The Poetry of Maria White Lowell

A maiden scatters seed across a barren plain, and the people who later reap its grain wonder who has provided their bread. Maria Lowell's poems turn such natural scenes into reflections on generosity, longing and faith. Birds, dew, clouds and winds become companions to a speaker who wishes for their freedom. In another poem, a shepherd carrying lambs uphill offers a grieving parent an image of comfort after the loss of a child.

Elsewhere, travel brings distant places into close contact with personal feeling. A necklace of jasmine blossoms in Malta matters more to its owner than celebrated jewels. Cadiz rises white from the sea, while the arrival in Rome fulfills a childhood dream and recalls a father's suffering. Rhymed stanzas give these changing scenes a steady musical form. Readers interested in verse about bereavement, religious hope and the emotional weight of places will find those concerns expressed through specific sights and small possessions.