James Russell Lowell

James Russell Lowell

James Russell Lowell was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets that rivaled the popularity of British poets. He became involved in the movement to abolish slavery, with Lowell using poetry to express his anti-slavery views.

About James Russell Lowell in brief

Summary James Russell LowellJames Russell Lowell was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets that rivaled the popularity of British poets. He published his first collection of poetry in 1841 and married Maria White in 1844. He became involved in the movement to abolish slavery, with Lowell using poetry to express his anti-slavery views. He attempted to emulate the true Yankee accent in the dialogue of his characters, particularly in The Biglow Papers. This depiction of the dialect, as well as his many satires, was an inspiration to writers such as Mark Twain and H.L. Mencken. He spent his last years in Cambridge in the same estate where he was born, and died there in 1891. He was a member of the eighth generation of the Lowell family, the descendants of Percival Lowle who settled in Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1639. His parents were the Reverend Charles Lowell, a minister at a Unitarian church in Boston who had previously studied theology at Edinburgh, and Harriett Brackett Spence Lowell. By the time that James was birth, the family owned a large estate in Cambridge called Elmwood. He was the youngest of six children; his siblings were Charles, Rebecca, Mary, William, and Robert. Lowell’s mother built in him an appreciation for literature at an early age, especially in poetry, ballads, and tales from her native Orkney.

He attended school under Sophia Dana, who later married George Ripley, and later studied at a school run by a particularly harsh disciplinarian, where one of his classmates was Richard Henry Dana Jr. In his senior year, he became one of the editors of Harvardiana literary magazine, to which he contributed prose and poetry that he admitted was of low quality. Lowell was elected the poet of the class of 1838 and was asked to recite an original poem on Commencement Day, July 17, 1838. He had composed the poem in Concord, where he got to know Ralph Waldo Emerson and other friends. He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts on July 18, 1891, at the age of 83. The poem was printed and made available by his classmates thanks to his classmates. It was published in the book Poet’s Notebook, published in 1848, and is still available on Amazon.com and other online retailers. For more information, visit www.poet’snotebook.com. For more on James Russell Lowell, visit http://www.hulu.com/James-Russell-Lowell/Poet’s-Notebook-1848-1838-1839-1840-1841-1849-1850-1851-1852-1854-1856-1858-1857-1859-1860-1861-1870-1871-1881-1891-1879-1880-1882-1883-1884-1885-1888-1889-1890.