RANIA SABER AHMED ABDEL RAHIM 81

A STUDY OF HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF THE CONFESSIONAL POETRY IN ’S

Rania Saber Ahmed Abdel Rahim JAMIA MILIA ISLAMIA UNIVERSITY, New Delhi, INDIA Faculty of Humanities/English Department ICCR Scholarship/African Scheme (Egypt) E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract Robert Lowell, the iconic American Poet, moves with his Confessional poetry, notably the poetic volume Life Studies (1959) from the ―raw‖ to the ―cooked‖. Confessional poetry is similar to the art of confession. Moreover, the historical poetic pieces implied more than the mere gathering of fact and figures. For Lowell history manifested itself in the affairs of men and it is a persistent and violent force. Such a view is not entirely optimistic, springing directly from this view is Lowell's deep sense of loss, failure, alienation, helplessness and a feeling of entrapment in a world not of his making. In the light of the New Historicism approach, Lowell managed to perceive the literary text as a communal product which sought to reconnect itself to its cultural context. He did not think only of the past but took history forward into the present with all its discourse on culture, and its components, religious and political tradition of the place itself. Hence, in order to study the confessional poetry, historical aspects and the consequences of their psychoanalytic literary approach objectively play a significant role.

Key Words: Confessional poetry, Robert Lowell, Poetic Volume Life Studies, New Historicism, Historical Aspects.

Abstrak: Robert Lowell, Penyair Amerika yang ikonik, bergerak dengan puisi Confessional-nya, terutama volume puisi Life Studies (1959) dari "mentah" ke "dimasak". Puisi pengakuan mirip dengan seni pengakuan. Lagipula, potongan puisi sejarah menyiratkan lebih dari sekedar pengumpulan fakta dan angka. Bagi Lowell, sejarah memanifestasikan dirinya dalam urusan manusia dan merupakan kekuatan yang gigih dan kejam. Pandangan seperti itu tidak sepenuhnya optimis, yang muncul langsung dari pandangan ini adalah perasaan kehilangan, kegagalan, keterasingan, ketidakberdayaan, dan perasaan terperangkap di dunia yang bukan buatannya. Dalam terang pendekatan Historisisme Baru, Lowell berhasil mempersepsikan teks sastra sebagai produk komunal yang berusaha menghubungkan dirinya kembali dengan konteks budayanya. Dia tidak hanya memikirkan masa lalu tetapi membawa sejarah maju ke masa kini dengan segala wacana tentang budaya, dan komponennya, tradisi agama dan politik tempat itu sendiri. Oleh karena itu, untuk mempelajari puisi pengakuan, aspek historis dan

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konsekuensi dari pendekatan sastra psikoanalitik secara obyektif memainkan peran penting. Kata Kunci: Puisi pengakuan, Robert Lowell, Studi Volume Puisi Kehidupan, Historisisme Baru, Aspek Sejarah.

INTRODUCTION At Harvard, Lowell met with Robert Lowell’s Life, Art and Allen Tate, a poet of the Fugitive Achievements group. He travelled to Tate's Robert Traill Tennessee home during the summer Spence Lowell IV (March 1, 1917 – of 1937; writing poetry and studying September 12, 1977) was born in at the feet of the older poet. He Boston, Massachusetts descendant of transferred to Ohio to study with a prominent family. His father, John Crowe Ransom who was Tate's Robert Traill Spence Lowell, worked mentor in Kenyon College. At as an officer in the Navy, while his Kenyon, he then befriended Randall mother, Charlotte Winslow Lowell, Jarrell and Peter Taylor, both of was a member of an old New whom went on to their successful England family that of William careers as writers. Lowell then Samuel John, a signer of the United studied with Cleanth Brooks and States Constitution. Robert Penn Warren at Louisiana Since the end of the Second State University. World War, Robert Lowell became In 1940, Lowell's conversion an important American poet. He is to Roman Catholicism was a denial one of the most influential poets of of his ancestors' New England the 1950s and 60s. Lowell was Protestantism. He had volunteered educated at private schools in Boston for military service when the Second where he decided upon a career as a World War began in 1941. However, poet. He spent summers reading and it was in 1943 when he received a studying the English literary tradition conscription notice from the United even imposing his reading lists on States military, shocked and school friends. disappointed by the bombing of

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civilians in German cities, he hospital after his mother's death in declared himself at this time a 1954. The years of suffering, conscientious objector. He served for sickness and despair of the middle several months in jail and finished 1950s were characterized by a his sentence performing community political atmosphere because of the service in Connecticut. election of Dwight D. Eisenhower. During these months, Lowell Meanwhile, Lowell's psychiatrists finished and published his first book, drove him to write about his (1944) and childhood manifested in the prose revised it in the next year. He memoir at the heart of Lowell's 1959 published the new version as Lord book, Life Studies, which is a free Weary's Castle in 1946 which verse poetic piece that took received a warm reception within consideration of Lowell's self, his critical circles in The Nation psyche, and his surroundings. The magazine, and was awarded the publication of Life Studies in 1959 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1947. renewed Lowell's reputation; the These works strengthened Lowell's book received the National Book reputation as a leading poet of the Award in 1960. Many readers saw in new generation. He published his the book nothing less than a change next book, The Mills of the in the American poetic landscape Kavanaughs, in 1951. The book was while the new book actually criticized as inferior to Lord Weary's inaugurated the poetry that was Castle, and even Lowell recognized coined by M.L. Rosenthal as, the firmness of the new book's "Confessional.'' dramatic monologues. The early sixties found These years saw Lowell Lowell also publishing his collection suffering from a number of manic- of Imitations 1961, loose translations depressive experiences, of poems (the book won the foreshadowing the disease that Bollingen Poetry Translation Prize in plagued him when he was eventually 1962). The historical interest evident hospitalized at McLean's, a mental in Lowell's poetry and plays alike are

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revealed where Lowell returned to a September 1977. His last book, Day consideration of the individual's By Day, was published a year after relation to history with the his death. publication of (1964) The literary merit of Robert and (1964). Lowell's poetry has been in question Lowell publicly refused Lyndon for the past fifty years. Critics Johnson's invitation when invited to focused on Lowell in the context of a White House Arts Festival in 1965 Confessionalism. They offer as a stance against the American readings of his poetry which escalation of the war in Vietnam. In emphasize the need for confessional 1967, Lowell participated along with detail in order to understand the thousands of others in the March on context and the true meaning of his the Pentagon. In 1967, Lowell poems. The questions raised in this published Near the Ocean, a study depict the historical aspects collection which is the work Lowell that characterized the type of was most deeply absorbed in during confessional poetry throughout the the year when the verse journal analysis of the poems of Robert Notebook, 1967-68 was published. Lowell's Volume Life Studies. The In 1973, Lowell published focus of the study will also draw his book History and For Lizzie and attention to the stylistic development Harriet, which includes some of the that accompanied these aspects. poems about his wife and daughter Literary critical studies such from Notebook 1967-68, and many as New Historicism will be discussed new poems which document the in context. The paper will cover break-up of his marriage with significant features in Lowell's Hardwick. Later, The Dolphin (1973) poetry by analysis and citation from includes a number of poems about his correspondences with Elizabeth his marriage with Caroline Bishop, Allen Tate, Randall Jarrell Blackwood which won in 1974, the and Elizabeth Hardwick. Pulitzer Prize. Lowell died in New This paper discusses in detail York of a heart attack on 12 confessional poetry as related to the

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analysis of the poems of Lowell's in their political stance and their volume Life Studies in context with religion. During World War Two, the New Historicism approach. The Robert Lowell himself is viewed as a chapter deals with the historical conscientious objector, especially, background of the United States that protesting the allied bombing of poets like Lowell continued to civilians. The conscientious objector explore from his own perspective. In (CO) is defined as an individual who order to deal with history, prominent refuses to perform military service figures, time and place are tackled as based on his feeling of freedom of well in this section. thought, conscience, and/or religion Finally, this research paper is in the context of military service. a concentration on the innovation of (Wikipedia) He took his decision not confessional poetry and the evolution to serve in World War Two and he of Robert Lowell's psyche and ideas objected to the service in the Armed with regard to confessional Force as a result, he spent a year in American free verse and themes and federal prison in Connecticut. This stylistic tools. It aims at proving the was a firm political stance which development of his vision and appeared in some public letters. attempts to open up further Lowell wrote to President Roosevelt possibilities for understanding and and President Johnson about this interpreting his poems. issue. During Lowell's mental

Historical Aspects the Poet as a breakdown and poetry-writing and Conscientious Objector breakthroughs and his interest in his Robert Lowell's distinguished own ancestors' past was obvious. It family members in American history seems that while he was writing, he are linked to his past. This link was deeply absorbed in the appears to be an important element experience of uncovering his roots. in his poetry. However, Lowell Part of the family history was a always appears to be rebel with his familial section on which Life family, to be what they appear to be Studies was constructed; thus his

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family history was American history Aaron Burr was the vice-president of to Lowell and vice versa. It is the the United States, Lowell's first part which highlights Lowell's cousin five times. biography by telling not only his life- Lowell's consciousness of his story but also hinting something family history was brought into his about the social or the geographical conduct in the present. He had to live domain or more broadly spread out up to tradition and accordingly he through historical time. had to deal with certain attitudes of Perhaps Robert Lowell was his own. Consequently, his poetry at related to all the prominent figures the time showed his refusal to be that link the past of Lowell/Winslow drafted in 1943. Lowell wrote family as documented by Frank ironically that he was from Bidart in Lowell's Collected Poems prominent American family on both as well as those by Saskia Hamilton sides whose "traditions, have always in her book of Lowell's Letters and found their fulfilment in maintaining, by Hamilton and Thomas Travisano through responsible participation in in their collection of Lowell's and the civil and the military services, Elizabeth Bishop's correspondence, our country's freedom and honor." Words in Air (2008) and biographer (Letters of Robert Lowell 37-40). Paul Mariani. As Ian Hamilton hints, History is as important as the Robert Lowell on both his father and study of the psychoanalytical his mother's side was related to a approach. Both help one to number of important figures in the understand the process of growth and colonial and the revolutionary period development of a poet and a man in in American history. It was a fact the society. The study does not only that Lowell was quite apparently tackle domestic aspects specific to aware of. For example, he told confessional poetry but also Bishop in 1947 that he had "won historical aspects at large such as Ezra Pound's heart by telling him war, double standards, and that he was collateral descendant of materialism, and the poet's stance Aaron Burr" (Words in Air 15); against all dominant orders, and the

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hegemonic authority in society. mentions an American industrial city Lowell himself chose to write about providing power in the same manner the family in the 1950s as the story for its industries as M.L. Rosenthal of the ruin of his family which is the goes on to describe: ―history and story of post-war America, in predicament are embodied in those general, from his stand-point. of its own family and epitomized in It is the story of the self but his own psychological experience." this time it is depersonalized by (61) Lowell to reach a wider approach. John Fuller‘s brief interview M. L. Rosenthal describes this in his (1960) in his ―Trade Winds‖ column book The New Poets, he says ―The appeared just after Lowell had won Myth that Lowell creates is that of… the National Book Award for Life America,‖ (61) Lowell focuses on Studies, he states that his poems were the upper-class world writing about cited for their ―fierce and immediate the exact contemporary ironies of compassion… which strike through American history and the debilitation the private dimension to document of the New England tradition. Lowell the pressures of an age.‖ (Jeffrey plans a general view of civilization, Meyers 2) ―Elizabeth Bishop in one of history and of the recurrent quest of the letters addressed to Lowell, for salvation; his anguish is writes: "… He also sent me from concerned to register a sick world. LIFE. And some of the photographs Lowell takes us, particularly, to the aren‘t so bad! I rather like the one age of America and New England with both hands up, as if you were with their high cultures down to the being held up (by LIFE)." (Words in modern age with its horrors of world Air 317) wars. He opens the volume of Life The Life Studies (1959) as a Studies with a journey in the stream whole contains three verse parts and of history from the classical past to a prose part: The first section of Life the present which develops a Studies which consists of four poems personal view of a process of sum up the cultural and historical deepening cultural decay. He context of the poet‘s life and times

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are listed as: "Beyond the Alps," way "Ford Madox Ford" (April, (1952) "The Banker‘s Daughter," 1954), "For George Santayana" (Iowa 1953), "Inauguration Day" (1959), "Delmore Schwartz" (1958), (1953), and "The Mad Negro Soldier and "Hart Crane" (1953). Section Confined in Munich," (1953) that One and Three can be seen as a culminates in the tragedy of an grouping of 'historical' poems, individual, which is the outcome of historical in that they reveal the social, cultural and political nature and course of history as degradation. The first section is not perceived by the poet. Without being directly confessional and is directly critical of the society, he reminiscent of Lowell's first phase of presents a picture of a civilization as poetry writing which deal with issues a communal product that has lost its concerning history. The quartets of dignity. We may view the first poems which open the section were section as a bridge between the published earlier in 1952-54 and impersonal and objective poetry of present the background for Lowell‘s the earlier phase and the personal later confessional poems. The poems and subjective poetry of the later make up an opening movement that phase. is not personal in the sense of the rest Such historical pieces imply of the book; they are poems of more than the mere gathering of facts violent contradiction, a historical and figures. For Lowell history scheme to define the disintegration manifests itself in the affairs of men of the world. and it is a persistent and violent The second section is the force. Such a view is not entirely prose part which states Lowell's optimistic, springing directly from childhood and links up with this view is Lowell's deep sense of confessional free verse. The third loss, failure, alienation, helplessness section of the book has four poems and feelings of entrapment in a world about four poets with whom the poet not of his making. In this chapter, identifies himself in some way. historical aspects in confessional These four writers are placed in this poems by Robert Lowell will be

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discussed; aspects, such as setting willing to come to its aid by twice (places and time), wars, public attempting to enlist, he was even figures, will occupy the bulk of this willing to tolerate what would be chapter with examples from the considered as atrocities in his view poems. This section forms the the war was no longer defensive. background against which the poet‘s However, in 1967, the stance personal history unfolds. In context, he took was a political act of protest humanistic perspective should be and opposition to the Vietnam War discussed in relation to Lowell's and he denounced American air raids earlier indirect confessional poems in in Vietnam in 1965, stating that he Life Studies. However, Rollo May's and the society were in danger of (1909-1994) theory of the humanistic becoming an explosive and suddenly psychology, tension and existence violently aggressive nation, drifting appears to have a direct relation with on the way to the last nuclear the historical aspects in this volume. destruction. Finally he was asked to In addition, dealing with Life Studies be a petition signer against the war like writing of history is giving a hint and a supporter of the peace of New-Historicism as an approach movement. In October 1967, he clear in tackling the historical aspects joined a march to the Pentagon in in these poems. Washington, DC against the war and Lowell appears to be true to was one of the prominent speakers at himself as a civil right activist and a the event. defendant of his nation but he could In addition, Lowell not abide unnecessary violence. considered war caused destruction to Therefore, he participated in protest any forthcoming plans for the future. against the Vietnam War as a The normal individual accepts death, principle. Lowell makes it clear that as Rollo May in his psychoanalytical he is not a pacifist that was opposed approach states, however war causes to all war on principle. After Pearl destructive death. Lowell believed Harbor, he explains, he felt the that death is inevitable but as a country was threatened, and he was human being, he also had thoughts of

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a possible future and behaved part of its present meaning and must towards achieving it. According to inform any reading. As an example May, the human being sets plans in when discussing Hamlet by Robert the hope of fulfilling them in future Weimann who says that there is the times with certain responsibilities. Elizabethan context and the other Lowell as a responsible poet and modern understanding and citizen could face obstacles and interpretation of it. A work is not delays that upset his projects, he simply a monument of the past, but it even considered how he could cope cannot have real meaning without with the new situations and saw how knowing its context. What seems to get around the problem and applicable to this part of the research encompass the new situation. He is the approach that came in the never ignores the problem, but seeks 1980s where there were new ways of to grasp and solve it. Lowell is an thinking about this relation between example of the right and the the past and the present of a text and responsibility of the individual the culture resulted in a critical citizen to follow the dictates of movement known as the new conscience. historicism. This is what Lowell does The term was first used by when he confronts his anxiety about Wesley Morris in his book Toward a his family's position with regard to New Historicism in 1972, however, war: such constructive and adopted by Stephen Greenblatt who courageous confrontation is not applied it to a series of historical without anxiety for it does not forget Renaissance studies. Anton Kaes the individual's awareness of the speaks of it as a ''communal product limits and imperfections of one's rather than the expression of an existence. This position does not author's intention; which reconnects deny the significance of the historical it to its culture context and examines knowledge of Lowell's past legacy. the work of art as social intervention As for the new historicist, critics that crosses disciplinary boundaries argue that the pastness of the work is seeking historical and textual

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specificity.'' (210) Kaes perceives Lowell's meeting one such prisoner, the literary text as a communal Louis Lepke a Murderer when product which seeks to reconnect introduced to Lowell, Lepke said, itself to its cultural context. Relevant ''I‘m in for killing. What are you in to this issue is Greenblatt's for?'' to which Lowell replied, ''Oh, Shakespearean Negotiations: The I‘m in for refusing to kill.'' Circulation of Social Energy in (Mariani 109) Renaissance England (1988) and the New Historicism is not approach used by Shakespeare which preoccupied only with the past but it embodies the subject of anxiety and takes history forward into the present conflict as used by a dramatist. with all its discourse on culture, and Suspense and anxiety are actually its components and religious and investigated today by humanistic political traditions of the place itself. psychologists to explain disturbed Greenblatt demonstrates that a behaviour or thought. literary work participates in a larger The communal product as context and how it shares in shaping term can be applied to what was of meaning within a culture. experienced by Lowell‘s fellow According to Kaes, historical prisoners who included all types, background is no longer confined to some were for political and ethical the world of ideas but is defined with reasons. Lowell also met, in the complex social and cultural poem "Memories of West Street processes of everyday life with some Lepke", a Jehovah‘s Witness, a history. (212) The new historicism ―J.W.,‖ though he admitted of things understanding of the which he had ―never heard / of the interconnectedness of culture and Jehovah‘s Witnesses.‖ (37-39) While values reinforces a recognition of the Jehovah‘s Witnesses refused to norms as culture productions recognize the sovereignty of the state reflecting time-bound values. or to support state war. They made The New Historicism up the largest percentage of prisoners approach appears in the first section of conscience. A fellow CO recalled of the volume Life Studies in the

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socio-political atmosphere leading up stresses the importance of the being to this period which includes and his ability to participate. Yet, Eisenhower's inauguration. The these ethics are still submitted to the theme of the baby boom in families individual's choice of what should is discussed in the poem about the be. Lowell, thus, seeks to be faithful decaying family institution, women‘s and to accomplish true-to-life rights and civil rights. It is a reaction understanding of existence by against controlling institutions which emphasizing the actual being of the were never discussed in open person, his situation, and the degree conversation or even in poetry. M. H. of his responsibility to and for Abrams in ''On Political Readings of himself and his world. The term Lyrical Ballads" (1989) distinguishes "communion of consciousness" by between traditional historical study May can be viewed in the same light and the new historicism: the view of by Lowell when he included a new historicists is: "that history, not statement he sent to the president in the author, shapes a literary work and the Declaration of Personal forges its meaning." (365) As for Responsibility, explaining his Lowell's family members, they had reasons for opposing the war and served in all the wars since the justifying his refusal to participate in Declaration of Independence…. He it through the exercise of moral also wrote his mother to assure her responsibility. He was not alone in that he has ―taken the only course this struggle. While his views may that was honorable for me.‖ have differed from those of other (The Letters of Robert Lowell 38) conscientious objectors, he shared As mentioned in New their struggle to preserve liberty. It is Historicism, the past is brought into not only Lowell who seems to have the present. Thus Rollo May's taken a harsh stance against war, but existential theory has somewhat a also the interaction between poets similar view of communal products and war goes back to some time ago with his theory of "communion of as raised in the question of one of his consciousness." (Richter 505) that own most famous lyrics, "Dedicatory

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Stanzas'': The Georgics of Virgil searched throughout the mid- translated by Cecil Day-Lewis twenties for personal order and (1940) ''Where are the war poets?'' artistic direction. Lowell gained the strength to reject the values imposed Where are the war poets? The upon him by his background and his fools inquire. We were the prophets of a literary peers. Similarly, he struggled changeable morning to find a poetic cause appropriate to Who hoped for much but saw the clouds forewarning his talents, but his disillusionment We were at war, while they still with the modern world caused him to played with fire And rigged the market for the turn inward for inspiration and ruin of man: positive cultural values that were Spain was a death to us, Munich a mourning. (1-6) lacking in the modern world outside.

In his individual searches for creative Cecil Day-Lewis shows the inspiration, Robert Lowell severed predicament of the time with a poet's relations with contemporary view on political poetry down to American society and chose to aesthetic questions of gentleness and escape into the brave new world of appropriateness amidst a historical the then innovative realm of trauma. The unheroic and psychic confessional verse. The roads chosen distress in this life could be felt in at this juncture were to determine the the tone of irony more than the direction and tone of the writer‘s devastating nature of the horror of future works and allow a much war. Hospitals became sites of clearer understanding of the poet‘s writing as well. War poets turned to work throughout the war years which be like historians who have to record reflected the exorcising of the war the mutilation and impending death from their personal lives and artistic or mutilation of man. endeavors. Lowell describes himself For the poet, war had an which clearly underlies his position effect on his life and on the direction as a poet and his views as a of his poetry. Documented conscientious objector during the psychological patterns of the Great war years. In his discontent, Lowell English Journal of Indragiri (EJI) : 2021, Vol. 5, No.1 ISSN. 2549-2144 Studies in Education, Literature, E-ISSN. 2589-5140 and Linguistics RANIA SABER AHMED ABDEL RAHIM 94

War and the depression caused by The wonderful lithograph is hanging to the left of our the failure to achieve easy victory, fireplace in the big morn… we followed by the frustrating bought in Brazil and have set in the middle of the dining room destructive nature of trench warfare rabble-amulets against the evils and the sense of hopelessness while of New York. (Words in Air 570) waiting to be the next casualty were of immediate concern. Lowell Confronted by his own became a famous public figure and ancestors' disreputable history and felt called upon to utter striking the relation of his family with his pronouncements such as: ―We‘re society, Lowell felt embarrassed and decaying… the old morality doesn‘t dishonored when he discovered that hold… Genocide has stunned us; we hypocrisy and shame were in his have a curious dread it will be ancestors' blood when they acted repeated.‖ (Meyers 93) is clearly against civilians and fostered war read in the ironic statement: ―I and its atrocities. The psychological believe we should rather die than struggles are created because of the drop our own bombs.‖ (Meyers 5) battle between traditional and Lowell chose a humanistic stand modern values. In addition, the rather than a political one and this indications of the power and took place shortly after the influence of money are reflected in assassination of President Kennedy, an unshakeable belief in the world Alverez again claims that Lowell‘s which is found to be an emotionless manner is ―almost saintly.‖(Meyers void that the modern man cannot 5) Lowell subtly perceives that accept and thus chose to escape into America had the ideal of always the brave new world and the ''raw'' trying to save the world or perhaps self. The Victorians, with their fiscal ironically destroying the world. and philosophical beliefs and values His imprisonment was a year are no longer possible here. The year and a day in Connecticut jail. In is 1950 and people in general attempt February 25, 1965, he wrote to to formulate a unified world-view Elizabeth Bishop, saying:

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and the world is now the subject of 1969) It is either healthy or harsh examination. destructive, good or evil. For some, it When discussing evil in is important to know how the Lowell's confessional poems, one individual interacts with what is evil. should tackle Rollo May's theory May says that individuals as well as about the subject: for May is the key cultures and societies must deal with figure of existential psychology. For the ''daimonic''. May also elaborates him, evil is a controversial issue but that personal responsibility provides still an issue truly within humanistic an important expression to the psychology which in spite of external social and cultural everything tends to see people as influences in the expression of evil being inherently good. There was and the tension between freedom and always the historical dialogue destiny. between Rollo May and Carl Rogers For May, existential in the Journal of Humanistic psychotherapy sets the person free in Psychology which was concerned order to grow and develop in his with this optimistic approach and yet world. Man must discover the calls for the importance of surroundings, judge the possibilities considering evil. May stresses on and have the free choice in a loving, paying more attention to the darker willing, happy, responsible, strongly side of the human-being including responsive atmosphere and yet be the presence of evil. The key concept aware of the various challenges of understanding evil is the before him and be able to face them. "daimonic" (May 1969). According The psychology of anxiety as to him, the ''daimonic'' is a key perceived by Rollo May suggests concept for understanding evil. It is that anxiety or guilt is the problem of ''any natural function with power to the individual and the community take over the whole person but it is helps to shape the context of the not necessarily seen entirely as a individual's creative will and choice. destructive force for it serves to fuel Lowell describes his younger self as creativity, vitality and health.'' (May a ―fire-breathing Catholic C.O.

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[conscientious objector]‖ who ―made participation, awareness, and my manic statement / telling off the consciousness. According to state.‖ (14) about the challenge of humanistic psychotherapy, this has to preserving freedom of conscience in be accomplished without doing a time of national crisis. violence to humanity. However, the desire for The above mentioned point freedom from the existing social of view is clearly reflected in system eventually led to a conflict in Lowell's poem "Beyond the Alps", the mind of the poet. Lowell is Lowell adopts psychoanalysis when confronting the norms which he focuses upon the very part of his suppresses his inner desires and does self, ―the bear-eyed ego‖ (31) The not even hesitate to express it openly speaker shows deep anger of the part in his poetry. May views the whole of his self which is blind to visions. issue of when an individual moves The poem tries to justify the failure towards an attitude towards being in of modernism in which the speaker the world, toward being influenced becomes a stranger. The poem by it, yet not being fully self-aware, introduces the predicament of the then forming and reshaping oneself intellectuals in an age that aborts and one's world by his own creative even creative ideas, as in: "pure mind response or decisive self-world and murder at the scything prow-/ relationship. (223) May goes on to Minerva, the miscarriage of the let the person explore his self-world brain"(39-40). It gives account of the relationship or in his terms "world failure of a man and a poet to escape design" (223) his sense of being and violence and deceit, and in contrast, orientation. It is all about the concept Lowell, therefore, is a conscious poet of becoming and developing one's who covers the whole scale of self in the moment towards the history of the 1950s. Yet, the poet's future. Such an aim is accomplished struggle and awareness continues when one sets oneself free, from throughout the night of his train individual, social, religious tension. journey. But in the twentieth century This is done through self-affirmation,

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there is ―no ticket for that altitude / 1732-1799, first President of the once held by Hellas,‖ (36-37) United States, Lowell's eighth cousin. Rev. Jonathan Edwards, Specific Historical Aspects 1703-1758, Lowell's five times Political powers, religious great-grandfather. features and money are always He came from a Puritanical intertwined and worth mentioning. Calvinism branch which he rejected To start with features concerning and for a good eight years was a political aspects, one has to trace Roman Catholic convert. Still he Robert Lowell's family history in took his Christianity seriously but he order to discover that he came from a never accepted his parent‘s Massachusetts family, with roots Calvinism. He is a descendant of the which go back to William Samuel Mayflower passengers James Chilton Johnson 1727-1819, a signer of the and his daughter Mary, Lowell's Declaration of Independence on his eight times great-grandfather on his mother‘s part, Philip Livingston, father‘s side. It is known that anyone signatory of the Declaration and who arrived as a passenger on the Lowell's great uncle and Robert R. Mayflower is considered a Pilgrim Livingston a member of the without any distinction on the basis Committee of Five which drafted the of their original purpose for making wording of the Declaration, and the voyage. Lowell's proven ancestry many other family members such as: from a passenger qualifies him to be negotiators with France of the a member of the General Society of Louisiana Purchase, for example Mayflower Descendants. He himself namely, Lowell's second cousin six mentions this in his poem "Waking times. Gov. William Livingston, in the Blue", as in the lines: 1723-1790, signatory of the United

States Constitution, first post- In between the limits of day, hours and hours go by under the Revolutionary governor of New crew haircuts Jersey, Lowell's six times great and slightly too little nonsensical bachelor twinkle uncle. President George Washington

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of the Roman Catholic them on his fingers, (21-27) attendants. Edward Winslow who is also (There are no Mayflower Lowell's great-grandfather, high screwballs in the Catholic Church.) (34-39) sheriff of Suffolk County,

Massachusetts, was mentioned by Lowell compared Robert Lowell in "Dunbarton", the poet Kennedy with Louis XVI, it was says: because Louis XVI was more real to like the ever-blackening wine- him than the world of contemporary dark coat politics, in his poem ''Waking in the in our portrait of Edward Winslow Blue", he says: once sheriff for George the Second, This is the way day breaks in the sire of bankrupt Tories. (31- Bowditch Hall at McLean‘s; 34) the hooded night lights bring out ―Bobbie," Robert Lowell does not end Porcellian ‗29, Section Four in his volume without a replica of Louis XVI without the wig-- writing about his one-year redolent and roly-poly as a experience in jail. In his poem sperm whale, as he swashbuckles about in his "Memories of West Street and birthday suit Lepke" a confessional poem (1958), and horses at chairs (25-32) Lowell mentions Franklin D. Lowell mentions his great- Roosevelt, the 32nd President, and a grandfather; Francis Winslow and close member to his family as a fifth his Aunt Lottie, in the poem cousin. In the poem, the 26-year-old "Dunbarton", he says: poet Robert Lowell has been

sentenced to jail for a year Oct 13, At the graveyard, a suave Venetian Christ 1943 for rejecting in a letter, sent to gave a sheepdog's nursing President Roosevelt, to be drafted patience to Grandfather's Aunt Lottie, and objecting to bombing civilians his Mother, the stone but not the during wartime. Franklin D. bones of his Father, Francis. Roosevelt 1882-1945, was shown in Failing as when Francis Winslow could count

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the poem "Memories of West Street court, and saw the Hudson River once and Lepke," Lowell says: a day through sooty clothesline These are the tranquilized entanglements Fifties, and bleaching khaki tenements. and I am forty. Ought I to regret Strolling, I yammered my seedtime? metaphysics with Abramowitz, I was a fire-breathing C.O., a jaundice-yellow ("it's really and made my manic statement, tan") Telling off the state and and fly-weight pacifist, president, and then so vegetarian, sat waiting sentence in the bull he wore rope shoes and pen (12-17) preferred fallen fruit. (20-30)

Lowell was living in Boston The situation is reflected in the 1950s and he recalls the year when Lepke, the speaker, is isolated he spent in a New York jail as a from other men. The concentration conscientious objector. He talks on death and the "air / of lost about himself in an implied ironic connections" (52-53), are applicable quotation marks, you imagine them to the poetry of this volume. The around "fire-breathing" and "manic" same relationship is obtained in the lines "I was a fire-breathing between Lepke and Lowell as the Catholic C.O., / and made my manic two looked from the roof of the West statement." (14-15) This is the Street Jail. The technique of the language of a man on trial, who poem itself exemplifies the "air of suggests failed principles and the fall lost connections." There is a into domesticity of the 1950s and connection at some level between middle age. It is what caused him to the poet and the speaker who is a become later a defender of civil criminal and is guilty for Lepke is a rights and a protester against murderer. The matter is said too Vietnam. Line endings have a frankly, perhaps, but what Lowell similar dry effect, he says: seems to suspect in these poems is Given a year, that any man's murder spoils other I walked on the roof of the West men. Street Jail, a short enclosure like my school soccer

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The syntactic structures of to retire so that the family could start "Memories of West Street Lepke" collecting from his trust fund. He thus imply that only by viewing the himself was not successful in his self in terms of its surroundings, work at all and took it as a matter of companions, and routine prison appearance. In Lowell's poem actions can the poet associate with "Commander Lowell" 1887- 1950," the world he inhabits: the participial he says: phrases and adjective strings he was soon fired. Years after guarantees the openness and year, truthfulness of the poet's vision. he still hummed ''Anchors aweigh'' in the tub- Indeed, the historic reference to the whenever he left a job, Negro boy with "curlicues / of he bought a smarter car. (45-48) marijuana in his hair" (18-19) has a The poem contains the lines looser structure that is closer to "Smiling on all, Father was once everyday speech than is the rest of successful enough to be lost / in the the poem: "I . . . then sat waiting . . . mob of ruling-class Bostonians." " (17) (62-64) This is clearly revealed in a If one traces over Robert poem "Terminal Days at Beverly Lowell's ancestry, it raises the Farms", he states: American Navy as an institution in Father and mother moved to the families of both Lowell's father Beverly Farms to be a two-minute walk from and mother even though Lowell the station, believed, his mother Charlotte half an hour by train from the Boston doctors. Winslow Lowell in reality hated the They had no sea-view, Navy. In the prose part "91 Revere but sky-blue tracks of the commuters' railroad shone Street", Lowell writes about class- like a double-barreled shotgun awareness of his mother and father through the scarlet late August sumac, who were unable to accept decisively multiplying like cancer if the commander should retire from at their garden's border. Father had had two coronaries. the navy or not. Lowell's mother He still treasured underhand practiced her pressure on his father economies, (14-24)

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Materialism is shown when While the passengers were tanning Lowell's family already sold their on the Mediterranean in deck- properties and had nothing else left, chairs, our family cemetery in he says in his poem "For Sale" a Dunbarton confessional poem (1958-1959): lay under the White Mountains in the sub-zero weather. Poor sheepish plaything, The graveyard‘s soil was organized with prodigal changing to stone— animosity, so many of its deaths had been lived in just a year— midwinter. my Father‘s cottage at Beverly Dour and dark against the Farms blinding snowdrifts, was on the market the month he its black brook and fir trunks died. were as smooth as masts. Empty, open, intimate, A fence of iron spear-hafts its town-house furniture black-bordered its mostly had an on tiptoe air Colonial grave-slates. (14-24) of waiting for the mover on the heels of the undertaker. Same ideas about being a Ready, afraid of living alone till eighty, conscientious objector was Mother mooned in a window, mentioned in Lowell's first section; as if she had stayed on a train one stop past her destination. his views against war, his (1-15) confrontation with a fragmented They reveal traces of reality and his experience with showiness even in death. What disappointment. The earlier part of shocks one here is that the flowers on the poem "Beyond the Alps" is filled shore and the scene in the harbor with various ideas about war as mirror the son‘s inner celebration of Rome is identified with political his mother‘s death. The imperial leaders as it is with religious leaders, casket had, of course, been Lowell‘s and their ancestries. From Caesar to own choice. The lines that follow Mussolini and to the Pope, one sees deliver the unnaturally high spirit of the apparent disparity between this social class in ―Sailing Home reality and appearance, in other from Rapallo‖ (1959), he says: words, appearance versus reality. The classical political heritage is

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weakened with this latter-day Caesar, twenty-years difference in age is this "skirt-mad" Mussolini. (9) shown in the marriage of this The notion of emptiness, of unfaithful couple to each other which the obstinate uncultivated world of reflect in reality the mismatch forced infertility, is carried onward between the monarchy and in another poem by Lowell "The "pillaging" democracies. (23) Both Banker's Daughter" which breaks all manipulate their relationship to their taboos of dishonorable history and advantage: the queen fabricates lies the impact of the materialistic to rob the king of his purse spending society. Lowell began to feel shame, on clothes and jewelry. The queen contempt, guilt and a deep moral also justifies her conduct by burden while discussing openly reminding us that the King had marriage and the question and committed adultery during his response concerned with gender and lifetime culminating with the king‘s sex in a funny implication where illegitimate son or ―nightmare son‖ woman gives in return by draining (36) growing older day by day. her husband's treasury, as in the line The third poem of this of Lowell's poem: " ...wardrobes that section, ''Inauguration Day: January dragged the Exchequer to its knees." 1953'' is a grim and satiric (7) Lowell reflects the influence of commemoration of the inauguration money, and how it is used to forge of Dwight Eisenhower. It is terse and destroy human relationships. poem with a harsh view of The royal marriage, the contemporary America in 1953. religious and political corruption is a Again, there is a journey through combination presented in this poem frozen Washington in the center of which opening with the birth of the the poem. The ice image presents the modern age of pure materialism death of the spirit and the which found its presence in the degradation of the American picture of French politics, where heritage, according to Lowell, relationships are reduced to mere Stuyvesant and Grant were military greed and calculation. More than heroes whose leadership had led

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American history into violence and disputes which is unlike the bloodshed. "tranquillized fifties." The grim realities of the In the fourth poem entitled: military rule are figuratively "A Mad Negro Soldier Confined at conveyed in the poem by the death- Munich" is another example that like stillness of the predominant reflects the atrocities of war. In such imagery. General Eisenhower, who a poem one cannot rule out the idea supervised the invasion of Normandy of Lowell's commenting on his and the defeat of Nazi Germany; ancestor's crimes towards the 34th President of the United States Indians. The poem relates the story (1890-1961) as an example who is of a black soldier in confinement at coming to power reminded Lowell of the end of the Second World War. these two military heroes as he fears He acts as a typical alienated, violent for the future of America; as Lowell modern man blown apart by the cannot see him as a leader. This is tormenting distortion of cultural not stated until the last two lines of values, political deceit and fear of the poem. insanity. It seemed opportune to Moving forward in time, Lowell that while relating his own Lowell believes that historical eras and his family's decline, he would bear an outstanding likeness to each seize the opportunity to comment other for human life is the same. This sarcastically, on the negative aspects poem rejoices the setting up of of America's past and present, as if Eisenhower, the United States they are personifications of his own general, but the tempo and cadence psychological predicament. of this era are dying as announced in The poem is a comment on "the subways drummed the vaults" the politics of the Thirties, the (2) a suggestion of the quiet burial Second World War and the Atomic beats. Under the auspices of Age. Lowell believed that Robert Eisenhower, America enters into a Kennedy could at one time get the period of unsettled clashes and Americans out of the Vietnam War. Lowell‘s speech reminded the

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audience that the poet‘s refusal to utterance. There is also a feeling in attend the White Festival of the Arts this monologue of the void of ―was one of the first dramatic acts of isolation experienced by the speaker. protest against the war in Vietnam.‖ The poem may be based, as (Meyers 9) The negro soldier seems mentioned before, on one of to suit Lowell's purposes precisely. Lowell‘s fellow inmates in the The soldier is twice victimized. He is Munich Military hospital where the black, something that is beyond his poet was confined in August 1952. control; he is wounded by the war, Thus, Lowell begins the hopeless something equally beyond his words and an awareness of his world. control. The world depicted here is The humiliated, destructive anger of however, inverted for A "Kraut the Negro soldier throws its shadow D.P." (2) looks after him. over the society, in this way, it In the poem, Munich is prepares us for the personal horrors ablaze: it fumes with cats, with with which the book closes and smoke and fire. Paradoxically, the Lowell's vision, on the other hand, predatory cats are free while men are becomes darker as it developed. confined. In the Negro's mind, the The poem draws upon a predatory imitate the soldiers by trend followed in 1950s and 1960s cruelly killing the pigeons, death that treated those who suffered in continues and the war goes on. war. What is called in humanistic In the last poem of the psychology group therapy or World section, "A Mad Negro Soldier War two which created practical Confined in Munich" the pressures on military psychologists, disintegration of the world is shown they had more patients to see and through the window of the care for than time or resources psychological breakdown of an permitted. As for Lowell, he was individual, a black soldier. There is a well-aware of his madness when he return of blacks in Lowell‘s works in wrote about his experience with his the monologue of the black soldier group therapy when he said that one behind a mask for Lowell‘s personal morning in July 1954, he sat in his

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bedroom on the third floor of New refer to any form of psychotherapy York Hospital, trying as usual to get when delivered in a group format his picture of himself straight. He utilised as a means of change by recalled a violent manic seizure. He developing, exploring and heard the elevator shut and the last examining interpersonal group of sixteen of his fellow relationships within the group. patients going to Occupational Group therapy can form part of the Therapy. His mind literary and therapeutic milieu of a psychiatric somewhat hazy, sought for the key in-patient also known as Day to the right picture of itself. In his Hospital treatment. There is clear confusion, the walls of the hospital evidence for the effectiveness of seemed to change to white clouds. group psychotherapy for depression He thought he saw a hard enameled of group psychotherapy for adult wedding cake, and beside it, holding sexual abuse survivors and there is the blunt silver knife of the ritual, also good evidence for effectiveness stood the tall white stone bride—his with chronic traumatic stress in war mother. He was as if building this veterans. There is less robust hospital like a child, brick by brick evidence of good outcomes for or block by block. He wrote to Peter patients with borderline personality Taylor: disorders, with some studies It‘s not much fun writing about showing only small to moderate these breakdowns after they effect cures. themselves have broken and one stands stickily splattered Lowell believes just as Carl with patches of the momentary Rogers that people have inherent bubble. Health; but not of a kind which encourages the therapeutic skills but not that they backward look. (Hamilton 14) should be necessarily involved in

encounter groups. Apart from group Group psychotherapy or therapy, the encounter group has a group therapy is psychotherapy form history in 1950s and 1960s that in which one or more therapists treat coincides with Lowell's period a small group of clients together as a which shows people's attitudes group. The term can legitimately English Journal of Indragiri (EJI) : 2021, Vol. 5, No.1 ISSN. 2549-2144 Studies in Education, Literature, E-ISSN. 2589-5140 and Linguistics RANIA SABER AHMED ABDEL RAHIM 106

toward themselves and how they Days at Beverly Farms" "Beyond the could change when they interact Alps", "Inauguration Day: January with other. Honesty and disclosure 1953" and "A Mad Negro Soldier may create a warm and supportive Confined at Munich" were discussed atmosphere. in that section. Lowell felt strongly that an Robert Lowell's distinguished individual should not accept the family members in American history opinions of those in positions of link him to his past and appear to be power, he resented those who would an important element in his poetry. place their own desires above He took his decision not to serve in compassion and empathy. Lowell World War Two and objected to the derived from Catholicism his sense service in the Armed Force as a that spiritual rewards would be result, he spent a year in federal granted upon sufferers of external prison in Connecticut. The study misfortunes. Lowell, hereafter, reflects Lowell's interest in his own promises that liberation will come, seemingly radiant ancestors' past for yet it will not come without he was writing absorbed in the imagination and without individual experience of uncovering the truth in strength. Lowell's verse from the his roots. Part of his biography and beginning to the end, shows the the family history was a familial presence of the past or history in the section on which Life Studies are present. constructed; thus family history was As for the Historical Aspects American history and vice versa, as in the study, they offered portraits of well as biography in Lowell's Lowell's ancestral background and viewpoint. Lowell's awareness of his its traditions discussing in the family history was brought into his process the United States' past and behaviour in the present. He had to present that Lowell as a confessional live up to the tradition and yet at the poet continued to explore. Lowell's same time he had to deal with his poem "Memories of West Street and own present personal attitudes. Lepke", "Dunbarton", "Terminal Therefore, he focused on the upper-

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class world writing about the exact true to himself as a civil right activist contemporary ironies of American and a defendant of his nation. history and planned a general view Therefore, he participated in protest of civilization, of history and of the against the Vietnam War as a recurrent quest for salvation; his principle. To him, war led to the anguish is concerned with registering destruction of any forthcoming plans a sick world and horrors of world for the future. According to May, wars. plans are set in the hope of fulfiling The historical poetic pieces them sometime in the future times implied more than the mere with certain responsibilities. Lowell gathering of fact and figures. For as a responsible poet and citizen Lowell history manifested itself in considered how he could cope with the affairs of men and it is a obstacles that delayed his plans and persistent and violent force. Such a saw how to get around the problem, view is not entirely optimistic, and encompass the new situation. He springing directly from this view is never ignored the problem, but Lowell's deep sense of loss, failure, sought to grasp and solve it. alienation, helplessness and a feeling Accordingly, constructive and of entrapment in a world not of his courageous confrontation with making. anxiety was crucial for an individual However, Rollo May's (1909- not forgetting his/her awareness of 1994) theory of humanistic the limits and imperfections of his psychology concerning tension and existence. existence appeared to have a direct relation with the historical aspects in CONCLUSION this volume. In addition, dealing with In the light of the New Life Studies like writing about Historicism approach, Lowell history is giving a hint of New- managed to perceive the literary text Historicism as an approach clear in as a communal product which sought tackling the historical aspects in to reconnect itself to its cultural these poems. Lowell appeared to be context. He did not think only of the

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past but took history forward into the according to the humanistic present with all its discourse on psychology approach. This depended culture, and its components, religious on the person's genuine and political tradition of the place understanding of himself and of his itself. This coincided with what past, present and future experience. Rollo May had in mind with his idea of the communal product referred to REFERENCES as "communion of consciousness.'' Abrams, M.H. (2009) A Glossary of Literary Terms. Boston: May, however, stressed paying more Cornell University, 290. attention to the darker side of the ____. (1989) ''On Political Readings human being including the presence of Lyrical Ballads''. Doing of evil which was revealed in the Things with Texts. Ed. Michael Fisher. New York: study with regard to Lowell's W. W. Norton, 365. discussion of the evil of his family's Alvarez, Al. (2012) Risky Business: stance and double standards towards People, Pastimes, Poker and Books. London: Bloomsbury, war and the bombing of innocent A&C Black, 201. civilians which was so important to Ashton, Jennifer, ed. (2013). The Lowell. Poetic pieces such as Cambridge Companion to "Memories of West Street and American Poetry since 1945. Cambridge: Cambridge Lepke" continued to move back and University Press, 33. forth between the comfortable Axelrod, Steven Gould. (2007) Lowell living in Boston in the 1950s ―Between Modernism and and his recall of the year he spent in Postmodernism: The Cold War Poetics of Bishop, a New York jail as a conscientious Lowell, and Ginsberg.‖ objector. It took place in jail, as Illinois: Pacific Coast Philology, Northwestern could be seen by references to University, 10. ‗pajamas‘ and cells (and also from _____. (1999). The Critical more obvious occurrences like Response to Robert Lowell. ‗jailbird‘). The study showed that the Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, Jan 1, 33. poetic self is capable of growing, changing and personally developing,

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English Journal of Indragiri (EJI) : 2021, Vol. 5, No.1 ISSN. 2549-2144 Studies in Education, Literature, E-ISSN. 2589-5140 and Linguistics