James Russell Lowell was born February 22, 1819, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He went to Harvard, where he discovered a love of literary things, rather than academics. He was elected poet of his senior class in 1838, and though he was unable to deliver his poem because of a suspension, his Class Poem did appear in print. In it, he reacted to new thought and reforms coming onto the scene, such as transcendentalism, abolition, and women’s rights. He would later look back at this with regret that his youthful, reactionary tendencies were printed for all to see.

Though his deepest desire was to write poetry, he tried to be practical and obtained a law degree from Harvard in 1840. However, six months into practicing law, he abandoned it and turned to literature. He attempted to start his own magazine, The Pioneer, receiving written contributions from names such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe. But the magazine failed after three months. Still, his name had gotten out there, and his poetry soon took off.

There were many critics of his poetry, including himself. Mostly, it was his somewhat forced form and other poor technical components that were the most criticized. Still, he was one of the foremost American poets of his day. He was drawn to the anti-slavery movement, and wrote many abolitionist articles and poems, as well as supporting the Underground Railroad and donating money to help enslaved people escape. His Bigelow Papers used satire to mock the Mexican-American War, which he saw as a pro-slavery movement intended to expand territory.

In 1853, Lowell’s wife and three of their four children died from illness. His remaining child, Mabel, brought him joy that sustained him in his grief. He took a break from writing, but continued to be an avid reader. In 1855, he replaced Longfellow as professor of modern languages and literature at Harvard, where he taught for 20 years. Lowell remarried in 1857 and became the editor of the Atlantic Monthly, which he continued to do for about five years. For ten years after that, he served as editor of the North American Review. He served as United States Minister to Spain in 1877, then United States Minister to England from 1880 to 1885. In 1885, his second wife died, and he withdrew from public life. He did, however, continue to publish books of poetry and prose until he died on August 12, 1891.