Psychological analysis of Poem “Dunbarton”

Written by: Salimatum Muflicha 

Biography

Robert Traill Spence Lowell IV was an American poet. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a Boston Brahmin family that included the poets Amy Lowell and James Russell Lowell. He was the only child of Commander R.T.S. Lowell, U.S. Navy, and Charlotte Winslow Lowell. On his mother’s side, Robert was descended from early New England colonists, including Edward Winslow, one of the Pilgrim Fathers; the key masculine figure in young Lowell’s life was his maternal grandfather, Arthur Winslow. His troubled childhood is candidly pictured in “91 Revere Street,” an autobiographical prose memoir included in Life Studies (1959).

He was at St. Mark’s School, a prominent prep-school in Southborough, Massachusetts, before attending Harvard College for two years and transferring to Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, to study under John Crowe Ransom. He converted from Episcopalians to Catholicism, which influenced his first two books, Land of Unlikeness (1944) and the Pulitzer Prize–winning Lord Weary’s Castle (1946).

He was married to novelist Jean Stafford from 1940 to 1948. In 1949 he married the writer Elizabeth Hardwick. By the end of the forties, he left the Catholic church. In 1950, Lowell was included in the influential anthology Mid-Century American Poets as one of the key literary figures of his generation.

Lowell was politically involved—he became a conscientious objector during the Second World War and was imprisoned as a result, and actively protested against the war in Vietnam—and his personal life was full of marital and psychological turmoil.

He suffered from severe episodes of manic depression, for which he was repeatedly hospitalized. In 1970 he left Elizabeth Hardwick for the British author Lady Caroline Blackwood.

Lowell’s poetry is individualistic and intense, rich in symbolism and marked by great technical skill. His later work indicates a philosophic acceptance of life and the world. His Life Studies (1959) is a frank and highly autobiographical volume in verse and prose, one of the first and most influential works of what is widely called “confessional” poetry and “familial” poet. Lowell often used his life as raw material for his verse, writing, for instance, of his family, his relationships with his wives, and his frequent bouts of depression and madness.

He spent many of his last years in England. Lowell died in 1977, having suffered a heart attack in a cab in New York City on his way to see Hardwick. He is buried in Stark Cemetery, Dunbarton, New Hampshire.

The analysis of “Dunbarton” By Robert Lowell

Allusion

J  Arthur Winslow, Lowell’s grandfather

J  Devereux Winslow 1892-1922, Lowell’s uncle, brother of his mother.

J  Mary Devereux Winslow (I6551), 1866-1944, Lowell’s grandmother

J  Robert Traill Spence Lowell III (I6549), 1887-1950, Lowell’s father, he is the U.S navy.

J  Boston, the place of birth of Lowell

J  Dunbarton, town in New Hampshire, the burial place of Robert Lowell, the family seat of one branch of the poet’s ancestory.

J  Grandfather's Aunt Lottie, Lottie is the sister of Robert’s father

J   Francis Winslow, 1818-1862, Lowell's great-grandfather

J  Edward Winslow (I6568), 1669-1753, Lowell's five times great-grandfather, high sheriff of Suffolk County, Massachusetts between 1728 and 1743.

J  At the battle of Shiloh, Hardian country, Tennesseen April 6-7 1862, General Sherman was largely responsible for the Union Victory.

Paraphrase

“Dunbarton” written by Robert Lowell is one of the poems from his “Life Studies” book. It's a short poem of only two pages but it has very deep meaning. The poem alludes to the poet's relationship with his grandfather. So, in this analysis I will analyze this piece in detail and talk about the author's connection with his grandfather.

This poem is actually the reflection of author to tell about his memory when he was together with his grandfather where memory involves more than fact, according to these investigations; it also represents a fictionalizing process of self.  For Lowell, memory is a way of knowing by which his self learns to recognize itself in the world. Through this poem, he wanted to show to the reader that his living with grandfather is unforgettable memory. If we look around to the biography of author (Robert Lowell) and all of his master pieces we could see and infer that he is the only poets who really respect his family. And “Dunbarton” is one of his poem which is dedicated to his grandfather. Beside this poem, he also writes the poem by the title “Grandfather” which also dedicated to his grandfather.

The poem “Dunbarton” follows a similar technique. Recalling a visit to the family graveyard, the poem pursues the memory of his relationship with his grandfather. The poem presents some moments that evoke the closeness of their relationship (the relationship between the narrator and his grandfather) such as: the drive to Dunbarton with the grandfather, their ritualistic service for the ancestors, and lighting a bonfire. Lowell also remembers stabbing with his grandfather’s cane for newts. Finally, the poem ends with his memory of cuddling in his grandfather’s bed. Although the child’s perception predominates throughout the poem, the adult’s consciousness intrudes into the lines. The closing lines are interesting examples in which childhood and adult consciousnesses are combined:

I saw my self as a young newt,

neurasthenic, scarlet

and wild in the wild coffee-colored water.

In the mornings I cuddled like a paramour

in my Grandfather’s bed,

while he scouted about the chattering greenwood stove. (55-60)

The comparison to a young newt offers a picture of helplessness, the young boy like a young newt, hardly distinguishable from its pond.

Based on the story his grandfather is handicapped. However, he doesn't act as though he is, and he certainly does not want to be treated in any special way. He is handicap because of accident evoke to him.

His grandfather was asleep one night on a Coast Guard cutter when another ship, a destroyer, appeared in the distance. The destroyer hit his grandfather's ship in the exact spot where he was sleeping. When he awoke, he found himself in the freezing water, watching his friends swim ashore to safety. They were leaving his grandfather there to die. Luckily, an angel in the form of a Coast guard chef rescued him and sought out help. The next thing he knew, he was in a hospital bed without legs (from the kneecap down) and with a broken neck. The fact says that his grandfather resumed a normal life-style after being released from the hospital two years after his accident. Not only did he get married, but he raised six children.

The effort of his grandfather to survive without being disappointed effects Robert’s life. It is one lesson that he should apply in his life. We know that Robert Lowell’s life also face some events that make him down to face the life that he married three times, send to jail, and having mentality problem. But this condition makes him recognize that he should continue his life and never give up because of this condition. That’s why all of his writing about his family and his relatives are kind of his reflection and respect how important family and relatives are!. 

Psychological analysis of “Dunbarton”

Psychology analysis is one of criticism which concern with the psychology of the author to express feeling, idea, and life experience. The good psychoanalysis poem is how the author can show the effect of psychology through art and lifelike. Beside appearing those terms author should also tell how far the contribution of the characters are.

Psychological analysis is actually refers to consciousness and unconsciousness of the author when he write master piece. But in this analysis I wouldn’t talk about those terms because it’s very difficult to be analyzed if we didn’t know directly from the author. So, in this discussion I prefer to choose some approach in criticizing this poem (Dunbarton).

Basically, there are three approaches in psychological analysis. First, textual approach, it deals with the psychological aspect of narrator in the poem. Second, receptive-pragmatic approach, it discuss about psychology of reader as devotee of literature and process on how the literature effect their mind. Third, expressive approach, it deals with psychology aspect of author through creative process when he/she compose master piece.

In this analysis, I use two approach, they are textual approach and expressive approach. In textual approach I recognized the condition of narrator when he wrote this poem. It is proven that the narrator (word “I”) in this poem is author himself where he told his memory about his family especially his lovely grandfather. He started this poem by introducing his grandfather, he told his uncle, his daddy, and grandmother. In the third stanza he remembered his memory with his grandfather when he went to his ancestors’ graveyard by doing some rituals. In the end of this poem he told his experience with his grandfather, he hold his grandfather tightly like paramour. All of the words in “Dunbarton” are represent his feeling, condition, and memory between him and his grandfather.

For the second approach I use expressive approach. The object of expressive approach can be conduct in three steps. First, extrinsic aspect, it deals with ideal, aspiration, desirability, base of life, obsession, and personality. Second, creative process, it deals with the motive of author, the reason why the author wrote the literary work. Third, the correlation between the literary work and the reader, whether the reader understand the psychology of character or not, its aim is to effect the reader to change their mind about something.

For those three steps, I use the first and the second step. Something that makes me interested in the extrinsic aspect is the extrinsic value shown in the poem where it covers for whole aspect (ideal, aspiration, desirability, base of life, obsession, and personality). This poem includes the ideal and desirability of narrator where the narrator wants his grandpa happy. The aspiration is proven that Robert is influence much by the lifestyle of his grandpa and he apply what his grandpa taught to him as the base of life and finally those create his personality and his literary works. The creative process also becomes my major of analysis because the motive and the background of author in creating poems are important to understand the content of poem. This poem is actually about Robert’s memory when he was together with his grandpa. Because of this reason I infer that he wrote this poem because he remembered his grandpa, the event where they were together and every memory between him and grandpa.

For my quotation, I infer that memory become his core topic. With a good language, the strong meaning of language he used, and his appearance of psychology make this poem become the great poem he write. 




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