James Russell Lowell

(1819-1891) 

Closely in touch with the life of his own day more than any of his poet contemporaries Lowell was preeminently a scholar and man of letters, combining the creative, critical, and social qualities of his nature.

Educated in Cambridge and Boston, Lowell graduated from Harvard College in 1838. Two years later he was awarded the bachelor of laws degree by Harvard's Law School, but his energies were already dedicated to the profession of letters, and he soon abandoned a legal career. He wanted to be a poet.

Lowell published the "Biglow Papers" and his racy vein of humor and satire found full vent. The first series, directed against the Mexican War, began to appear in 1846; the second series, published in the sixties, pertained to the Civil War. Both were typically American and gained a wide audience.

In 1855 Lowell succeeded Longfellow as Professor of Modern Languages and Belles-Lettres at Harvard University. During the same period he spent several years as editor of the "Atlantic Monthly" and later as one of the editors of the "North American Review".

A new outlet for the versatile talents of Lowell now presented itself and he was sent as United States Minister to Spain, a post which he filled so ably that in three years he was transferred to the Court of St. James in London. Here his culture, charm, and personality combined to record his service among the most distinguished in the history of American diplomacy.

After his return to America he lived quietly at "Elmwood," his beautiful home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Lowell died there, August 12, 1891.

Famous Lowell quotations:

"Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind."

"Men in earnest have no time to wasteIn patching fig-leaves for the naked truth."

"One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning."

"Let us be of good cheer, however, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come."

 Suggested Reading List
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The Early Poems of James Russell Lowell Including the Bigelow Papers

  by James Russell Lowell

 Biographical sketch by Henry Ketcham of Lowell, American poet, critic, and editor. Lowell is one of the group of authors sometimes called the Fireside Poets, or the Schoolroom Poets, a group which also included Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. Because of their conservative approach to verse and the often blatant morality in their poetry, the very qualities that made them popular in their day, they have been out of favor throughout much of the twentieth century.