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Pictures of the Floating World
Amy Lawrence Lowell (1874-1925) was an American poet who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926.
- GenresPoetry
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1919
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About the author
Amy Lowell
191 books87 followersA leader of the imagists, American poet Amy Lawrence Lowell wrote several volumes, including
Sword Blades and Poppy Seed
(1914).
A mother bore Amy into a prominent family. Percival Lowell, her brother and a famous astronomer, predicted the existence of the dwarf planet Pluto; Abbott Lawrence Lowell, another brother, served as president of Harvard University.
The Lowell family deemed not proper attendance at college for a woman, who instead compensated with her avid reading to nearly obsessive book collecting. She lived as a socialite and traveled widely; a performance of Eleonora Duse in Europe inspired her, who afterward turned in 1902. In 1910, Atlantic Monthly first published her work.
She published A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass , apparently first collection, in 1912. In 1912, rumors swirled that supposedly lesbian Lowell reputedly lusted for actress Ada Dwyer Russell, her patron. Her more erotic work subjected Russell. The two women traveled together to England, where Lowell met Ezra Pound, a major influence at once and a major critic of her work. Mercedes de Acosta romantically linked Lowell despite the brief correspondence about a memorial for Duse that never took place, the only evidence that they knew each other.
Lowell, an imposing figure, kept her hair in a bun and wore a pince-nez. She smoked constantly and claimed that cigars lasted longer than cigarettes. A glandular problem kept her perpetually overweight, so that Witter Bynner once called her a "hippopoetess," and Ezra Pound repeated this cruel comment. Her works also criticized French literature, and she penned a biography of John Keats.
People well record fetish of Lowell for Keats. Pound thought merely of a rich woman, who ably assisted financially the publication and afterwards made "exile" towards vorticism. Lowell early adhered to the "free verse" method.
Lowell died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 51 years. In the following year of 1926, people awarded her the posthumous Pulitzer Prize for What's O'Clock . People forgot her works for years, but focus on lesbian themes, collection of love, addressed to Ada Dwyer Russell, and personification of inanimate objects, such as in The Green Bowl , The Red Lacquer Music Stand , and Patterns caused a resurgence of interest.
A mother bore Amy into a prominent family. Percival Lowell, her brother and a famous astronomer, predicted the existence of the dwarf planet Pluto; Abbott Lawrence Lowell, another brother, served as president of Harvard University.
The Lowell family deemed not proper attendance at college for a woman, who instead compensated with her avid reading to nearly obsessive book collecting. She lived as a socialite and traveled widely; a performance of Eleonora Duse in Europe inspired her, who afterward turned in 1902. In 1910, Atlantic Monthly first published her work.
She published A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass , apparently first collection, in 1912. In 1912, rumors swirled that supposedly lesbian Lowell reputedly lusted for actress Ada Dwyer Russell, her patron. Her more erotic work subjected Russell. The two women traveled together to England, where Lowell met Ezra Pound, a major influence at once and a major critic of her work. Mercedes de Acosta romantically linked Lowell despite the brief correspondence about a memorial for Duse that never took place, the only evidence that they knew each other.
Lowell, an imposing figure, kept her hair in a bun and wore a pince-nez. She smoked constantly and claimed that cigars lasted longer than cigarettes. A glandular problem kept her perpetually overweight, so that Witter Bynner once called her a "hippopoetess," and Ezra Pound repeated this cruel comment. Her works also criticized French literature, and she penned a biography of John Keats.
People well record fetish of Lowell for Keats. Pound thought merely of a rich woman, who ably assisted financially the publication and afterwards made "exile" towards vorticism. Lowell early adhered to the "free verse" method.
Lowell died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 51 years. In the following year of 1926, people awarded her the posthumous Pulitzer Prize for What's O'Clock . People forgot her works for years, but focus on lesbian themes, collection of love, addressed to Ada Dwyer Russell, and personification of inanimate objects, such as in The Green Bowl , The Red Lacquer Music Stand , and Patterns caused a resurgence of interest.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 17, 2023
Didn't love all the poems, but wow, Lowell is not fooling around with the lesbian love poems. Some of the most erotic love poetry I've read all year! Got me all hot and bothered!
January 25, 2020
Of all the century-old books that I’ve read, this is the one whose existence amazes me the most. Along with the East Asian-inspired poems that give the collection its title is a series of what are, to the modern reader, unmistakably erotic lesbian love poems. Except that no one took love between women seriously, so no one was paying attention. It’s an uneven collection, but the best poems (like “Madonna of the Evening Flowers”) demonstrate that Lowell deserves the critical respect that her work is very belatedly receiving.
April 16, 2010
Amy Lowell's intimate understanding of Ukiyo-e and its influence on modern art is the foundation for this collection. Precise, slender-petoiled, peregrine poems that read as intense, spanking new reflections upon desire and well-being, stripped to the essence of language without sacrificing beauty--in fact, Lowell finds beauty anew in the organic, fecund, and foliate world, with language that fanciful but never decorative.
October 12, 2021
Beautiful and emotive, Lowell's love poetry speaks to the soul. Her verse is very situated in nature, and at the height of her romantic period (notably with a woman), you truly see it in images of gardens, flowers, the moon, etc. that transitions toward a more metropolitan cityscape as she veers toward heartbreak and loneliness. A lot of her rhythmic play reminds me of Nakahara's work funnily enough, and I do wonder if they had some of the same influences.
March 29, 2025
Years ago, I came across the poem “The Taxi” by Amy Lowell, and its final line has lived in my brain ever since: “Why should I leave you, / To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night?” I’ve meant to read a collection of her poetry ever since, and was inspired to do so now by a classics reading challenge on Litsy. This collection, published in 1919, is made up of two halves. The first is filled with tiny, exquisite poems that play with Chinese and Japanese forms, creating gorgeous crystal-clear images in word pictures. I had a hard time putting it down, savoring bite-sized poem after poem. The second half is more lyrical, moving away from the Asian-inspired images and into English cities and the countryside. While I preferred the imagery of the first half, there were still some gems in the second half. I’m glad I finally immersed myself in Amy Lowell’s poetry, and I’ll definitely be seeking out more of it!
April 8, 2025
Feels like there is an evolution, a story of the seasons and her daily life. Pretty cool!
Loved, in Planes of Personality (Two Speak Together): The Letter, The Garden by Moonlight, Nerves, Grotesque, Preparation…
Loved, in Planes of Personality (Two Speak Together): The Letter, The Garden by Moonlight, Nerves, Grotesque, Preparation…
September 20, 2017
"Two Speak Together" is SO GOOD. Lowell is the best of the best.
August 28, 2009
Her words take my mind into her hands and let me rest there, at last at peace...
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews