Robert Lowells The Drinker
Robert Lowell was an alcoholic, a manic depressive, and a poet.There is no poem where these three aspects of Lowell combine than in "TheDrinker." This poem describes a man's descent into drunkenness one night.However, while the poem is just describing one night, it manages to showthe state of the man's entire life. By using a variety of poetic devices,Lowell is able to show that one cannot escape from one's problems, but isconfined to them, with the person only able to wait until life is over to Robert Lowell was a brilliant poet and also a troubled man. His lifewas marked by struggles, with these including alcoholism, broken marriages,and manic depression (Kamm 282). This manic depression is especiallyimportant to note because it meant that Lowell was not able to gain controlof his own emotional state. He was helpless and could only watch as hetumbled from major highs to extreme lows. Evidence of this state is seenin his poem "The Drinker," as is Lowell's experience with alcoholism. The first line begins with a description of the drinker, with thissetting the scene for the poem. It must be noted that the title already
In this way, it has developed and worsened,effectively eating away at the man. " These small details provide a view of the alcoholic's life. Thereis a sense then that the man will end up taking his life. This is exactly what the poem does, and does it soeffectively that Lowell does achieve the heartbreaking effect he was aimingfor. In one article describing an interview with Lowell, it is describedhow Lowell wanted his poems to be seen as heartbreaking (Davison 147). / Evencorroded metal somehow functions. The suggestion is that drinking is not just something the man is doing forfun or out of habit. The subject then continues in the nextfew verses. / Hisdespair has the galvanized color / Of the mop and water in the galvanizedbucket. There is a sense that he iscausing his own pain by not letting go of the past.
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