From Coinage Metallurgy to Fiat Money: Robert Lowell's Poetic Evolution

Abstract: Robert Lowell's evolving poetic style reflects his changing views about gold as well as about coins of other metals that for centuries have been metaphors for the representation of personal experience in poetry. As Lowell's style shifted toward a more relaxed and conventional use of language, he began to speak less approvingly of gold and more favorably of silver and bronze. Most dramatically, in the 1970s, when he moved to the UK, he adjusted his aspiration for perfect self-expression to the inflationary reality of the newly minted and denominated decimal pound sterling. He was on the verge of shifting toward a fiat poetics—performative and creative in nature. Ultimately, however, he retreated, opting instead for a middle position: a less dense, reflective, and descriptive style associated with baser coinage metals.