Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO ROBERT LOWELL, by CZESLAW MILOSZ Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I had no right to talk of you that way Subject(s): Lowell, Robert (1917-1977) | ||||||||
I had no right to talk of you that way, Robert. An émigré's envy Must have prompted me to mock Your long depressions, weeks of terror, Presumed vacations in the safety of the wards. It was not from pride in my normalcy. Insanity, I knew, was insinuating itself In a thin thread into my very being And only waited for my permission To carry me into its murky regions. And I was watchful. Like a lame man, I used to walk upright to hide my affliction. You didn't have to. For you it was permitted. Not for me, a refugee on this continent Where so many newcomers vanished without a trace. Forgive me my mistake. Your will was of no use Against an illness that held you like a stigma. Beneath my anger was the vanity, Unjustifiable, of the humiliated. Belatedly I write to you across what separates us: Gestures, conventions, idioms, illusions. First Published in The Kenyon Review, Volume 23 #2 (Spring 2001). www.kenyonreview.org/roth | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOMAGE TO ROBERT LOWELL by CONSTANCE HUNTING ROBERT LOWELL'S NOTEBOOK, SELS. by CLIVE JAMES ROBERT LOWELL ON DAMARISCOTTA LAKE by GARY LEISING THE MARMOZET by HILAIRE BELLOC SLEEPY HOLLOW by WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING (1817-1901) A PROPER NEW BALLAD [ENTITLED THE FAIRIES' FAREWELL] by RICHARD CORBET THE ASSAULT HEROIC by ROBERT RANKE GRAVES |
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