It is a contradictory art that forces the poet to balance opposing public and private spheres. Robert Lowell was born into a prominent American family and was the subject of public attention from a young age. At age thirty he cemented his legacy by winning the Pulitzer Prize for Lord's Weary Castle (Pulitzer.org). However, Lowell retained a sense of unease about his influence as a public figure in American poetry. Essayist Stephen James delves into this discomfort when he writes, "Despite his credentials as a significant public figure: his illustrious American ancestry, his infamous letters chastising two presidents for their aggressive foreign policies, his incarceration for conscientious objection, the his support for Eugene McCarthy's presidential candidacy, his involvement in a protest against the war in Vietnam: Lowell's verses show no clear political alignments or affiliations” (James, 11). pacifist through his various acts of dissent, but was burdened by his power as a public figure and crippled by his perceived ineffectiveness the agency and in exchange was sentenced to a year in prison. His struggle with his ineffectiveness was amplified by his public presence. Likewise, Lowell will