Lowell's "For the Union Dead" vastly expands the context of individual experiences of loss presented in more concentrated form in the previous poems. In a succession of subtly linked vignettes, Lowell probes the personal, intellectual, cultural, and political ramifications of an array of locally defined losses. Vanished buildings, displaced monuments, misplaced childhoods, crumbling traditions, frayed dignity, and annihilated cities are represented in successive quatrains through the eyes of a historically aware individual—apparently a dramatized avatar of the poet-reviewing the changes rapidly overtaking his native city and its once dominant Brahmin culture. The texture of the poem fluctuates between graphic, hypercharged super-realism and a curiously distanced, dreamlike reverie. It alludes to Lowell's childhood tellingly in its second stanza, and a "cowed," childlike confusion in the face of unfathomable experience is invoked again later in the poem.
When constructing a summary for a poem, the first thing one should do is read the poem then immediately retell the poem to yourself in your own words. This should be the first part of the summary—first state the poem’s title, the poem’s author, then write some sentences about the main idea of the poem. In a poem’s summary, you’ll want to be sure to touch on as many literary elements as possible—setting, characters, etc. Whatever you do, be sure to never include your opinion of the poem. A poem should be just an ordinary retelling with absolutely no analysis. For a poem, it’s just the facts and nothing but the facts. Because you will need to include two important ideas from the poem in your summary, one thing you might want to include is a mention of two themes as themes are an important part of the message a poem's author may be trying to convey.
