Abstract Robert Lowell is a significant figure in American literary history. Popularly known for his “confessional poems”, his greatness truly lies in the astonishing variety of his works. Among all of his vast amount of works on religion, history, politics and his own life, no matter well-polished, tightly patterned and strictly formed early poems, or much loosely structured, extremely personal later works, their endings are notably with bizarreness and inconclusiveness. The crucial importance of a poem’s closure is that it is in charge of the long-term effect upon the audience. Therefore, good understanding on Lowell’s endings and their artistic features are of great importance in order to understand Lowell’s “Art and Self”. Given Lowell’s influence on later American literature, this understanding carries great significance in terms of American contemporary literature study. The aim of this paper is to analyze the artistic features of the endings of Robert Lowell’s poems through taking a deep look at their poetic structure (formally and thematically) and their connection with the poet’s life experiences.
As the outcome of intensive reading of Robert Lowell’s poems as well as extensive reading of other closely related literatures about his life and experiences, and also as the application of the techniques introduced in related studies in poetic closure, this paper casts light on how these poems end. Chapter one is an introduction to the subject of this thesis and the theoretical bases of poetic closure. The techniques and literary theory of poetic closure are presented in Chapter two. Chapter three illustrates the life and career of Lowell and the characteristics of his works. In this paper, Lowell’s poems are generally pided into early poems and late poems, according to the alteration of his style; the poems in two phases are examined respectively by two representative poems: “The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket” and “Skunk Hour” in Chapter four. Chapter five is conclusion illustrating the overall features of Lowell’s poetry in early and late phases, as well as the differences and relations between the distinctive features in two phases. Finally, the significance of Lowell and his influence on American literature are stressed, which ratifies the importance of examining his artistic features in closure.
Key Words: Robert Lowell, Poetic Closure，American Contemporary Poetry
摘要
罗伯特•洛威尔是美国文学历史上非常重要的一个作家。尽管以“自白诗”而被大众所熟知，他作为作家的伟大更体现在数目和种类惊人的作品上。他的作品涉及宗教、历史、政治以及个人生活。他的前期作品非常注重格律和形式；后期的诗歌在结构上更加松散，主题上更加私人化。但是不论是早期作品还是后期作品，他的诗歌的结尾总是有一种出乎人意料之外的，模糊的特质。诗歌结尾的重要性主要在于让读者回无穷。所以，更好地理解洛威尔诗歌的结尾有助于对他的“艺术与自我”的深入解读。由于洛威尔在美国文坛上显赫的地位以及他对后来是人的巨大影响，对洛威尔诗歌以及艺术的理解就具有了更加重要的意义。这篇论文的目的就在于，通过剖析诗歌结构，了解诗人的个人经历以及它们之间的关系，分析罗伯特•洛威尔诗歌结尾的艺术特性。
通过深入阅读罗伯特•洛威尔的诗歌，广泛浏览与诗人生平经历有关的文献，以及运用与诗歌性结尾相关的文学理论，作者在这篇文章中分析了罗伯特•洛威尔诗歌结尾的手法。第一章介绍了这篇论文的主题诗人以及相关理论基础。第二章详细介绍了诗歌性结尾的概念和理论，为后面分析诗歌打好了理论基础。第三章详细介绍了诗人罗伯特•洛威尔的生平，以及他的艺术特点。第四章中，作者以诗人的风格变化为节点，把洛威尔的作品分成了前期和后期两个阶段。作者从洛威尔的作品中挑出最有代表性的前期和后期诗歌，分别从形式，主题结构以及与诗人人生经历等方面进行细致的分析。第五章总结了洛威尔诗歌前期以及后期不同的结尾特点以及它们之间的关系。最后，作者再次强调了洛威尔在美国文学史上的地位以及对后世深远的影响，以此突出本文研究的艺术意义所在。9694 罗伯特•洛威尔的诗歌结尾:http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_8497.html