The Washington times., 1925-05-13
A NJ \ LOWELL s
DEATH CAME
SUDDENLY
Noted Woman Poet Stricken
With Cerebral Hemorrhage
Without Warning

BRoOKEINE. Mass: May ID
Miss Amy Lowell, noted woman
poet and exponent of vers libre in
America. who died suddenly at her
home. "Sevenels. never had any
thing published until she was
years old, it was re-
vealed today. This despite the
fac. she had been writing and
studying since she was child or
eight years. Not until 1910 did
her first book come out.
Miss Lowell. poet, critic and
author, did practically all her
writing at night. She never re-
tired until between 5 and o'clock
in the morning. She slept until
/ p. M, and then began the work
Of answering her correspondence.
Death came swift to Miss Lowell.
She was stricken with cerebral
hemorrhage. a shock which came
without warning.
Miss Lowell was sister of PreSi-
dent A. Lawrence Lowell, of Har-
ward, and Mrs. William Lowell Put
nam. She was fifty-one years old.
Miss Lowell was taken i'll 6n
April II and was obliged to cancel
a. projected trip to Europe. The
illness, the recurrence of an old
complaint, was said at that time to
be not dangerous.
A statement issued at that time
by Miss Lowell's secretary said that
there was no immediate danger, but
that the patient was being care
fully watched.
Translated From Chinese
The novel character of Miss
I.owelI's poetry and what was at
the time Of its first appearance an
unprecedented use of bizarre free
verse style made her work. a Cub
ject of wide comment. Among her
productions were "A Dome of Many
Colored Glass;" Sword Blades and
Poppy Seed Men, Women and
Ghosts" Tendencies in Modern
American Poetry Can Grande' s
Castle and Pictures of the Float
ing World" "A Critical Fable" Fir
Flower Tablets" and John Keats. .
She also translated several poems
from the Chinese.
Last November she was awarded
the annual Helen Haire Levinson
prize by the magazine Poetry. Since
1921 Miss Lowell had devoted much
of her time to writing the life of
John Keats which was recently
published.
She had mad her home in
Brookline for many years, and the
residence was known as "Sevenels. y
Besides President Lowell, the only
other immediate reratiVe surviving
is Mrs. William l.. Putnam, of Bos-
ton.
Subject of Much Writing.
The poetry of Amy Lowell and
her position in contemporary litera-
ture have been the subjects of much
writing and argument, but very lit
tie has been written about Amy
Lowell, the woman.
The wealth amassed by earlier
generations of the Lowell family
provided to Miss Lowell all cuI-
tured advantages. She had no need
to work for living and was in her
thirties before she determined. to de-
vote heEself to poetry. Her first
book of poems, "A Dome of Many
Colored Glass was published in
1912 and contained only the germ
of the new form Of poetic expires.
sion which was to make her famous.
In 1914 she published Sword
Blades and Poppy Seed and in
that volume Miss Lowell began to
employ so-called vers libre and to
write in the. forms which she her
self described as "polyphonic prose-
and cadenced verse.
At the time of her death, while
there were still many who dis
agreed with some of her theories.
there were very few who disputed
literature and there were a few,
In England particularly, who ac-
corded to her the rank of greatest
contemporary American poet.
She also held place as critic
Two volumes of her criticism, six
French Poets" and Tendencies In
Modern American Poetry" have
been called models OF their kind.
Invaded New Field.
In her last work, a two-volume
biography of John Keats, published
this year, Miss Lowell invaded a
new field of literary endeavor with
great credit to herself. Critics were
unanimous in their praise of the
clear picture she gave of the young
love early in life, and of the SYM
pathetic and tender light in which
she portrayed Keats sweetheart,
Fanny Brawne.
Miss Lowell never married, but
she was no advocate of a career
for women at the sacrifice of mar
riage and family life.
Il most emphatica1ly believe that
the average woman is not intended
for intellectual life" she once stated
in an interview. Women have not
the mental equipment of men-nor
were they intended to have it, The
average man, consider, is superior
to the average woman"
She smoked mild cigars.