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The ground shakes like distant thunder on the eve of a great storm as heavy machines carve the earth to do their unnatural bidding. It is called Progress. Destruction of something old, to be replaced by something new, whatever society deems invaluable…is destroyed. In Robert Lowell’s “For the Union Dead”, a gaudy new construction leaves behind the memories of an old aquarium and Colonel Shaw’s Civil war relief to be forgotten. Should progress be allowed to destroy tradition? No, we should learn from our past, not ignore it. The forward progress of society remains more important to society then their past that lives on in tradition. Tradition is something that has been passed down from years gone to the next generation. It lives in buildings, stories, actions, pretty much everything we do. The old South Boston aquarium was a pinnacle of tradition to Robert Lowell. As a child he flourished there, allowing his imagination to roam free amongst the contained ocean. Years would pass, and time changes all. Now, several years later, the aquarium where Lowell fed his mind was now destroyed, being razed for a new underground parking lot. “Behind their cage/ Yellow dinosaur steam shovels were grunting/ As they cropped up tons of mush and grass/ To gouge their underworld garage.” -Robert Lowell With such expressive words as cage, cropped, and gouge, it is clear that Lowell had a strong resentment for the disregard of such a traditional place.
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