How Modernist Poet Robert Lowell Used TikTok Antics to Overshare His Personal Life In His Poetry
Some Thoughts Are Inside Thoughts...
I first started reading Robert Lowell’s poetry about five days ago. This is a long enough time to develop a precise and professional opinion of his life and work, right?
Jokes aside, Lowell is known for his use of (and possibly even coining) “personal” or “confessional” poetry. This form of poetry drives the narrative of welcoming a reader into the writer’s personal life often relaying very intimate, private, or secretive moments. Moments that, if you had been sitting directly in front of the poet, he would not have told you face-to-face. One such moment lies in his poem “Skunk Hour” where Lowell reveals he has partaken in an unseemly activity: being a peeping tom.
Now, the poem itself is a story of conflict: conflicting morals, conflicting society, a conflict of the poet’s mind etc. And, while I could give you an analysis of these conflicts, I have been writing analyses on his poems all week and I am tired of it. Instead, I am going to talk about the insanity of confessional poetry and its similarities to TikTok.
Lock in, folks.
Lowell himself lived a deeply concerning life. Known to be a “ladies man” he married three times, each marriage ending due to his own adulterous activity. As a young man he converted to Roman Catholicism, then reverted to humanism, served five months in jail for refusing induction into the Army, and entered in and out of mental hospitals for bouts of manic-depression (Poetry Foundation). Now that you know a little bit more about this man, let us look at some of the things he has “confessed” through his poems.
The theme in “To Speak of Woe That is in Marriage” revolves around a man’s (presumably Lowell himself) lack of sexual discipline to his married wife. Written from the wife’s perspective, the poem ends:
My only thought is how to keep alive. What makes him tick? Each night now I tie ten dollars and his car key to my thigh. . . . Gored by the climacteric of his want, he stalls above me like an elephant" (Lowell lines 10 -14).
In this poem, Lowell confesses to mistreating his wives or lovers as his mind and body searches elsewhere to pursue his empty, lustful desires.
Here you can read “Child’s Song” in which Lowell confesses a moment from his childhood.
Lowell’s poetry often reflects his unconventional, deeply concerning life, and illuminates the self-awareness Lowell had towards his own choices. This is clearly seen the last poem of his last work “Dolphin” which states:
I have sat and listened to too many words of the collaborating muse, and plotted perhaps too freely with my life, not avoiding injury to others, not avoiding injury to myself— to ask compassion . . . this book, half fiction, an eelnet made by man for the eel fighting my eyes have seen what my hand did (Lowell 639).
In this poem, Lowell confesses his regret for living a life centered on himself rarely thinking about how his actions affected others.
Now, be honest. At any point when you read these words did you cringe a little bit? Did you get some second-hand embarrassment? Did you cover your eyes or lay your head in your hands? Did you giggle or open your eyes wide in shock? If you did, that is totally okay. I did too. This poetry is supposed to elicit this from you.
I challenge you: do any of these confessions sound familiar? Can you think of anyone who overshares? Further, where does this oversharing typically happen? Have you ever seen a video on Instagram Reels, a written statement on Facebook, or a three minute long “story-time” on TikTok? Yep. You guessed it.
Modern American culture channels confessional poetry every single time people overshare on the internet.
If you are a member of GenZ, or a person who keeps up with the trends, you will probably recall the scandal of Matt and Abbey who were scrutinized over multiple incidents of oversharing. This couple grew popular online for showing their day-to-day life, quickly progressing to be “husband and wife goals.” It all came to a halt when multiple scandals arose from their video podcast, TikTok, and Instagram.
After having both their children, Abbey openly talked about her struggle with postpartum depression, and the internet sympathized with her. Followers turned against Matt, though, when he posted a video of him singing an original song titled “Still Not Enough” to his wife after one of her therapy appointments. This song references his struggle adjusting to a family, but essentially states he still feels empty and his family is “not enough” for him:
You'd think I feel a little better about myself 'Cause I got everything I want But it's still not enough I'm wonderin' if I'm depressed It can't be right, it don't makе sense I'm no doctor, but that's not like mе I put a smile on my face And play the part to hide the pain 'Cause there's a couple kids in the backseat (Genius).
The shock continues to amount for this couple as they overshare about their personal life on their podcast when Matt admits he does not want to celebrate “Father’s Day” because his birthday is too close to “Father’s Day” and he wanted to be celebrated both days, separately. They have also come under fire for giving too much information regarding bedtime after kids.
You may also recall the 50-part TikTok series titled “Who TF Did I Marry?” where a woman publicly uncovered her husband’s pathological lying. A popular series over the summer, this woman details many, many instances where she finds her husband in shady activities and is blindsided when she discovers the truth. She even nicknames him “Legion” as a reference to the man possessed with many demons in Mark 5:1-20 and Luke 8:26-39.
A chronically online person can even remember all the Youtube makeup artist drama or Hype House drama many years ago which revealed both good and bad things about the online social media industry. Either way, it is a sound conclusion to attest that we live in a culture filled with oversharing, gossip-based storytelling, and overly-sensational material used only for shock value, views, and cheap entertainment.
I am worried about this generation (my generation) and its obsession with confessional content. It is likely we shall come to the end of this generational cycle and agree with Lowell’s final stanza in the “Dolphin.”
At the end of the day you guys, some thoughts are just simply inside thoughts. Not every moment of your life needs to be documented, posted, shared, or given. Some experiences are only between you and God, or the one to three people in your life you trust to help carry your burdens.
I believe that art, any form of it, represents and pivots culture. This is what happened with Lowell and his contemporaries when they coined confessional poetry. What started as a new form of writing has pivoted into a mainstream lifestyle.
It must stop.
Reader, you read Lowell’s poems and became embarrassed, shocked, and ashamed for him. We have this same reaction when we come across all this modern-day content on our social media apps. Let us return to a sense of decency, propriety, dignity, and integrity by pivoting art back to it’s original, intended purpose: to bring glory to God.
Lowell’s connection to culture today makes sense considering “confessional poetry” begets postmodernism (which is detestable) but, more on that later.
Catch you next time when we discuss Old English masculinity and what makes knights so darn attractive.
*Swoons*
Works Cited
Lowell, Robert. “Dolphin.” The Oxford Book of American Poetry, Oxford University Press, New York, New York, 2006.
“Robert Lowell.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/robert-lowell. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
“Matt Howard – Still Not Enough.” Genius, genius.com/Matt-howard-still-not-enough-lyrics. Accessed 27 Sept. 2024.
Ngl I love this cover photo
Great perspective. 😉