| Robert Lowell |
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LIFE Lowell was born into the Boston Brahmin Lowell Family that included Amy Lowell and James Russell Lowell . He attended Harvard University but transferred to Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, from where he graduated, to study under the great American critic, John Crowe Ransom . He was a Roman Catholic from 1940 to 1946. His Catholicism influenced his first two books, ''Land of Unlikeness'' (1944) and ''Lord Weary's Castle'' (1946). Because of Allied bombings of civilians, he was a Conscientious Objector during World War II. He was also married to novelist Jean Stafford (1915-1979) from 1940 to 1948 {Link without Title} . Lowell was hospitalized approximately 20 times for acute mania, underwent Shock Therapy , and characterized one of his manic episodes as a "magical orange grove in a nightmare." However it would be wrong to characterise Lowell as a "mad" poet, since these were generally episodes that were interruptions to his work, rather than the reasons for his work. His collected works were published in 2003 and his letters in 2005, indicating a renewed interest in the poet. Lowell died in 1977, suffering a heart attack in a cab in New York City, and is buried in Stark Cemetery, Dunbarton Center, New Hampshire . WRITING Lowell's first two books of poetry, "Land of Unlikeness" and "Lord Weary's Castle", more properly belonged to the Formalist school of poetry, and were widely acclaimed. With his 1959 volume Life Studies , however, he moved firmly into the confessionalist mode. Life Studies is best known for the oft-reprinted poem " Skunk Hour ," a poem that is primarily a description of a fading New England town, punctuated by two stanzas of what was, at the time, shocking personal confession, such as the declaration that "My mind's not right." ''Life Studies'' is widely viewed as one of the most influential and important books of poetry in the 20th century. Lowell followed ''Life Studies'' with ''For the Union Dead'', which was also widely praised, particularly for its title poem. Following this book, however, Lowell's poetry became less and less popular and noticed. In the 1960s, he became a media personality, courting such celebrities as Jacqueline and Robert Kennedy , Mary McCarthy , Father Berrigan and Eugene McCarthy . In 1970 he left his second wife Elizabeth Hardwick for the British author, Lady Caroline Blackwood . A minor controversy erupted when he incorporated private letters from Hardwick into his poems. He was particularly criticized by his friends, Adrienne Rich and Elizabeth Bishop , for this. Lowell won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1947 and 1974 , and the National Book Award for poetry in 1960 . WORKS
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