THE OLD GLORY

by Robert Lowell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 8, 1965

It is amusing (in a way) to remember that all during the Fifties Robert Lowell remained quite moribund, and those who had hailed the young poet of the Forties nervously wondered if he'd ever publish again. Happily in the last five years or so we've been witness to a succession of triumphs: Life Studies, Imitations, For the Union Dead, and here Lowell's first theatrical venture, three verse plays, two of which were presented last winter off Broadway, receiving extravagant praise from some quarters and a mixed reception in the daily press. Reading the works now one can appreciate both points of view. Certainly there is no doubt that Lowell is a master of the language, subtly employing a tense but flexible dramatic speech, heightened by a mythic aura suggestive of Attic tragedy. However, there is a slackness, first in construction, then in character, throughout, along with a moody, uneasy rhythmic pace. The unperformed play, Endecott & the Red Cross, while stunning in its heraldic conclusion, is too puzzling a picture of colonial New England and Indian massacres. My Kinsman, Major Molineux, an adaptation of the Hawthorne story, is a highly stylized, black comedy of the American Revolution, which affects now the stance of a ""political cartoon"" and now that of an allegoric hallucination, never exactly achieving a unified effect. Benito Cereno, taken from the Melville novella, is clearly the most impressive and powerful of these pieces, and works its theme of slavery and rebellion within the chance confrontation between a ""liberal"" Yankee skipper and an African servant as a parallel to the black and white struggle of today. Though suspense is often dissipated at key points, Benito Cereno, on the whole, evokes a wonderful minatory atmosphere and its understated but persuasive philosophical implications become totally compelling at the climax. A must item.

Pub Date: Nov. 8, 1965

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1965

Categories: NONFICTION