Literary Legend Research Articles

Wordsworth's Romanticism in the Light of the Poem “Munajat Arwah” of Khalil Gibran: A Study

Literature has a long history, and it shows that many writers and thinkers have helped start, develop, enrich, and bring about major changes or literary catalysts in the genre they work in. Not only do they start a new trend, but they also create a completely new way of writing, often against all odds and expectations. They change the way literature is written now and in the future. Gibran A famous writer, Khalil Gibran (1883–1931), owned such a thing. He is praised for his work as a novelist, philosopher, poet, and artist. Gibran In spite of being born in Lebanon, Khalil Gibran lived most of his life in the United States. He learned about the ideas of English Romanticism while living there. Wordsworth, Blake, Shelley, and Keats were some of the most famous Romantic poets. It was because of him and his later work with the Ar-rabitah group of AL-Mahjer poets that Arabic Romanticism began, which was a reaction against Arabic neoclassical poetry. People say that Romanticism is the return to nature. The poet's mind is affected by nature, and nature responds to the poet's mind in a way that is coloured by imagination. In this way, nature becomes a major theme in the poems of William Wordsworth, who is known as the founder of English Romanticism and a literary legend. One important way that Wordsworth's love of nature shows itself is in the way he insisted on shifting the focus from city life to country life. Gibran also felt the same way about this shift, filled with nostalgia and regret for how factory smoke had changed country life. Gibran writes about nature in a way that is a lot like Wordsworth's in his famous book Munajat Arwah (Communion of Spirits), which came out in 1914. As a result, this poem is used to show how the English Romantic poet shaped Gibran's vision of nature's beauty as superior to life in cities, which is filled with pollution and waste. In this study, we will also do our best to find ways that Gibran Khalil and William Wordsworth, who started Arabic and English Romanticism, wrote about nature in ways that are similar. This essay is mostly about Gibran's well-known poem Munajat Arwah. This essay is mostly about Gibran's well-known poem Munajat Arwah. In the way that Wordsworth thought and spoke, the poem praises the superiority of nature over city life.

THE MYTHOLOGEM OF SNAKE FIGHTING IN THE LEGEND OF "KYRYLO KOZHUMIAKA" BY NATALENA KOROLEVA AND THE LEGEND OF THE WAWEL DRAGON: A COMPARATIVE ASPECT

The article focuses on the artistic peculiarities in representing the mythological motif of snake fighting in Natalena Koroleva's legend "Kyrylo Kozhumiaka". The paper establishes that due to the intertextual paradigm of the writer, she managed to demonstrate the uniqueness, historical relevance, and "inclusion" of Ukrainian culture in the universe of history. In her work, one of the most productive ways of implementing intertextuality is through legendary-mythological reminiscences. It makes possible "to extract" corresponding mythological ethnocodes that represent recorded experience of the world. The demand for such units is explained by their event-semantic and axiological components. The author's interpretation of the Ukrainian folklore plot is exemplified in the context of a comparison with the plot of the Polish legend of the Wawel Dragon. The article establishes that they model the encounter of mythological and religious (Christian) experiences of the world, since the snake-dragon plots fixated the moment of mythological consciousness transformation. The paper determines that the spatial organization of the plots unfolds along the binary opposition of "own" / "foreign", where Kyiv and Krakow are cities of topographia ordinaris, a space marked as "own" one. The new wave of city creation is realized through snake-fighting, where the victorious hero is a young man of humble origin. In the intertextual space of Natalena Koroleva's literary legend, the mythological experience of the world is encoded in the image of the Dragon, the demand to marry the princess (ritual marriage), the fighting model with the serpent, and the religious (Christian) experience is represented in the sacrificial nature of the princess, the Christianization of the snake-fighting motive, and the "new birth" of the city of Kyiv. The mythological experience of the world is embodied in the image of the dragon within the legend of the Wawel Dragon. It represents paganism, while the religious experience is vivid in the battle model with the dragon, Christianization of the dragon-slaying motive, and the "new birth" of the city of Krakow.

LEGENDA LIANG SIPEGE DI DESA SIMARMAR PEATALUN HUTAGAOL KECAMATAN BALIGE KABUPATEN TOBA : KAJIAN SOSIOLOGI SASTRA

This article discusses the Legend of Liang Sipege. The problem in this research is the Intrinsic Element The Legend of Liang Sipege, The Sociological Values ​​of Literature contained in the Legend of Liang Sipege and Community Views on the Legend of Liang Sipege. The legend of Liang Sipege is one form of story that belongs to the Toba Batak community, which is precisely located in the village of Simarmar Peatalun Hutagaol, Balige District, Toba Regency. This research aims to knowing the structure of the story and knowing the Sociological Values ​​of Liang Sipege's Literary Legend. The arrangement of stories and events that occur in the Legend of Liang Sipege story is structured and organized translate it into a story and explore the cultural values ​​in it. The method used used to analyze this research problem is the qualitative method with the field. This study uses structural theory and the theory of the Sociology of Literature. The intrinsic elements in this story include: theme, plot or plot, background or setting, and character or characterization

“St. Petersburg Flood Legend” and the Myth of the “End of Petersburg”

The article examines the “flood legend” as part of the cultural myth of the “end of St. Petersburg” (ie, in essence, the end of the empire created by Peter I.). The existence of a “folklore flood legend” is postulated by all authors of works on the “Petersburg myth” and “Petersburg text”. It is believed that it is she who lies at the origins of literary works on this subject. In reality, the situation was the other way around: it was not a literary legend that arose from oral tradition, but the idea of “oral tradition” arose under the influence of an already existing literary legend. There is not a single early record of the “flood legend”, and the record published in 1888 by P.P. Karatygin cannot be accepted as historical evidence. The literary “flood legend” began with A. Mickewicz. It was he who created the first eschatological (in the exact sense of the word) image of the death of St. Petersburg from the flood and connected it with the idea of the original curse of the “city on bones”. Then this image was developed by Russian romantic poets, but the decisive role in the codification of the “legend” belonged to D. Merezhkovsky's novels “Peter and Alexis” (1904–1905) and “Alexander I” (1911–1912).

Roy Morris Jr.'s Gertrude Stein Has Arrived: The Homecoming of a Literary Legend

Roy Morris Jr.'s Gertrude Stein Has Arrived: The Homecoming of a Literary Legend

Polish Literary Legend in the Russian Historical and Cultural Context

This paper reviews the book Old Russian Translation of Krzysztof Dzierżek's Tale about the Astrologer Mustaeddin and its Later Reworkings (Study and Edition) by Eliza Małek, which is the ninth volume of the Library of 17th–18th Century Russian Translations of Old Polish Literature series. The book is concerned with Polish-Russian literary relations of the Early Modern period.

Kłopotliwe dziedzictwo sarmatyzmu. Romantyczni twórcy wobec postaci starosty kaniowskiego Mikołaja Bazylego Potockiego

The paper is not only an attempt at reconstructing the literary legend of Mikołaj Potocki, a governor from Kaniów, but also a story about the helplessness of the Polish 19th‑century writers against the crazy magnate, his legend and Sarmatism, which he represented. Works by Kraszewski, Groza, Grabowski, Jankowski and many other authors, which are dedicated to Mikołaj Potocki, seem to be an interesting testimony of the 19th‑century writers’ struggle with the tradition of their ancestors (not always obvious and accepted). They also make it possible to formulate a thesis about the 19th‑century retouch of pre‑Enlightenment noble culture (rejecting cruelty as a component of knightly identity of noble culture and eliminating characters evoking confusion from among the pantheon of ancestors, for example those described as tricksters by anthropologists).

Literary Legend in Early Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature: Genre Labeling and Genre Formation

The present paper analyses short prose texts written in the 1830s–1840s under the generic label “legend” either in their titles or subtitles. The aim of the research is to ascertain whether such texts followed a similar generic pattern. The article shows that the chosen texts share a network of constituent properties, which indicates their generic cognateness and allows the reader to classify them as literary legends. The Russian literary legend of the 1830s–1840s may be characterized as a historical narrative relating extraordinary, sometimes criminal events. Though the audience is likely to disbelieve the story, the narrator finds it necessary to communicate it, as it contains an important truth or idea missing from conventional sources. Despite the similarity of the generic pattern, the genre had fuzzy boundaries in the first half of the nineteenth century, which is revealed in numerous title alterations, inconsistency in using cognate labels (“skazanie”, “predanie”, “byl’”), the absence of legend cycles, and a paucity of discussions about the genre. However, it can be concluded that the literary legend of the time was the grain from which the late-nineteenth century genre developed.

ПРЕДАНИЕ ОБ ‘АБД АЛЛАХЕ б. ‘АБД ал-МУТТАЛИБЕ

The article is deals with analysis of the legend containing information about ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib, included in the text of the «The Life of the Prophet» by Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham. Due to the absence of «reliable» chains of transmissions that preceding this information, it has to be to considered not as a historical source, but as a literary legend. This work allowed us to identify the connection in plot and ideas between the Quranic story of the sacrifice of Ibrahim and the analyzed legend. Based on the data obtained by comparing the details of the two legends, three groups of reasons of the discrepancies between them were identified. A conclusion is made about the functional purpose of the legend of Abd Allah ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib in the text of the «The Life of the Prophet». Both stories are based on an attempted sacrifice of a son, ending up with a «substitution sacrifice». Based on the data obtained from comparison of details of the two legends, three groups of reasons for discrepancy between them were singled out. The first groups unites the core historical aspects of the legend of ‘Abd Allah that could not be omitted or changed by the authors of the The Life of the Prophet. Existence of the second group is due to the prophetic status of Ibrahim and Ismail, while the pagans ‘Abd al-Muttalib and ‘Abd Allah do not possess it. The third group includes traces of external influences that might have effected creation of the literary version of life of ‘Abd Allah. For instance, mentioning «the light of ‘Abd Allah» and Amina ibn Vahb’s miraculous vision has no direct similarities in the Abrahamic traditions. In the author’s opinion, search for these similarity allows us to assume that the legend could have been influenced by the Zoroastrian tradition.

The Volcano That Spawned a Monster: Frankenstein and Climate Change

The volcanic period of 1816–18 is the most recent and vivid case study we have for worldwide climate catastrophe, evident from archival and geological records of sustained extreme weather, including drought, floods, storms, and crop-killing temperature decline. The signature literary expression of this historic climate crisis occurred in Switzerland, where teenage Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in the midst of the disastrous “Year without a Summer,” 1816, a season of floods and food riots caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora thousands of miles away. This essay, combining climate science with historical and literary sources, reexamines the literary legend of that direful, stormy summer, which Mary Shelley spent on the shores of Lake Geneva with the poets Percy Shelley and Lord Byron, with a new and original emphasis on its climatic context. The writers huddled indoors and wrote ghost stories, while the cataclysmic weather and humanitarian emergency unfolding around them weaved its way into Mary Shelley’s imagining of a tragic monster brought to life.

The influence of Thirukkural in Seeni Naina Muhammad’s Poems

The poet Seeni Naina Mohammed is a renowned and respectable poet in Malaysia. In the world of classical poems, he established a name for himself and he is a literary legend who observed the society in which he lived. The anthology of poetry Thenkudu was published in the year 2011, which comprises more than 200 classical poems that have been written by him from 1958 to 2011.The influence of Thirukkural has been found in many poems which are included in the anthology of poetry. A literature which has key concept, principle, grammar, structure, etc. akin to another literature that appeared at an earlier time period, in any one of the above mentioned aspects. The comparative literature studies have found that, the literature which doesn’t have any semblance with the previous literature and having entirely newly created literature has been ignored by the literary principles of that particular language. This study is based on ‘The Concept of Influence’ which is the part of comparative studies and the aim of this article is to study the influence of Thirukkural, written in post-sangam age, in key concept found in the anthology of poetry Thenkudu, written in the modern age.   Key Words: Theory Influence, Thirukkural, poetry Thenkudu, grammar, literary principles   ஆய்வுச்சுருக்கம்   செ.சீனி நைனா முகம்மது மலேசியத் திருநாட்டின் மதிப்புறு கவிஞர். மரபு கவிதை உலகில் தனக்கென ஓரிடத்தை நிலை நிறுத்திக்கொண்ட இவர், தான்வாழும் சமூகத்தை உற்று நோக்கிய ஒரு படைப்பாளியாவார்.1958 முதல் 2011ஆம் ஆண்டு வரை இவர் எழுதிய 200க்கும் மேற்பட்ட மரபு கவிதைகள் அடங்கிய தேன்கூடு எனும் கவிதைத்தொகுப்பு நூல் 2011ஆம் ஆண்டு வெளியீடு கண்டது. இக்கவிதைத்தொகுப்பில் இடம்பெற்றுள்ள பல கவிதைகளில் திருக்குறளின்  தாக்கம் காணப்படுகின்றது. ஓர் இலக்கியம் அதன் அடிக்கருத்து, உத்தி, யாப்பமைப்பு, புனைவுநிலை ஆகியவற்றில் அதற்கு முன்பு தோன்றிய மற்றொரு இலக்கியத்துடன் ஏதேனும் ஒரு வகையில் நெருங்கிய தொடர்பு கொண்டிருக்கும். இவ்வாறாகத் தனக்கு முந்தைய இலக்கியங்களில் தொடர்பில்லாமல் முற்றிலும் புதிதாகப் படைக்கப்படுகின்ற ஓர் இலக்கியத்தை அம்மொழியின் இலக்கிய மரபுகள் ஏற்றுக்கொள்ளாமல் புறக்கணித்துவிடுகின்றன என்பது ஒப்பிலக்கிய ஆய்வுகளின் மூலம் கண்டறியப்பட்டுள்ளது. ஒப்பிலக்கிய ஆய்வில் ஒரு பகுதியாக விளங்கும் ‘தாக்கக்கோட்பாடு’(Influence Theory) எனும் அணுகுமுறையின் அடிப்படையில், தற்காலத் தமிழிலக்கியமான தேன்கூடு  கவிதைத் தொகுப்பில் சங்கம் மருவிய காலத்தில் தோன்றிய திருக்குறளின் தாக்கம் அடிக்கருத்துச் சார்ந்தும் புனைவுநிலை சார்ந்தும் எவ்வகையில் ஒற்றுமை கொண்டுள்ளது என்பதை ஆராய்வதே இக்கட்டுரையின் நோக்கமாகும்.   குறிப்புச் சொற்கள்: தாக்கக்கோட்பாடு, திருக்குறள், தேன்கூடு கவிதைத் தொகுப்பு, யாப்பமைப்பு, இலக்கிய மரபுகள்

Land of the Fee: Hidden Costs and the Decline of the American Middle Class

“The rich are different than you and me; they have more money.” Regardless of whether, per an oft-repeated literary legend, a conclusive exchange of that sort occurred between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, Devin Fergus's book provides a poignant and sobering rejoinder (Eddy Dow, “The Rich Are Different,” New York Times, Nov. 13, 1988). The poor are different, Fergus explains. They pay more fees. In Land of the Fee Fergus writes the history of fees into the larger story of American social and economic life since 1980. Structured around four key developments in the history of debt—subprime lending, student debt, automobile insurance, and payday lending—the book argues that policy decisions, racial ideology, and class prejudices have spawned a massive transfer of wealth from poor and middle-class Americans to an elite few. In the process, Fergus shows “how deregulation has contributed to exposing the nation's entire financial system to unsafe banking practices and systemic risk” (p. 162).

Piotr Skarga – “Swordsmen of the Counter-Reformation” towards other confessions

Piotr Skarga was a Jesuit theologian, preacher, hagiographer, Catholic polemicist, one of the greatest prose writers of the Polish Renaissance, the author of, among others, famous the Kazania sejmowe. Thanks to the historical and literary legend created during the partitions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and surviving to modern times, he became a symbol of a great priest – a patriot. There is a black legend of Piotr Skarga, in which he appears as a huge nietolerant and almost eager for blood of dissidents. There is no lack of objective studies on the other hand, along with a critical analysis of the works of Piotr Skarga.

Shangri-La and the integration of mental health care in Australia

We wanted the best, but it turned out like always. Victor Chernomydrin) 1 According to literary legend, Shangri-La is an idyllic and harmonious place. Mental health is aspiring to its own Shangri-La in the shape of better integrated care. But do current reforms make integrated practice more or less likely? And what can be done to increase the chances of success? The aim of this article is to review the current state of mental health reforms in Australia now under way across Primary Health Networks, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, psychosocial support services and elsewhere. What are these changes and what are the implications for the future of integrated mental health care? Is Shangri-La just over the horizon, or have we embarked instead on a fool's errand?

Gens Claudia i rzymski kult Wielkiej Macierzy – Kybele

GensClaudia and the Roman cult of Magna Mater (Cybele) (Summary) Eminent historian of ancient Rome, Professor Maria Jaczynowska, was a teacher of many generations of not only historians, but also classical philologists. This article is written by classical philologist who is grateful for Professor’s research effort. The inspiration is recognized by the outstanding Scientist Jaczynowska topic of Claudii in the Roman cult of Magna Mater (Cybele). It has been described so far in only one Polish monograph “Religions of the Roman world” published in Warsaw in 1987. The purpose of this article is to make a fine complement to observations done by Professor Jaczynowska in aspect of philological research, which for obvious reasons could not be included in Her book. Analysis of extant literary sources in the context of references to the role of representatives of the family Claudii in bringing Cybele to Rome in 204, and Ludi Megalenses of 56 BC, brings us to interesting conclusions. The texts of Cicero, Livy, Ovid, Valerius Maximus, Tacitus, Statius and a minor mention in other ancient writers works, let us draw a conclusion about undeniable ties between gens Claudia and the cult of the goddess of Pesinunt. The reason is that the matron, who was delegated to welcome the Magna Mater to Rome was Claudia Quinta, the grandchild of censor Appius Claudius Caecus. Undoubtedly, the historical fact evolved since the days of the Republic till the second century of Empire into the literary legend of the “miracle of the goddess” who gave “proof of innocence” to the dishonored patrician. Another “miracle” is associated with a standing in the temple of the goddess statue of matron. Interesting is also the evolutionof a priest position to Brogitar by Publius Clodius and the riots called by him during Ludi Megalenses in 56 BC is, as historians say, the element of rhetorical invective on the tribune hated by Cicero. of Claudia who was described in Republican texts as a matron, and in imperial times as a vestal virgin. The Legend of Claudia Quintais the strongest proof that the gens Claudia was described in the sources as closely associated with the cult of Cybele. However, references in the works of Cicero regarding the sale of a priest position to Brogitar by Publius Clodius and the riots called by him during Ludi Megalenses in 56 BC is, as historians say, the element of rhetorical invective on the tribune hated by Cicero.

Szlengel in Krasiński Garden

The article is devoted to Władysław Szlengel, the most outstanding Polish-language poet in the Warsaw Ghetto. It focuses on the poet’s ghetto writings, death and literary legend. The interpretive framework for Szlengel’s poetry is derived from two contemporary poems: Czesław Miłosz’s Campo do Fiori and Piotr Mitzner’s Park Krasińskich (Krasiński Garden).

Interdiscursividad en la serie de cuadros de castas atribuida al pintor novohispano José Joaquín Magón

Este artículo analiza una serie de cuadros de castas atribuida a José Joaquín Magón, con el objeto de establecer su peculiaridad: el estar acompañada de un texto a manera de leyenda literaria que emite juicios de valor sobre las condiciones morales y sociales de los “productos”. Se establece su relación con las características básicas de este género pictórico, para luego compararla con la serie encargada por el arzobispo Lorenzana a Magón y llevada a España. Se considera luego la condición problemática de la relación entre leyenda, cartela y obra en esta serie, para por último, basados en el análisis de la interdiscursividad, reconocer la taxonomía y jerarquización socio-racial que están representadas en esta serie de cuadros de mestizaje.

Maria Polydouri (1902–1930): The Greek poète maudit who died of tuberculosis

Maria Polydouri was a notable Greek poet. Often likened to the French poètes maudits, her poetry reflected a lyrical charisma and her unsettled life an untimely ending. The passing of both her parents within less than two months when she was aged 18 and her incomplete, desperate affair with the syphilitic poet Kostas Karyotakis, defined her existence. She took up many uncompleted occupations and remained socially committed. It seems that in 1923 she caught tuberculosis that was diagnosed ultimately in 1927 and led to her hospitalization at first in Paris and later in Athens. A progressive and restless spirit until the end, she wrote her best poems while in hospital. Polydouri's final years and death received national attention and marked her out as a Greek literary legend.

Interplay of Law and Equity in Chinua Achebe's 'Arrow of God'

The late literary legend, Chinua Achebe, may have been celebrated in many ways for his immense contributions to humanity through profound literary works that will perpetually remain beneficial to the world. But hardly have we appreciated his works from legal perspective. Interestingly, in many less developed academic environments, scholars tend to limit their research and academic publications to stereotypes within frameworks of fragmented subjects; fragmented subjects of study for teaching convenience. Perhaps that disposition has restricted robust interdisciplinary research and approach to exploring the real essence of literary works of scholars like Chinua Achebe. It is not peculiar to Nigeria. This paper seeks to bring to life the legal issues deducible from the trilogy of Chinua Achebe, namely 'Things Fall Apart', 'No Longer at Ease' and 'Arrow of God'. The events in the trilogy show the dilemma of the protagonists in responding appropriately to the changing circumstances of the unwritten and unspoken customary laws of their times. The challenge of choice of appropriate discretion in the face of dynamics of change has foisted on every man the need to take deep consideration of the position of law and equity, even within the shortest possible time, before making a choice. The choice made ultimately determines the fate of man. That appears to be what in literary parlance is couched in the expression 'character is fate'. The approach here begins and goes beyond socio-legal perspective to doctrinal analyses of the story in the novel. The paper concludes by using the discourse to reflect the position of a Nigerian in the context of the interplay of law and equity against his customary law requirements, the challenges and the need for reforms and repositioning of customary law in Nigeria’s legal system.

The Court of Cal

The Court of Cal Fred Muratori (bio) With Robert Lowell and His Circle: Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, Elizabeth Bishop, Stanley Kunitz, & Others. Kathleen Spivack. Northeastern University Press. http://www.upne.com. 256 pages; paper, $19.95. “Boston,” wrote Elizabeth Hardwick in December 1959, “is a winter city,” not the flowering American Athens of literary legend but “defective, out-of-date, vain and lazy,” a promising destination only to those who naively sought “a lost ideal, a romantic quest.” Still a senior at Oberlin College, the poet and essayist Kathleen Spivack arrived in Boston less than a year before Hardwick’s anti-paean appeared in Harper’s Magazine. She had earned a scholarship to study writing with a prominent poet “acceptable to the Oberlin English Department” and wanted nothing more than to spend a year in San Francisco under the tutelage of Allen Ginsberg. Alas, as the apparent ringleader of the notoriously wanton Beats, Ginsberg failed to meet the staid Oberlin standard, so Spivack, “reluctantly, oh very reluctantly,” turned to “the airless atmosphere of puritanical Boston” and Robert Lowell instead. Despite Lowell’s solid critical reputation, neither she nor her advisors had read a word of his difficult poetry, but Lowell agreed to the arrangement and set into motion the defining experience of a young writer’s life. In this record of that experience, from her first meeting with Lowell until his death in 1977, Spivack conjures Boston’s most laureled and learned inhabitants as they wrote, taught, drank, and confided within an urban landscape of poorly lit classrooms, chilly apartments, and greasy spoon restaurants. No stranger to the company of intellectuals—her father was noted economist Peter Drucker—Spivack nonetheless found ready acceptance in Boston’s academic circles unforthcoming: “The coldness of the Boston literary scene was not to be believed, and first attempts to broach that were impossible.” The new arrival’s introduction to her future mentor is a case in point. Lowell had no recollection of admitting her to his Boston University poetry seminar and, as her memory of their first encounter reveals, his demeanor could change in an instant: “Who are you?” he queried mildly. He was eating his lunch, and looking abstracted. I had arrived in a rainstorm, in blue jeans and boots. “I never take anyone under thirty,” he countered coldly. He didn’t remember getting my letter, or the arrangement with Oberlin. I was stunned. As I stood in the crowded office, wet and depressed, not knowing quite how to handle his amnesia, Lowell took pity on me. “Would you like part of this sandwich?” he offered. Eventually their friendship blossomed and “Mr. Lowell” became “Cal,” but not before Spivack witnessed more troubling mood swings, particularly the awkward classroom moments that preceded Lowell’s manic-depressive phases (“Cal’s prebreakdown periods over the years were mainly signaled by an increased and obsessive classification of other poets”). To her credit, she avoids rehashing the sensational anecdotes detailed in Ian Hamilton’s biography and elsewhere, admitting that she distanced herself when sensing a manic episode in the wings, a response that Lowell would notice afterward. For Spivack, as for most of his devoted students, Lowell’s emotional instability was secondary to his critical brilliance and encyclopedic knowledge of literature and history. She recalls that while he “always tried to find something good to say,” Lowell’s “opinions had the randomness of a natural event. Praise or damnation fell equally upon our heads.” Anne Sexton, Sylvia Plath, and George Starbuck, each no more than a year from publishing their debut collections, were among Spivack’s first Boston classmates. She quickly observed that the two female poets—who, with W.D. Snodgrass and Lowell himself, were to be forever linked with “confessional poetry”—couldn’t have been more different in taste and temperament. The formally schooled Plath admired Wallace Stevens; the largely self-taught Sexton favored William Carlos Williams. Coolly preoccupied, the conservatively dressed Plath sat in quiet contrast to the chain-smoking, ex-fashion model Sexton. Where Plath’s classroom demeanor “was serious, focused on the matter at hand, almost pained,” Sexton’s was the opposite: Her entrances were dramatic: she stood at the door, rattling her...