James Russell Lowell

James Russell Lowell

Lowell's grave in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Massachusetts

James Russell Lowell (born February 22, 1819 in Cambridge , Massachusetts , †  August 12, 1891 ibid) was an American poet , essayist , editor , university professor and diplomat .

Life

Lowell came from one of the oldest families in New England (one of the Brahmins of Boston ). He studied at Harvard University (first Harvard College, then Harvard Law School) and began literary work during his studies. His debut work A Year's Life and Other Poems from 1841 was followed by the anthology Poems just three years later , with which he achieved his literary breakthrough as a poet.

In 1844 he married the writer Martha White , who also came from a Brahmin family in Boston and was the sister of a classmate. Through his wife, Lowell became interested in the abolition of slavery and published numerous essays and speeches during this time. In spite of his liberality, he could not overlook all conservative views (quote from Lowell "... the need for a social elite - an exemplary aristocracy ").

Over the years his reputation as a poet grew. He was known, so there was hardly a question of authorship when the poem A Faible for Critics appeared anonymously and satirically dealt with contemporary poets and critics. In 1849 the first part of his Biglow Papers appeared , a cycle of poems written in the Yankee dialect, with which Lowell wrote on current political issues such as: B. the Mexican-American war , took a satirical-critical position.

In 1855 Lowell was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . In the same year he was appointed professor of literature at Harvard University. As such, he was also responsible as editor of the literary magazine The Atlantic Monthly from 1857 . In 1867 Lowell was able to publish the second part of his Biglow Papers , in which he addressed the Civil War . After the end of the war he was unable to build on earlier successes with his poems, so that he now mainly published as an essayist and literary critic.

His two-volume work Among My Books includes his most important studies on Dante Alighieri , Geoffrey Chaucer , John Keats , William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser .

As the American ambassador, Lowell represented his country's interests in Madrid at the court of King Alfonso XII between 1877 and 1880 . He was then transferred to the court of Queen Victoria in London and held this office until 1885. He then returned to the USA and withdrew more and more from public life in the following years.

In 1889 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

Works (selection)

• A Year's Life and Other Poems (1841)
• Poems (1843)
• Poems. Second series . (1848)
• A Fable for Critics (1848)
• The Vision of Sir Launfal (1849, a Grail tale in verse)
• Biglow papers. Part 1 (1849)
• Biglow papers. Part 2 (1867)
• Among my books (2 vols., 1870–76)
• The Poetical Works . Houghton Mifflin, Boston, Mass. 1978, ISBN 0-395-25726-3 .

Literature (selection)

• George W. Cooke (Ed.): A bibliography of James Russell Lowell . Longwood Press, Boston, Mass. 1977, ISBN 0-89341-453-0 (reprinted from the 1906 Boston edition).
• Ferris Greenslet: James Russell Lowell. His life and work . Gale Research Group, Detroit, Il, 1969.
• Claire McGlinchee: James Russell Lowell . Twayne Publishers, New York 1967.
• Edward Wagenknecht: James Russell Lowell. Portrait of a manysided man . OUP, New York 1971.

Web links

Commons : James Russell Lowell  - Album containing pictures, videos and audio files

• James Russell Lowell in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• James Russell Lowell in nndb (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed January 3, 2020 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Caleb Cushing	US envoy in Madrid August 18, 1877–2. March 1880	Lucius Fairchild
John Welsh	US envoy to London March 11, 1880-19. May 1885	Edward John Phelps