Rupert Loydell is shouting at the countryside. I have got up at sparrow-fart to drive him to the Blandford … More
Category: Robert Lowell
Team Wordsworth
‘It’s even true of Ted Hughes.’ I look across at the book, whose head is now slumped on my desk, … More
Because failure is assured
Recently I have been reading the exquisite prose of Janna Malamud Smith, in her book-length meditation on creativity: An Absorbing Errand: … More
Past fifty
Well, it’s happening. Happened, I mean. Stuff I thought would last forever -film titles, the actors in them, scenes of … More
No rights in this matter
I have been thinking a lot recently about final lines of poems. I’ve always been fond of Seamus Heaney’s comment about … More
A day so happy
Gift A day so happy.Fog lifted early. I worked in the garden.Hummingbirds were stopping over the honeysuckle flowers.There was no … More
Lifesaving Poems: Robert Lowell’s ‘Epilogue’
I became interested in Robert Lowell’s poetry because of the criticism of Seamus Heaney. I had tried reading him before, … More
Lifesaving Poems:Elizabeth Bishop’s ‘Poem’
The funniest thing you will ever read about Elizabeth Bishop (or teaching, or anything else) is Mark Halliday‘s essay Moose … More