"No other English or American poet of his generation has, in his handling of language, the sheer brute strength [that Lowell has in For the Union Dead]; no other poet is so deeply moved not only by moral but by physical horror and disgust (which can include self-disgust), and by a kind of blind Samson-like ferocity. And yet, insensibly, in Lowell's hands, the tale of the world's horrors becomes a tale of the world's wonders, the catalogue of obscure absurdities, a song of praise."—G. S. Fraser, The New York Times Book Review
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