Boston, and according to Lowell, the characters made the poem "impenetrable." The revised version of the poem was both shorter and more personal with Lowell (or the poem's narrator) and his lover taking the place of David and Bathsheba. Response The public reception of For the Union Dead was generally positive. In the New York Times book review, G. S. Fraser wrote that, "the book seems to me the most powerful and direct volume of poems [Lowell] has yet published." And the Time magazine book review stated, "Lowell is the poet par excellence of the particular. . . [and] the poetry [in For The Union Dead] lives—images linger in the mind, the thing described is seen with stunning clarity." However, Time criticized Lowell for his poetry's "occasional obscurity." External links http://www.americanpoems.com/poets/robert-lowell/13667 References American poetry collections 1960 poems 1964 poetry books Works by Robert Lowell Farrar, Straus and Giroux books