Amy Lowell

Lowell, Amy (Lawrence)

(1874–1925) poet; born in Brookline, Mass. (sister of Percival and Abbott Lawrence Lowell). She was educated privately, traveled widely, and settled in her childhood home. She suffered nervous breakdowns, but from 1902 on, found stability in writing literary criticism, "polyphonic prose," and, most importantly, Imagist and free verse poetry, as in Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914). In the last decade of her life, she was one of the most prominent and outspoken figures in American arts.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.