AMY LOWELL LAUDED IN MORRIS GRAY LECTURE

Speaking last night to a gathering which filled the new Poetry Room on the third floor of Widener Library, Hervey Allen, prominent American poet and biographer, outlined the value of Amy Lowell's life, and the effect of her strong personality on American verse. His lecture is the second talk in the room built in memory of Morris Gray '77, Amy Lowell, and George Edward Woodberry '77, and one of the talks of the Morris Gray Lectureship on Poetry.

After giving a short account of her life and chief works, Mr. Allen stated that the world should take more account of her influence, as a personality, on the younger poets of her day, than of her works or of the anecdotes which are so frequently told about her. He mentioned that he himself is one of those men who came under her influence as they started out on their literary careers and found that the impression she made on them is still strong, and has formed them into something almost resembling a poetical school.

The speaker emphasized the extreme vitality of the poet, evident in her writings as well as in her life. In presence of mind and courage she was the female counterpart of President Roosevelt, and her strength of spirit was most evident when she was an invalid in the latter years of her life while producing her authoritative work on Keats. These years were very tragic for her but she made the best of them. Her influence as a critic should not be overlooked, he added.

In giving his recollections of Gray and Woodberry, Mr. Hervey said that the four years in which he worked with the latter on "The Life of Poe", were the happiest he had lived, and he paid tribute of those contemporaries of Amy Lowell. He also lauded the critical work of J. L. Lowes, Francis Lee Higginson Professor of English Literature.

Other Morris Gray lectures are planned for the coming semester. It is probable that G. H. Palmer '64, Alford Professor of Natural Religion, Moral Philosophy, and Civil Polity, will deliver one of the coming talks