Out of Bounds
Lowell doesn't like to limit his poems in any way. We've already gone over how he's way out of bounds formally, but this out-of-bounds attitude really seeps into all aspects of his poetry. In this poem, he whips us through the centuries and all over the world. His strange word combinations are truly one of a kind. Even the speaker's tone is subject to change and tough to pin down. We're pretty lucky as readers to know that with Robert Lowell, we're never in for a boring ride.