Robert Lowell "For the Union Dead"

                "For the Union Dead" portrays the evolution and advancement of society while the great old historic monuments and events of the past are left to dissolve like faint memories.  Lowell concentrates on the social aspects of society and how in his point in time there is an albescence of gratuity for those that have sacrificed so much to establish equality.  He also vaguely indicates the political factors that went into creating the equality by mentioning prime figures of the Civil War.  Colonel Shaw was the only man that took on the duties to lead an all-black regiment to fight against the republic.  Lowell incorporates a presence of familiarity and loyalty by displaying some slang from his era in stanza thirteen quoting, "Shaw's father wanted no monument/except the ditch,/where his son's body was thrown/ and lost with his 'niggers (48-51).'"  Obviously Lowell wanted his audience to feel a sense of remorse for destroying and forgetting about the history that helped shaped America for personal satisfaction and comfort.