The March 1
For Dwight Macdonald
Under the too white marmoreal Lincoln Memorial, the too tall marmoreal Washington Obelisk, gazing into the too long reflecting pool, the reddish trees, the withering autumn sky, the remorseless, amplified harangues for peace--- lovely to lock arms, to march absurdly locked (unlocking to keep my wet glasses from slipping) to see the cigarette match quaking in my fingers, then to step off like green Union Army recruits for the first Bull Run, sped by photographers, the notables, the girls . . . fear, glory, chaos, rout . . . our green army staggered out on the miles-long green fields, met by the other army, the Martian, the ape, the hero, his new-fangled rifle, his green new steel helmet.
The poem is about the March on the Pentagon in 1967 - a protest against the Vietnam War. Lowell was actually part of the march that was eventually stopped by the U.S. Army.
The March 1 - meaning Summary
Peace March Becomes Battlefield
The poem follows a peace march in Washington, where public monuments, speeches, and linked arms initially suggest civic unity. Lowell's speaker also feels physically anxious and sees the march as absurdly theatrical. The crowd's movement becomes an imagined reenactment of inexperienced Union troops heading toward Bull Run, ending in a threatening encounter with an opposing force. The poem questions whether political idealism can escape fear, spectacle, and violence.
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