For the Union Dead (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Robert Lowell
- First Published: 1960
- Type of Work: Poem
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: African Americans, 1960’s, United States or Americans, Racism, Nineteenth century, New England, Civil War, War, Christianity, Death or dying, Boston, Soldiers
“For the Union Dead” is an unusually public poem; Lowell wrote it to deliver on the Boston Common before a large audience. It is also one of his finest poems. It begins with a childhood memory of the South Boston Aquarium, where his hand had “tingled/ to burst the bubbles/ drifting from the noses of the cowed, compliant fish.” Now, however, the aquarium “stands in a Sahara of snow.” The “broken windows are boarded,” and the “airy tanks are dry.” Lowell has found perfect images of emptiness and desolation in what was once a place of life-giving joy. Next he notices...
[The entire page is 772 words long]
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