James Russell Lowell
1819-1891
Ancestor of two twentieth-century American poets, Amy Lowell and Robert Lowell, James Russell Lowell belonged to an aristocratic class and a conservative poetic tradition. His two famous descendants vehemently detached themselves from this tradition, but James Russell Lowell reveled in his heritage.
Born to a Unitarian clergyman in Concord, Massachusetts, Lowell was identified throughout his life with the literary and academic eminence of his native town. He graduated from Harvard College as the class poet in 1838 and continued his studies at Harvard Law School. His literary activity was partly prompted by his wife, Maria, who successfully enlisted his support as a writer for the Abolitionists.
Like John Greenleaf Whittier and many other New England writers of his time, Lowell was a man of strong political and social convictions. Abandoning the law, Lowell turned to writing. He expressed himself forcefully in articles, essays, and poems. His editorial career included a term with an antislavery publication, The Pennsylvania Freeman, and a longer term as the first editor of the Atlantic Monthly. Lowell shared the progressive spirit of his time, which found its clearest identity in the Abolitionist movement, and in fighting the problems of post-Civil War industrialism.
By 1848, when Lowell was only twenty-nine, he had published the four books of poetry that would establish his literary reputation.
In 1847, tragedy struck the Lowells. Blanche, their twelve month old daughter died. Three years later in 1850, their second daughter, Rose, died in infancy. In 1853, Maria died leaving Lowell emotionally devastated. Retreating for over ten years, he published nothing until 1864. In effect, he stopped writing poetry almost completely. Instead, he began a new career – teaching.
He succeeded Longfellow as Smith Professor of French and Spanish at Harvard, where he taught for more than twenty years. As he grew older, his time was increasingly occupied with scholarly interests, literary criticism, and diplomatic service, and he never again wrote a poem that had wide appeal.
Lowell’s public spirit was recognized by his appointments as minister to Spain in 1877 and to Britain in 1880. In Britain, he won many friends, including the distinguished critic and scholar, Leslie Stephen. When Stephen needed a suitable godfather for his first daughter by his second wife, he asked Lowell to accept that honor. And so the pillar of conservative American literature became the godfather of a woman whose innovations would decisively change the nature of the English novel – Virginia Woolf.
1819-1891
Ancestor of two twentieth-century American poets, Amy Lowell and Robert Lowell, James Russell Lowell belonged to an aristocratic class and a conservative poetic tradition. His two famous descendants vehemently detached themselves from this tradition, but James Russell Lowell reveled in his heritage.
Born to a Unitarian clergyman in Concord, Massachusetts, Lowell was identified throughout his life with the literary and academic eminence of his native town. He graduated from Harvard College as the class poet in 1838 and continued his studies at Harvard Law School. His literary activity was partly prompted by his wife, Maria, who successfully enlisted his support as a writer for the Abolitionists.
Like John Greenleaf Whittier and many other New England writers of his time, Lowell was a man of strong political and social convictions. Abandoning the law, Lowell turned to writing. He expressed himself forcefully in articles, essays, and poems. His editorial career included a term with an antislavery publication, The Pennsylvania Freeman, and a longer term as the first editor of the Atlantic Monthly. Lowell shared the progressive spirit of his time, which found its clearest identity in the Abolitionist movement, and in fighting the problems of post-Civil War industrialism.
By 1848, when Lowell was only twenty-nine, he had published the four books of poetry that would establish his literary reputation.
In 1847, tragedy struck the Lowells. Blanche, their twelve month old daughter died. Three years later in 1850, their second daughter, Rose, died in infancy. In 1853, Maria died leaving Lowell emotionally devastated. Retreating for over ten years, he published nothing until 1864. In effect, he stopped writing poetry almost completely. Instead, he began a new career – teaching.
He succeeded Longfellow as Smith Professor of French and Spanish at Harvard, where he taught for more than twenty years. As he grew older, his time was increasingly occupied with scholarly interests, literary criticism, and diplomatic service, and he never again wrote a poem that had wide appeal.
Lowell’s public spirit was recognized by his appointments as minister to Spain in 1877 and to Britain in 1880. In Britain, he won many friends, including the distinguished critic and scholar, Leslie Stephen. When Stephen needed a suitable godfather for his first daughter by his second wife, he asked Lowell to accept that honor. And so the pillar of conservative American literature became the godfather of a woman whose innovations would decisively change the nature of the English novel – Virginia Woolf.