#ClassicPoetry featuring #AmyLowell

/ Marcia Meara

One of my favorite poets from the days of yore is Amy Lowell. She had a lovely way with words, and eventually, I will share my favorite of her poems, “Patterns.” Today, however, here’s something a little shorter for you. Hope you enjoy it!

The Garden by Moonlight
Amy Lowell – 1874-1925

A black cat among roses,
Phlox, lilac-misted under a first-quarter moon,
The sweet smells of heliotrope and night-scented stock.
The garden is very still,
It is dazed with moonlight,
Contented with perfume,
Dreaming the opium dreams of its folded poppies.
Firefly lights open and vanish
High as the tip buds of the golden glow
Low as the sweet alyssum flowers at my feet.
Moon-shimmer on leaves and trellises,
Moon-spikes shafting through the snowball bush.
Only the little faces of the ladies’ delight are alert and staring,
Only the cat, padding between the roses,
Shakes a branch and breaks the chequered pattern
As water is broken by the falling of a leaf.
Then you come,
And you are quiet like the garden,
And white like the alyssum flowers,
And beautiful as the silent sparks of the fireflies.
Ah, Beloved, do you see those orange lilies?
They knew my mother,
But who belonging to me will they know
When I am gone.

Amy Lowell was born on February 9, 1874, in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Augustus Lowell and Katherine Bigelow Lowell. A member of the Brahmin Lowell family, her siblings included the astronomer Percival Lowell, the educator and legal scholar Abbott Lawrence Lowell, and Elizabeth Lowell Putnam, an early activist for prenatal care.

Amy Lowell was a poet, performer, editor, and translator who devoted her life to the cause of modern poetry. “God made me a business woman,” Lowell is reported to have quipped, “and I made myself a poet.” During a career that spanned just over a dozen years, she wrote and published over 650 poems, yet scholars cite Lowell’s tireless efforts to awaken American readers to contemporary trends in poetry as her more influential contribution to literary history. She is best remembered for bringing the Imagism of Ezra Pound and H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) to the attention of Americans, but her work has many facets. A flamboyant woman whose behavior belied her upbringing in a proper and prestigious New England family, she flouted convention with her proto-feminist poetry and unabashedly public persona. “Poet, propagandist, lecturer, translator, biographer, critic … her verve is almost as remarkable as her verse,” opined poet Louis Untermeyer in his 1923 work American Poetry since 1900.

And there you have an offering from one
of my favorite classic poets.
Hope you enjoyed it!

49 thoughts on “#ClassicPoetry featuring #AmyLowell”

    • I agree, Olga, and I’m so glad you enjoyed reading this one again. Thanks so much for stopping by to let me know, and here’s to a great week ahead! 😀 ❤

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  2. I love this. The descriptions of the garden are so well done and then there’s that melancholy at the end about that link with her mother through the orange lilies dying with her. I’ll resist the urge to sneal a look at “Patterns”. ❤ 🙂 ❤

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    • So glad you enjoyed it, Trish. It’s a lovely poem, for sure, melancholy and all. One of my faves! And please don’t “sneal” a look at “Patterns.” (Is that like a cross between “sneak” and “steal”? 😂😂😂

      I do hope you’ll enjoy reading “Patterns” when I get it scheduled. It’s pretty long, but well worth the read, I think.

      Thanks so much for stopping by today and letting me know your thoughts on this one. Here’s hoping you have a fantastic week ahead, my friend! 😀 ❤

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  3. Isn’t this a great line? “do you see those orange lilies? / They knew my mother”

    Her portrait is posed and formal, and she’s not a runway model, but I find the picture beautiful for some reason. Maybe because she looks so content reading.

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    • She was not considered a great beauty, even in her time, but boy, she made up for it in many other ways, as you can tell from her bio. And thankfully, her way with words WAS beautiful, as evidenced by the line you quoted.

      So glad you enjoyed this one, Vera, and thanks so much for stopping by to let me know. Have a super week ahead! 😀 ❤

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    • It’s my pleasure to introduce some new poetry lovers to Amy Lowell’s work, Jeanne. I’ll be featuring her again in the weeks ahead, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading more from her.

      Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a moment to say hello, and here’s to a fabulous week ahead! 😀 ❤

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  5. I love this poem and it is right up my alley – gardens/nature.

    I am never able to reply or leave a LIKE on your blog posts – because I can’t figure out how to do it – google keeps shutting me out every time.

    Perhaps, if you change my e-mail address it would work.

    Can you please try sending my mail to:

    llambert@zoominternet.net llambert@zoominternet.net

    For some reason, google is always a failure for me as it won’t accept any password or address I put in. It’s maddening. But I really do want to get your posts and want to be able to message or respond to them. Lynda

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    • I’m glad you enjoyed the poem. Lynda, and I’m sorry you have trouble commenting on or reading blog posts, but this one came through just fine.

      You are listed as following at llambert@zoominternet.net so I’m not sure why there’s a problem. Notifications are sent out automatically to followers, so you should be getting them for every post. And when anyone tries to comment that isn’t a follower, I get a notification to approve them. I’ve never had one asking me to approve you.

      If I can figure out what’s wrong, I’ll email you, but it looks to me like it’s all set up properly and in working order. Again, sorry you are having problems, but again, this comment came through fine.

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    • Glad you enjoyed this one, Denise. She’s been a favorite of mine for many, many years. (Decades, really). But she’s not my #1 favorite of all time. (I’ll be sharing at some poetry from him in the weeks ahead, too, so stay tuned to find out who it is. 😀 )

      Thanks for dropping in and taking a moment to share your thoughts. And have a super week, too! 😀 ❤

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  10. I’m ashamed to say I’d never heard of Amy Lowell before, but she sounds like she was quite the individual. And her talent is evident in that beautiful and visually-imagined poem. I loved it, Marcia!

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    • So glad you enjoyed it, Rae! She’s always been one of my favorite poets, and I will be sharing more from her over the weeks ahead. Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a moment to share your thoughts. Have a super day! 😀 ❤

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  13. I really like Lowell’s poetry. This one is amazing, Marcia. Brimming with beautiful imagery and shifting effortlessly into deep emotion. Gorgeous. And what a woman. She was way ahead of her time … or perhaps, perfectly on time and just what the world of poetry needed. Thanks for sharing!

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    • So glad you enjoyed reading this one, Diana. There will definitely be more to come in the weeks ahead, and I hope you’ll enjoy them all, along with the other poets I’ll be featuring. Thanks so much for stopping by today to share your thoughts on Amy Lowell (which I agree with), and here’s to a wonderful afternoon ahead! 😀 ❤

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        • I think we all feel like that, Diana. I know I don’t have as much time (or energy) to comment on my friends’ blogs as I used to. These days, it’s more often just a “Like” and share situation, though I keep hoping that will change before much longer.

          I love it when you stop by, but I definitely understand how hard it is to keep up with all our online friends. Just know I’m always happy to see you when you can visit, but I know that it’s not always possible to do so.
          🤗❤️🤗

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  17. I’m sure she really did love her garden, Janet, and I completely understand that. I loved mine too, before it got smashed by a hurricane. And I will love it again when I finish putting it back together. And sweet alyssum is one of my favorite flowers, too. It’s lovely in every way.

    Thanks so much for stopping by to share your thoughts, and I hope you have a super weekend ahead! 😀 ❤

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