Pity the monsters: The political vision of Robert Lowell

This study shows Lowell as a modern epic poet, political in the largest sense. In his career from 'Life Studies' onward, Lowell's self-examination has become the direct and conscious basis, through analogy, for his understanding of the irrational behavior of statesmen and masses. Mr. Williamson argues that Lowell's poetry has moved toward a psychological vision of political behavior akin to the later Freud's. Through this vision, Lowell's so-called confessional or self-analytic poetry and his 'public' poetry become increasingly interdependent and must be read in light of each other.