by Richard Tillinghast

This critical memoir by acclaimed poet Richard Tillinghast explores Robert Lowell's profound influence on the course of American poetry and politics--his role in the rise of Confessional Poetry; his involvement with figures of power and controversial opposition to the Vietnam War; his gift, both artistic and political, for the grand gesture. Showing how this gift tragically intertwined with the manic-depressive illness that marked the 'damaged grandeur' of Lowell's adult-life, Tillinghast radically reexamin