Mr. Edwards and the Spider

New Criticism was the dominant Anglo-American literary theory during the mid-20th century. Proponents included Lowell’s mentor at Kenyon College, John Crowe Ransom (author of The New Criticism) as well as Allan Tate (author of Reason in Madness), Robert Penn Warren (co-author with Cleanth Brooks of Understanding Poetry), and Cleanth Brooks (author of The Well Wrought Urn). Rather than focusing on historical and biographical background information when considering a literary work, adherents of New Criticism focused solely on the work itself, feeling that the meaning of the poem should come only from a close reading of the words and form. They sought an objective, almost scientific approach to art that focused on structure in making meaning. Lowell’s award-winning Lord’s Weary Castle (1946) was heavily influenced by this aesthetic as can be seen in Lowell’s focus on traditional forms and classical allusions.

Such influences can be seen in “Mr. Edwards and the Spider” with its intricate metrical patterns and rhyme scheme. The form itself was influenced by John Donne’s poem “A Nocturnal Upon St. Lucy’s Day”, which followed a similar meter and rhyme. Lowell later turned from such strict adherence to form due to a variety of pressures, including his own episodes of manic depression and resulting hospital stays. His three-week hospital recovery in 1954 resulted in more autobiographical writing that was much looser in form and focused more on personal subjects.

Lowell was also drawn to the revolutionary American voice of William Carlos Williams, who was often seen as the literary descendent of Walt Whitman and the free verse style that shed European influence, creating a new American voice for poetry. Lowell later summed up his shift from formal to free verse as the difference between “cooked” vs “raw poetry.” Other influences include Allen Ginsberg and others of the Beat Generation, who made Lowell feel as if his early poetry was too stilted and obscure. “A drastic and experimental art is now expected and demanded” (Lowell, Robert. “William Carlos Williams.” The Hudson Review, vol. 14, no. 4, Hudson Review, Inc, 1961.) He followed Lord’s Weary Castle with Life Studies in 1959, using more informal language with a mix of free and metered verse, labeled by one critic as “confessional” due to the personal nature of its content, much of which focused on family life. The label stuck and a new genre of poetry—Confessional poetry—was born.