Dates

• Existence: 1897-1976

Biography

Walter Lowenfels (May 10, 1897-July 7, 1976) was an American poet, journalist, and anthologist. He was born into a German-Jewish family in New York City. After graduating from preparatory school in 1914, he worked at his family's butter business. After World War I and marriage to Lillian Apotheker, Lowenfels began writing poetry for publication. His first collection, Epidodes and Epistles was published in 1925. He and his wife spent some time on the continent, where they rubbed shoulders with other ex-patriot writers. They returned to the US in 1934 where he continued writing poetry and working for his father until 1938. After publishing Steel 1937 in 1938, he ceased publishing poetry for almost fifteen years. Also in 1938 he moved to Philadelphia, where he became involved in workers' and minorities' rights. He began writing for the Daily Worker, where he eventually became an editor. Lowenfels was arrested in 1953 and charged with conspiracy to overthrow the US government. He was convicted, but his conviction was overturned for lack of evidence. He was arrested again in 1954, this time for distributing subversive material. He served some time in jail but this conviction was also overturned, again due to lack of evidence. During this time Lillian, whose salary as a teacher had buoyed the family up during hard times, was asked to sign a loyalty oath. She pled the Fifth Amendment and was fired from her teaching job. In 1958 she suffered a stroke that left her a hemiplegic for the remaining seventeen years of her life. During this time her husband provided nearly all her care. Even after the revelation of Stalin's transgressions Lowenfels remained a Communist, though Joel Lewis, in his Introduction to Lowenfel's book, Reality Prime argues that his philosophy is closer to universal humanism than it is to communism, and compared to some of the other radical poets of the day such as Amiri Baraka, Lowenfels uses what he calls "a gentle voice." (p. 12) Lewis also quotes Lowenfels on poetry: "The poem is an effort today. . . to defend the integrity and dignity of human personality against the world's statistical claw." (p.13) Lowenfels is perhaps best remembered as an anthologist of avant-garde poetry, though he published over twenty books of his own poetry. Relatively late in his career (1960s) he began editing anthologies, which he regarded as collages he made using other poet's works. Among the anthologies he edited are two selections of Whitman's writings, Where Is Vietnam? and the anthology represented in this collection, Poets of Today.

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