James Russell Lowell
Overview
 
James Russell Lowell was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...

 poet, critic, editor, and diplomat
Diplomat
A diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...

. He is associated with the Fireside Poets
Fireside Poets
The Fireside Poets were a group of 19th-century American poets from New England.-Overview:...

, a group of New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

 writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets. These poets usually used conventional forms and meters in their poetry, making them suitable for families entertaining at their fireside.

Lowell graduated from Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

 in 1838, despite his reputation as a troublemaker, and went on to earn a law degree from Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

.
Quotations

Earth’s noblest thing,—a woman perfected.

Irené

Who speaks the truth stabs Falsehood to the heart.

L’ Envoi

All thoughts that mould the age beginDeep down within the primitive soul.

An Incident in a Railroad Car

It may be glorious to writeThoughts that shall glad the two or threeHigh souls, like those far stars that come in sightOnce in a century.

An Incident in a Railroad Car

The thing we long for, that we areFor one transcendent moment.

Longing

From lower to the higher next,Not to the top, is Nature’s text;And embryo Good, to reach full stature,Absorbs the Evil in its nature.

Festina Lente, Moral

No man is born into the world whose workIs not born with him. There is always work,And tools to work withal, for those who will;And blessed are the horny hands of toil.

A Glance Behind the Curtain (1843)

 
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