Note 10 — Chapter X · LOWELL AND THE WAR FOR THE UNION 1858-1865

In an interesting letter to J. B. Thayer (Letters, ii. 191), Lowell says, comparing his odes with those of Gray and Coleridge: “All these were written for the closet—and mine for recitation. I chose my measures with my ears open. So I did in writing the poem on Rob Shaw. That is regular because meant only to be read, and because also I thought it should have in the form of its stanza something of the formality of an epitaph.”