로버트 로월의 『인생연구』에 나타난 종교적 갈등

Abstract

In the various assessments of Robert Lowell's poetry, I would suggest that Robert Lowell's religious conflict be an integral and consistent part of his works. As a young man, Lowell converted himself to Catholicism. But he retained an earlier interest in the religious philosophy and works of learned Puritans throughout his life as a poet and a man. In Lowell the two became reconciled. This religious motivation gave his style a determined boldness, supported by complexly disciplined language, symbol, and idea. In his poem Life Studies Lowell, expecting death, writes his own requiem while summing up his life's achievement. These strong as well as peculiar characteristics of religion in Lowell's poetry provide an overall and comprehensive vantage point from which readers of his poems better understand and appreciate his most complex psychology and his most intricate works of words. Therefore, Life Studies holds the key to a new understanding of Lowell and his poetry.