Amy Lowell Wreath-Laying
By Robin Hazard Ray Docent n February 9 , 2024 , a group of more than twenty individuals gathered to lay a floral wreath at the grave of poet Amy Lowell ( Bellwort Path , Lot 3401 ). That day – sunny and fair by February standards – would have been Lowell ’ s 150th birthday . Partaking in the ceremony , facilitated by the Friends of Mount Auburn , were many members of the New England Poetry Club ( NEPC ), an organization co-founded by Lowell , Robert Frost , and Conrad Aiken in 1915 . The Club supports its member poets by sponsoring readings , contests , and writing workshops throughout the region . Jessica Bussmann , Director
Amy Lowell , circa 1916 of Education & Visitor Services at the Cemetery , helped organize the event and guided the group to the Lowell family plot .
Amy Lowell ( 1874 – 1925 ) was born in Brookline , MA , the youngest of five siblings in the powerful and wealthy Lowell- Lawrence clan . ( Her brother A . Lawrence Lowell , also buried at Mount Auburn , was president of Harvard University from 1909 to 1933 ; the eldest brother , astronomer Percival Lowell , founded the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff , AZ .) She was an unhappy society debutante in her youth , rejecting several offers of marriage , until her parents ’ early deaths relieved her of pressure to take a husband .
Lowell began writing poetry only in her late twenties , publishing her first poem , “ Fixed Idea ,” in the Atlantic Monthly in 1910 . In mid-life she found her muse and the love of her life , actress Ada Dwyer Russell . They lived together in the Lowell family home , Sevenels , tending the magnificent gardens that often served as Lowell ’ s inspiration . She went on to publish numerous books of poems , including many love poems dedicated to her “ beloved ”; lyrical translations of Chinese poetry ; a biography of poet John Keats ; and several volumes of criticism .
She was affiliated with the Imagist school of poetry , along with such poets as Ezra Pound , William Carlos Williams , and H . D . ( Hilda Doolittle ), though disputes broke out over what Imagism was and who represented it . Lowell ’ s legacy suffered from , especially , Pound ’ s withering criticism of her verse , which she was unable to counter after her death in 1925 . Nevertheless , the sharp imagery and clear language of her poems , many of them unhindered by rhyme schemes , have given them a staying power far beyond those of many of her contemporaries .
Lowell died of a stroke at the age of 51 , with Ada at her side . She made the cover of Time magazine in the year of her death
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and was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry . Her passionate , sensuous poems to Ada have made Amy Lowell something of an icon in the lesbian community .
At the graveside ceremony at Mount Auburn , after opening remarks by Jessica Bussmann , members of the NEPC took turns reading favorites from Lowell ’ s oeuvre . Denise Provost , poet and former Massachusetts state representative , read “ The Cyclists ,” a rather political stab at England as the fading mother country . Linda Conte , membership chair of the NEPC , read “ Music ”:
The neighbor sits in his window and plays the flute . From my bed I can hear him , And the round notes flutter and tap about the room , And hit against each other , Blurring to unexpected chords . It is very beautiful , With the little flute-notes all about me In the darkness .
In the daytime The neighbor eats bread and onions with one hand And copies music with the other . He is fat and has a bald head , So I do not look at him , But run quickly past his window . There is always the sky to look at , Or the water in the well !
But when night comes and he plays his flute , I think of him as a young man , With gold seals hanging from his watch , And a blue coat with silver buttons . As I lie in my bed The flute-notes push against my ears and lips , And I go to sleep , dreaming .
Members of the New England Poetry Club celebrating Amy Lowell on February 9 , 2024
Another NEPC member , reading “ White Currants ,” lit a Manila cigar in homage to Amy ’ s famous bad habit . Poet and translator Nidia Hernández , who maintains the NEPC newsfeed ( nepoetryclub . org ), read Lowell ’ s beautiful poem “ A Decade ” in Spanish .
The wreath-laying was just one of many initiatives that the Friends of Mount Auburn have sponsored or supported to celebrate poets both living and dead . Among our permanent