Robert Lowell

Robert Lowell (1917-1977) was an influential American poet born into a prominent Boston Brahmin family, renowned for his complex, autobiographical works that blended personal turmoil with historical and public themes. His early formal poetry in collections like *Lord Weary's Castle* (1947, Pulitzer Prize) evolved into the groundbreaking confessional style of *Life Studies* (1959), which revolutionized modern poetry. Afflicted by manic depression and politically active against wars, Lowell's career defined the restless center of 20th-century American literature until his death from a heart attack.