Amy Lowell

Amy Lowell (1874–1925) was an American poet, critic, and editor born into a prominent Boston family in Brookline, Massachusetts. A dynamic force in early twentieth-century literature, she became a leading advocate of Imagism, a poetic movement emphasizing precision, clarity, and vivid imagery. Her influence on the movement was so strong that Ezra Pound mockingly dubbed it "Amygism."

Known for her flamboyant personality, cigar smoking, and tireless promotion of modern poetry through nationwide lectures, Lowell published her first collection, A Dome of Many-Coloured Glass (1912), followed by Sword Blades and Poppy Seed (1914), which demonstrated her mastery of "polyphonic prose." Her later volumes include Men, Women and Ghosts (1916), featuring her celebrated poem "Patterns," Can Grande's Castle (1918), and Pictures of the Floating World (1919), often regarded as her Imagist masterpiece.

Deeply interested in East Asian literature, she collaborated with Florence Ayscough on Fir-Flower Tablets (1921), translations of classical Chinese poetry. She also produced influential criticism, including Tendencies in Modern American Poetry (1917), and a major biography, John Keats (1925).

Lowell died in 1925 and was posthumously awarded the 1926 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for her collection What's O'Clock (1925).