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1、Lecture-8-The-Lecture-8-The-Confessional-SchoolConfessional-SchoolI.TheConfessionalSchoolandRobertLowell1.FeaturesofTheConfessionalSchoolAruthless,excruciatingself-analysisofonesownbackgroundandheritage,onesownmostprivatedesiresandfantasiesetc.,andtheurgent“Ill-tell-it-all-to-you”impulse.Pleaserefer
2、topage356ofthetextbook.2. Robert Lowells LifestoryRobertLowell(19171977)wasborninBostonasthesonofRobertTraillSpenceLowell.Othermembersofthedistinguished,intellectualfamilyincludedthepoetandcriticJamesRussellLowellandthepoetAmyLowell.LowellbeganwritingatSt.MarksSchool,wherehisteacherwasthepoetRichard
3、Eberhart.HestudiedEnglishliteratureatHarvard.Whenhisparentsrejectedthewomanheproposedtomarry,hebrokefromhisfamily.Ontheadviceofapsychiatrist,hetransferredtoKenyonCollege(Ohio).Therehestudiedpoetryandcriticism,graduatingin1940. His teachers included John Crowe Ransom (1888-1974), who was a member of
4、the Agrarian Movement. In 1940 Lowell converted Roman Catholicism and married against his parents will the writer Jean Stafford - they divorced eight years later. In 1949 Lowell married the novelist and critic Elisabeth Hardwick. However, two years earlier Lowell had met the poet Elizabet Bishop, wh
5、o influenced deeply his work. Lowell fantasized marrying her and dedicated to Bishop his poem Skunk Hour in LIFE STUDIES (1959). Aftergraduating,LowellmovedonafellowshiptoLouisianaStateUniversity,whereheworkedwithRobertPennWarrenandCleanthBrooks.AlthoughLowelltriedtoenlistinthearmedforcesduringWWII,
6、hedeclaredhimselfaconscientiousobjectorbythetimehewascalledforservice.In1943heservedfivemonthsofaprisonsentenceforrefusingthedraft.Itispossiblethattheexperiencesofimprisonmentplayedsomerolewhenhismentalhealthlatercollapsed.In1944appearedLowellsfirstcollectionofpoetry,theautobiographicalLANDOFUNLIKEN
7、ESS.InitLowellusedChristiansymbolismandjuxtaposedtheworldofgracetotheurbanlife.Hissecondbook,LORDWEARYSCASTLE(1946),whichwasawardedthePulitzerPrize,markedareturntotheNewEnglandmilieu.ThesetwoearlybooksareamongLowellsconfessionalworks,otherswereLIFESTUDIES(1959),whichwontheNationalBookAwardin1960,and
8、THEDOLPHIN(1973).InTHEMILLSOFTHEKAVANAUGHS(1949)LowellblendedclassicalmythswithNewEnglandlandscape.Theworkcontainedanarrativepoemofsome600linesandfiveotherpoems.TheQuakerGraveyeardinNantucketreferredtosuchsourcesasHenryDavidThoreaus Cape Cod,HermanMelvillesMoby-Dick,andtheBible.CaptainAhabandhispurs
9、uitofthegreatwhaleisacentralimageinthepoem.In1949LowellwashospitalizedformaniaatBaldpateHospitalinGeorgetown,Massachusetts.InMcLeansHospital,duringoneofhisperiodicincarcerations,hecomposedhisfamouslovepoemWalkingintheBlue.LowellreceivedtheHarrietMonroePoetryawardin1952andtheGuinnessPoetryAward(share
10、dwithW.H.Auden,EdithSitwell,andEdwinMuir)in1959.Inthe1950s,Lowellspentafewyearsabroad.Hesettledin1954inBoston,whereheworkedasateacherattheUniversityofBoston(1955-60).DuringthisdecadehewasavisitinglecturerattheUniversityofCincinnatiandHarvardUniversity.The1950ssawalsotheemergenceoftheBeatGeneration,b
11、utinthetradition-consciousBoston,theinfluenceofthemovementwasnotearth-shattering.In the 1960s Lowell was active in the civil-rights andantiwar campaigns. He made a number of widelypublished political gestures, refusing among others toattendtheWhiteHouseFestivaloftheArtsbecauseofopposition to the Vie
12、tnam war. Every serious artistknows that he cannot enjoy public celebration withoutmakingpubliccommitments,heoncesaid.From1963to1970hewasateacheratHarvard.In1972Lowelldivorcedfromhissecondwife.Duringthe 1970s Lowell lived in England, where he was avisiting fellow at All Souls College, Oxford (1970),
13、visitinglecturerattheUniversityofEssex(1970-72)andattheUniversityofKent(1970-1975).In1973Lowellpublishedthreecollectionsofpoetry.LowelldiedofheartfailureinataxionSeptember12,1977,inNewYork.Atthetimeofhisdeath,hewasreturningtoElizabethandhisdaughter,afterbreakingwithCaroline.HislastcollectionwasDAYBY
14、DAY,inwhichheusedfreeverselikehehaddoneinhisearlyworks.Lowellsrecordofhisdomestichistoryreceivedposthumouslyin1978theNationalBookCriticsCircleAward.3. Appreciations on A Poem by Robert LowellMemories of West Street and LepkeOnlyteachingonTuesday,book-worminginpajamasfreshfromthewashereachmorning,Iho
15、gawholehouseonBostonshardlypassionateMarlboroughStreet,whereeventhemanscavengingfilthinthebackalleytrashcans,hastwochildren,abeachwagon,ahelpmate,andisayoungRepublican.Ihaveaninemonthsdaughter,youngenoughtobemygranddaughter.Likethesunsherisesinherflame-flamingoinfantswear.ThesearethetranquillizedFif
16、ties,andIamforty.OughtItoregretmyseedtime?Iwasafire-breathingCatholicC.O.,andmademymanicstatement,tellingoffthestateandpresident,andthensatwaitingsentenceinthebullpenbesideaNegroboywithcurlicuesofmarijuanainhishair.Givenayear,IwalkedontheroofoftheWestStreetJail,ashortenclosurelikemyschoolsoccercourt
17、,andsawtheHudsonRiveronceadaythroughsootyclotheslineentanglementsandbleachingknakitenements.Strolling,IyammeredmetaphysicswithAbramowitz,ajaundice-yellow(itsreallytan)andfly-weightpacifist,sovegetarian,heworeropeshoesandpreferredfallenfruit.HetriedtoconvertBioffandBrown,theHollywoodpimps,tohisdiet.H
18、airy,muscular,suburban,wearingchocolate,suburban,wearingchocolatedouble-breastedsuits,theyblewtheirtopsandbeathimblackandblue.Iwassooutofthings,IdneverheardoftheJehovahsWitnesses.AreyouaC.O.?Iaskedafellowjailbird.No,heanswered,ImaJ.W.Hetaughtmethehospitaltuck,andpointedouttheT-shirtedbackofMurder In
19、corporatedsCzarLepke,therepilingtowelsonarack,ordawdlingofftohislittlesegregatedcellfullofthingsforbiddenthecommonman:aportableradio,adresser,twotoyAmericanflagstiedtogetherwitharibbonofEasterpalm.Flabby,bald,lobotomized,hedriftedinasheepishcalm,wherenoagonizingreappraisaljarredhisconcentrationonthe
20、electricchair-hanginglikeanoasisinhisairoflostconnections回回 忆忆 西西 街街 监监 狱狱 和和 纳纳 裴裴 克克只在星期二早上授课，每天早晨在淋浴后穿着睡衣看看书，我在波士顿“难得激情的马尔伯勒大街”拥有整整一座房子。那儿，即使是为后街的垃圾桶做清洁的人也有两个孩子，一辆沙滩马车，一个仆人，并且是一个“年青的共和党员”。我有一个九个月大的女儿，小的可以做我的孙女。她象太阳一样从她的火烈鸟童装中站起来。这是平静的五十年代，我四十岁。我应该为自己的成熟期感到遗憾吗？我是一个激烈的天主教反战者，发表了我狂躁的申明，反对国家和总统，然后呆在牛
21、棚里准备受审和一个头发中有大麻卷曲装饰的黑人孩子一道被判一年，我在西街监狱的房顶上行走，一条短围墙象我学校的足球院子，我每天透过沾满煤灰的缠绕在一起的晾衣绳和漂白的土黄色公寓见到一次哈得逊河。散步时，我和阿步摩维茨探讨玄学，象黄疸那样黄（“皮肤晒得真红”最轻量级的和平主义者，非常坚持素食，他穿着绳鞋，喜欢吃掉下来的水果。他努力使两位好来坞的老鸨，毕沃夫和布朗，接受他的食谱。而这体多毛的两位肌肉发达、性格偏执，他们穿着巧克力色的双胸套服，勃然大怒，将他揍得鼻青脸肿。我如此孤陋寡闻，我从没有听说过耶和华的目击证人。“你是反战主义者吗？”我问一位同室囚徒。“不”，他回答说，“我是耶和华的目击证人。”
22、他教我“医院的糕点”指出那位身上穿着T恤衫的谋谋 杀杀 案案 同同 伙伙查纳裴克，他在那儿往一个架子上晾毛巾，或者磨蹭着走进他的堆满了一般人没有的东西的小房间：一台袖珍收音机，一个餐桌，两个用复活节棕榈带绑在一起的两面玩具美国国旗。他的肌肉松弛，头顶脱发，反应迟钝。他堕入一种胆怯的平静，没有任何令人痛苦的重新思考将他的注意力从电椅上移开电椅在他那孤独的空气中象一块绿洲悬浮DavidKalstone:MemoriesofWestStreetandLepkeshuttlesbackandforthbetweenthecomfortableLowelllivinginBostoninthe1950s
23、andhisrecalloftheyearhespentinaNewYorkjailasaconscientiousobjector. . . He talks about himself in implied ironicquotation marks. You imagine them around fire-breathingandmanicinthelinesIwasafire-breathing Catholic C.O., / and made my manicstatement.Lineendingshaveasimilardryeffect:Givenayear,/Iwalke
24、dontheroofoftheWestStreet Jail. The break forces a wry question; amomentarysteppingback,given,indeed.Thisisthelanguageofamanontrial,whohearwordsasiftheybelongedtosomeoneelse.Thedistancebetweenthespeakerandhisexperiencegives Memories of West Street and Lepke itsspecial tension, the air that something
25、 is beingwithheld rather than yielded. So, for example, themindseemstobemakingsomeflickeringconnectionbetween the daughters flame-flamingo infantswear and the seedtime of the fire-breathingCatholic C.O. It is a linguistic tease, not fullyworkedout.Wearebeingaskedtothinkaboutthedragonofafather,andthe
26、roseatedaughteryoungenoughtobehisgranddaughter,aboutapassageofvitality. Something is being suggested about failedideology and the lapse into slogan-encapsulateddomesticityofthe1950sandmiddleage.Thearrangementofdetailsandscenesinvitesustomake comparisons and contrasts upon which the poemitselfdeliber
27、atelymakesnocomment.Finally,thepoets baffled failure to generalize becomes one of thesubjectsofthepoem.Thefiguresinthefriezehavetheairof being deliberately chosen and placed, as theconnections are between the criminal past and therespectable drugged present, the poem bristles with thechallenge to re
28、capture and unite them. Its selectiveorganizationteasesustowardmeaning,evenifitisonlyintheformofaconundrum,apuzzlewhosepieceswemustmatchourselves.-FromTheUsesofHistory,inRobert Lowell,ed.HaroldBloom(NewYork:ChelseaHouse,1987),91-93.Stephen Yenser: Memories of West Street andLepkeisitselfanagonizingr
29、eappraisal,asisthewholeofLife Studies; butthismoreorlessexplicitcontrastservesalmosttolinkthetwomenratherthantoseparatethem,whiletheconcentrationondeathandtheair/oflostconnections,areremarkablyapplicable to the poetry of this volume. The samerelationship obtains between Lepke and Lowell asdoesbetwee
30、nthelostconnectionsandthesootyclotheslineentanglementsthatthepoetsawfromtheroofoftheWestStreetJail.ThefigureofLepkeismoreamiragethanamirrorimage-astheoasissuggests - and consequently the technique of thepoem itself exemplifies the air / oflostconnections.Thatthereisaconnectionatsomelevelbetweenthepo
31、et-speaker and the gangster is intimated by Lowellsrecollection of himself in During Fever as partcriminal and yet a Phi Bete. That description ofhimselfisrelevanttoDuringFeverbecausethepoemgoes ahead to recall the rehashing of his fatherscharacter,butboththedescriptionandtherehashingarealsorelevant
32、tothispoem;ifLepkeisamurdererinfact,thepoet-speakerisoneinintent.Thisistoputthemattertoobluntly,perhaps,butwhatLowellseemstosuspectinthesepoemsisthatanymansmurdertaintsothermen.-FromCircle to Circle: The Poetry of Robert Lowell. Copyright?1975bytheRegentsoftheUniversityofCalifornia.PhilipMetres:Inap
33、eriodwhenHUACwasterrorizingAmericanintellectualsand artists,LowellsMemoriesof West Street and Lepke reflects and refracts thatelement of public confession of his political dissentduringtheSecondWorldWar.LowellsdisavowalofhisobjectioninMemoriesasnaiveoedipalrebellion,asreligious zealotry, or as manic
34、can be read as acomplexpledgeofallegiancetopower.AtthecenterofLife Studies,thepoemrecountsamidlifecrisis,anindividuals and a countrys, in the middle of thebloodiest of centuries: These are the tranquillizedFifties,/andIamforty(Selected Poems91).Moreover,thepoemcreatesanin-surmountableopposition,inth
35、etradition of Yeatss Easter 1916 and AudensSeptember1,1939,betweentheobjectorsseedtimeexperienceofrefusingtogotowarone of many solipsistic acts in the poemand hispresent, almost infantilized position as an academic.Lowells young self, already an empty mirror to thespeaker, is darkly reflected in the
36、 intensely ambiguous,even sublime figure of Czar Lepke, a type of impotentmonsterthatLowellidentifiedwithinhismanicphases.albeit deeply problematic, to emerge from warresistanceduringWorldWarII.Thecontinuedcirculationof this story serves to illuminate some of the principaldynamicsatworkinwarresistan
37、cepoetry.-from Confusing a Naive Robert Lowell and LowellNaeve:LostConnectionsin1940sWarResistanceatWestStreetJail and Danbury Prison. Contemporary Literature XLI, 4.Copyright ?2000 by the Board of Regents of the University ofWisconsinSystem.References:l1.常耀信：美国文学简史。天津：南开大学出版社，1990。l2.CarlE.Bain,eta
38、l.The Norton Introduction to Literature(FourthEdition).NewYork&London:W.W.Norton&Company,1986.l3.GeorgeMcMichael,ed.Concise Anthology of American Literature(2ndEdition),NewYork:McamillanPublishingCompany,1985.l4.黎志敏：走进剑桥：二十世纪英美诗歌精选，译著，广东省语言音像出版社，2003年3月。l5.JamesE.Miller,Jr.etal.The United States in Literature(TheGlassMenagerieEdition).Glenview(Illinois):Scott,ForesmanandCompany,1976.l6.LecturenotesbyMr.J.H.Prynne.Thanks结束结束
