poet done , with the very detail , and many readers will do just this . There are t wo other groups of legends to comment of upon , those of a European setting which Gavotte ” is on e in D Minor , and those of New England . One is tempted to exclaim at the insatiable curiosity con cerning mankind which has led Miss Lowell into so f many fields , and to wonder at her power o making them equally vivid . “ i s O ld of re Dried Marjoram the story Rizpah , told , and retold by a completely modern poet . If - on e were asked to define wherein present day poetry ' f of on f di fers from the poetry the Victorian period , e could best explain by example , and a trenchant ex “ ample would be a comparison between Dried Mar ” ’ “ ” of joram and Tennyson s Rizpah . At the time writing her poem , Miss Lowell had never read Tenny ’ “ ” out son s , as the Atlantic pointed when it pub lishe d Dried Marjoram . The poem attained instant

’ success , and indeed it is one of the most poignantly human things that Miss Lowell has written . It is said that every poet must try his hand at a ’ ballad at least once in his life . Miss Lowell s ballad ” is The Ring and the Castle . Nothing could Show ’ the poet s mastery over form better than this poem . ’ When it appeared anonymously in the Bookman s - - e n guessing the author contest , some years ago , it t ire ly baffled the critics . It is S O absolutely a ballad in l substance and in form . Miss Lowe l has said that it came out of her inner consciousness with no proto AMY LOWELL

how type that she can remember , which only proves

!closely related are primitive and modern man . Medi “ aev al in subject , treatment , and measure , The Ring

' n d a the Castle is nevertheless universal , because

true t o the perennial humanity of man .

Considered as pure narrative , The Statue in the of Garden is excellent . Set in the Europe the pres ent day with a strong undercurrent of Eighteenth

Century feeling , the form of the poem is well suited

to the material . The rather tight rhyming couplets

fit the Eighteenth Century motif , and the shifts into free verse give variation and f eary . In the case o a e 1 is not fair to tell the story ! it must be u f or fo nd in the original , The Statue in the Garden is told with a zest and piquancy which cannot be i . s transposed It a study in psychology , with insanity beckoning the hero farther and farther on through O f of his very love the beautiful , and the final surge of

human emotion by which he is released .

o t o H F ur Sides a ouse , the last poem in the book e all ( there are el ven told), appeals to me as the better ’ of the two New England poems . Miss Lowell S power in the handling of the macabre is again called into

full play along with her dramatic force . The stanza employed is admirably adapted t o her purposes !she utilizes the crescendo quality O f three successive N‘hym e d lines to bring each stanza to a wave-crest of

power , and then drives home the effect with a final

unrhymed line of an abrupter rhythm . But technical dexterity in the handling of stanza canno t alone make 28 AMY LOWELL

a poem satisfying . A poem is something more than its form and Mis s Lowellachieves that something n e ce s “ ” sary to make Four Sides to a House a really fin e poem . The restrained note of terror is well sustai ned and brought to a climax in the fear of the murderers as they kill their last horse no ghostly thing can pass ’ a horse s Skull , but they have only three horses . And the monosyllabic simplicity of the conclusion is equal to the rest ! it is n ot easy to round O ff effectively a f o . poem this nature , but Miss Lowell does it There is little doubt that “ Legends ” will be as “ enthusiastically received as was Pictures of t he ’ Floating World . been a steady rise , each

Chamber in The Boston Transcript ” “ We have o once Poe was the living and commanding p et , whose things were waited for . Now we watch and wait ’ “ i for Amy Lowell s poems . And as P ctures of the ” Floating World was worth waiting and watching! “ ” of for , so was Legends . It has the freshness the

1921 . B OOKS BY AMY LO W ELL

!oetry LEGENDS

n he r e for t he n e w an d e o e , the o r vitality , i z st un xpl r d in

‘ he e e s the e s ess a n d Superb te chn ica l skill with which S int rpr t r tl n f m M s Lo e m o s , as oes o se archin g spirit o hu anity , i s w ll irr r d

oe t he so of t he e en a e . othe r p t , ul pr s t g

w o m e e n ot o oe o e , LEGEN!S , he r n e v lu , will d light nly p try l v rs

n a e s m o n , o o e , but all who e n joy arr tiv , swiftly vi g vividly c l ur d an d hi n m in g with pass ion an d b e auty .

!ICTU RES O F THE FLO ATING W ORLD CAN G RANDE ’ S CASTLE MEN W OM G HO , EN AND STS SW ORD BLADES AND !O!!Y SEED A DOME or MANY-COLOU RED G LASS

e x e A OME or MANY- OLOU RE! G LAS S c pt D C , which is

!rose TENDENCIES IN MODERN AMERICAN !OETRY SIX FRENCH !O ETS

Each

HOU G HTON MIFFLIN COM!ANY

4 !A ST . B T N 4 T T . NE Y RK RK S 16 E. 0 H S W O , O O , AMY LO W ELL

Som e in t e rn at ion alO pin ion of he r work

Am y Lowe ll brin gs a n e w spark t o Am e rican poe t r

oe is an n e o e n e p try luxuri t, i t rw v , d licate , like t he bra

in S n Am o e e e se s in park pri g y L w ll r pr nt , t he I

U n e S e a e s u e it d tat s , an lr ady btl civilization . the M ercure de Fran ce .

’ M s Am o e e s oo s a r s i s y L w ll s lat t b k e ple ndid . doubte dly on e of t he re ally gre at Am e rican poe ts o f da y J OH N ! RINKW ATER.

W a lt W hitm a n an d Am y Lowe ll are the m ost widely

oe s in J Y ON E NOG U CH I !ro essor ican p t ( , f

Literature at Kei o Gi uku U n i versit Tok o. j y, y

’ The poise of Miss Lowe ll s work is t he po ise O f stre n! the firs t poe t of our strugglin g age with a roun de d Cult l

E o e n m s e s a n d t he e e e m t o ur p a a t r , with aptitud lik th t he a s e m e t he e se n m o O f a a s an d p t , brac pr t tur il ff ir , 3 h r u n A F ANK in ur Am e e grip po he r art . W L!O R O