A study of certain long verse-novels of Edwin Arlington Robinson

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Authors Potter, Evelyn Teresa, 1913-

Publisher The University of Arizona.

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A STUDY OF CERTAIN LONG VERSE-NOVELS OF EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON

byEvelyn T, Potter

A Thesis submitted to the faculty of the

Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS in the Graduate College, University of Arizona

1951

Approved: CgKLp R. 17. f 9 5 1Director of Thesis *7 Date

222657

f 979/(461

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter PageI. INTRODUCTION.............................. 1II. BASIC THEME: DISTRUST OF MATERIAL GAIN . . . 13

Captain Craig ........................ 14The Man Against the S k y ................ 20The Man Who Died T w i c e ................ 23Matthias at the D o o r .................. 28

III. BASIC THEME: LOVE VERSUS D U T Y ............ 36M e r l i n .......... 37Lancelot.............................. 41T ristram.............................. 46

IV. BASIC THEME: THE EFFECT OF GRIEF AND FEARUPON MAN'S L I F E ........................ 53Avon's Harvest ........................ 53Roman Bart ho l o w ........................ 58Cavender's House ...................... 63The Glory of the Nightingales.......... 67

V. CONCLUSION................................. 74BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................. 81

ii2 2 2 6 £ ~ 7

: CHAPTER I

' ' , IHTROHHCTTOH '

' V The^poetic achievements of Edwin Arlington Robinson have heeii recognized since 1897s when he published a series of sonnets' which made a study of crucial moments in the lives of ordinary men. He did not desire a temporary hearing, non did he aim at great popularity. He was-concerned primarily with problems of .f ailures and unhappiness in the lives, of

• human beings = : VThis thesis is .conf ined to certain verse-novels, of • •

Robinson^' 'My .purpose in this Study is to clarify the basic themes which Robinson made use of, and to suggest the general Influence which certain aspects of his life may have had in his choice of these themes. The study of the personal ele­ment in any writer5s work'is justifiable when it leads to . a fuller appreciation of material and develops Insight into • his poetic mind.. o /h. '■ i - V'ti:-:- h ; . .V;;: - '

1 wish to consider Robinson8 s aims in his presentation of these themes. Though he clearly states in his letters

'• that his object in writing is his ■Inability and his lack of : ’ desire for any other kind of work, the specific form which this writing assumed reflects his desire to make an analy­tical study of human beings and their reactions to

2

situations and problems».. • I have selected eleven verse-novels, and have grouped

them according to basic themes„ In the first section, the theme is distrust of material gain; this section includes $$Oaptain Graig," ''’The Man Against the Sky/’ The Man Who Pled Twice, and Matthias at the:Poor0 The second section,, whose theme is love in contrast with duty,, includes the Arthurian legend poems of Merlin<, lanoelot, and Tristram0 In the third and last part the theme is the eff eet of guilt and : fear upon a man’s life; the poems discussed here are Avon8s Harvest, Roman Bartholow, Cavender8s House, and The Glory. of the Night ingale s V.: The long ver s e-no vels of Talif er, Amaranth, and King lasperV, although they are individuallyv interesting in themselves;, are omitted because their basic : themes do not fit into.this particular thematic division^ ;; ; In illustrating the development of themes in the verse-'

novels revieweds, I have summarized the stories and have at- ' tempted a critical analysis of each one. Although much 'writing has been:done about Robinsona one of America’s major poets j, no such thematic division has- been attemptedo :

■ The known .facts of Edwin Arlington Robinson’s life do .not .provide adequate clues to explain the enigma of his mind» They do however. help-us to tm how his emo-tional stresses and his-New England- environment affected the • ■ Content of his poetry. Emery Neff-.-in his biography, of • Robinson says: "Robinsoh8 s life was a poem of courage;, of '

3

genius for frlendships of devotion to art and to the best■ : : V ■ 1 : • : ' ■■ • , .. tself of bur nationc8* A study of the poet's own story isimperative not only for a complete understanding of his tpoetrys but also because in his writings are reflected the .ideas which permeated his life and which eventually gave hima notable place in world literatureo

Edwin Arlington Robinson was born in Headtide 3 Maine, i in 1869 of old New England stock» Soon afterward the family moved to Gardiner , Maine., the Tilbury Town of his poetry«At the time of Edwin's birth his father, Edward Robinson, was past fifty and ready to retire with a sizable fortune6 No addition to the family would have been completely welcome, and-they were further disappointed by the f act that Edwin : ,was not a girl, - . Ilhen he was six, Robinson was sent, to primary school where-his experiences were quite satisfactory» His age was sufficient,.however, at this period to make him realize that he was:an unwanted child in a home of grown-ups. The parents were very devoted and apparently s.elf “Sufficient 0 "The boy wanted-protection in a world which seemed to him bewildering and terrible, and. looked to his father for it, - and did not .- find:it," : : : ; h- ;■

1, Emery Neff, Edwin Arlington Robinson (New York:. William Sloane- :Associates, lhc'',% iRh'S), Po' 2 6 3 » . v

• ■ 2, Herman -Hagedorn, Edwin Arlington- Robinson .(New York: Macmillan, 1938), p, 23«

In M s loneliness, about his. eleventh year he began to ex- , peri^ent with Terseo During this period he was transferred to a public school where one of the teachersj annoyed by his dreaminess, gave him a blow on the ear which caused him seribus trouble and discomfiture all the rest of his life 6 Gardiner High School • introduced him to some learning and to some lasting friendshlpeo It was at this time that he met Harry Deforest Smith and Dr« Alanson Tucker Schumann. a physician who1 w s interested, in literature« Schumann en­couraged yo ung Rob in s on and f?it is possible that he may haT.e had an influence on the formation of Robinson8 s style 01? Ifhile he was still in high s chool3 Robinson11 s older. brother „ Deana a physiciah9 came home a drug1 addict Q' fie; had found that he was"not physically-fitted for the arduous tasks of a doctoro The second brother s Herman? soon assumed all the responsibility of the family business; and the/father, in ■ ■ failing health, refused to send Edwin to college9 It was not until a doctor at Boston suggested continual treatment Of his bad ear that the father agreed to let Robinson leave Gardinero In September/ 18919 Robinson became a speeial student at HarTard-University*

These years at HarTard, (1891=1893) were perhaps the . most enjoyable: as well As the most formative years for.

•. 30 Tv or 'Winters 9 Edwin Ar 1 ingt on Robinson (H'orf'OIkli Gonn^f:Hew;H:lrect|.one;;Hb% MWTTgVpH

Robinson and his woric0 It was . here that he enjoyed the com­panionship of two sympathetic friends 0 Both men had handi- caps p and always Robinson* s heart, went out to those who were unfortunate = Mowry Saben had suffered a nervous breakdown because of an unpleasant situation in his home; and George Burnham, because of a-family misunderstanding, had fled to .Wyoming where on a cold January night he got lost and was . . nearly frozen to death. Because of this exper ience, he - lost. both feet0 At Harvard, Burnham was studying law while Saben was pursuing the .Glassies = Bob ins on, the student who en-■ : v':: - ■ , ■ -V, '-' ■' ;v 4 ,1, ■joyed, sitting on the Common ,?to watch the people,n was strongly attracted to both men. Although Robinson*s friend­ship was given to the few who were congenial to him, their _ pagan: ideas and attacks on Christianity left him uncertain<, He was; candidly pef pi axed by their mockery, of morals, and he patiently insisted in their Corncob Club sessions "that there was a mystery at- the heart of things»ff

fwo years of college was all he could ask from the ;; dwindling.-family capital. When news reached him of the : serious condition of his f ather,, he realized, the necessity of getting a job. He summed" up.his Harvard experience to his friend '-Smith, "I have seen things that I- could not 4 :

. - 4°: Neff,. Robinson, p. 37=; ; Heff, Robinson, p. 38. .

possibly■see at another place s and h a w a different concept tion of what is good and had in life on But Robinson was • not at home in Gardiner after his parents died and Herin.an3 ' :, with his familyg took o w n the management of the family:'; businessoEe carried always the feeling that the people of Gardiner considered him a failure» His attitude toward work^ outside of writing„ is aptly expressed in a letter to Arthur Gledhill on,#y 23, 1S93> ' : • :' :, ' ' -

This ”job” q.uestlon is beginning to- interest me to an extent it never did beforeo Most of the people who have them seem to be better off than •those who do.not„ but most of the people are not

• so hopelessly fettered by their individual tastes as X am.6 1 do not wish to teach school or work " with idols or much of anything else that brings - • money to a man. And yet I do not consider myselfaltogether lazyo7 ; " -' : /The poetry that he wrote during this period refleeted

: his distrust of material values, his fear of personal fail­ure s, and his/doubt ; of the divinity of Christo In another letter to Gledhills he. says;

. .. : X have been slowly getting rid of material­ism for the past year// or two 9 but X fear I haven't the stamina to be a Christian ■= accepting Christ as either human or divine;

. ■ In; 1S9E. when his ' resources were nearly depleted,

66 Edwin Arlington Robinson, Entriangulated Stars,, ' Denham Suitcliff, edo (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1947) , Po 101 „ . . ‘ '• " ; ; ' :; ■-/ _ :

7=’ Edwin Arlington Robinson* Selected Letters, .: ■Ridgely Torrence, - edo (New York: Macmillan Co08 1940), p0 9o

So Robinson3 Selected letters, p0 130 ; f ’

lobinsoa was offered a job in an office at Harvard0 iVHe: was in effects an office boy, and cleaning inkwells was the most:taxing'of his responsibilitiesHe did not even do this ioh well ands in additions neglected his writing0 He welcomed the end of the school season and was soon off to Sew-Yorko At first his loneliness was intense, but his friends g particularly1 a Ifrso Henry Richards 9' supplied encour= aging notes:which helped» ;

Rohinson was more fortunate than most self- - conscious and sensitive personss for he had three - , channels of temporary liberationg beside alcohol, his poetry and his correspondenceAt the beginning of the century Robinson still had no

writing success* His brother Hermana who bad followed the same tragic road of ineffectualism as Dean8 died and left the family estate entirely depleted<, It was with much skep­ticism that Robinson continued when his poem fi0aptaln Craig” Was rejected by the publisher So He moved from one unde sir- . able place to anothers borrowing money .and not able to pay rent to limmie Barstow in whose home he was allowed to sfay0 For the first time Robinson was faced' with the absolute'''T' ?- • 'necessity for work* ;He securedg with the help of a friends ~ employment as a timekeeper in a 'subway* . His intense hatred '■for .the job again mde^.impossible for him .t©write*

. 9» Hagedorns Robinson* p0 148o10 o Hagedorn*: Robinson* p* 148 o

Before this period BoMnsoii was no stranger to alcohol, The monotony of the subway work and his inability to concen­trate on poetry resulted in a more complete withdrawal from society and a heavier dependence Upon alcohol.

It is difficult to surmise what might hare happened to the subsequent writing of Robinson if hermit Roosevelt had not sent a copy of "The Ohildren of the Eight" to his father then President of the.United States0 The President was in­terested in literature :and poetry and ambitious to do some­thing for this poet of the subway,. He off ered him a . Civil Serrice position at a salary of $2a000 a year, Of even ;. ^eater importance was the President’s.suggestion to Scrib­ner 8 s that they a ecept Robinson9s poem8 which they had ; ‘ ' earlier r e j e c t e d v . -

Although the ensuing four years gave him little finan­cial wofrya Bobinson found it impossible to complete another volume of poetry. It Was during this period that he made an unsuccessful attempt at:play writing. His security received a stinging blow in 1909 when Theodore Roosevelt lost the; • election to William Howard Taft,. It was not long until Bobinson was out of work. His financial and emotional in­security 'was so great that it seemed'impossible to him that he. could: ever write, poetry .again, ^Hermann Hagedorns his friend s- suggested that Bobinson go "to the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough 9 New Hampshire s where., he . would ■f ind a eon- . ..gehial 'atmosphere' for his literary work» At first. Robinson

could not agree to aecept this suggestion» After much per­suasion s however9 Eobinson ^arrived'tardily in July, 1911, earfying, out of characteristic caution and tact, the draftof a- telegram which could call him away if his doubts were•11/ ;; ■ . M..- /lie V...iconfirffied0,f ; : - - /I-/ ■■ ' ' 7 / '

: G-ding to the Colony, however, was Robinson’s most suc­cessful move0 Here he did his most fruitful work; here, be­yond his own imaginings 9 he had a f eeling of content= His gratification echoed in many of his poems but particularly in ■ Ifonadnock Through the Trees0 f! This mountain he could see through the trees, from' his /cabin window0 In part the poem says: ■■ '.:/ /■; z /;C . , . :' / ; .,: / /. /; yl v And when the last of us8 if we know how3 : ' /

-iv.. . See :f arther from ourselves than we do now, ,' ;; . Assured with other sight than heretof ore

That/we have done our mortal best and worst,- / - . Tour calm will be the. same' as when the. firstv ' Assyrians went howling south to war 012 . h

fhe. people of the Colony were: favorably impressed by him0• Mo m t t er how inhere sting br eakf ast had be- ;

;cOme, it took" on a new importanee when he/rounded the cornef in the narrow stairs and peered from the low doorway at all the pleasant people, now tobe; f aced?.;13'hv'; ■ ■ ■ /'7''// /t ■" , ■./:■'■•■.: /:■ /; 7/ ■ ; //.;/;0 ?'; -

During the .early part of his MacDowell residence, he vowed "

11 o Neff , Robinson,. .p0 162 Q / c ' / //;./;: / v.i12.o • Id win - Arlington Robinson, Co 11 e ot ed Po ems (New

York; Macmillan. Go,, 1948), p0 58l» . ;13o Hollo Mo Brown, Next Door to a Poet (New York: ■ -

Appleton-Century, 19.37) g P= 9» • . . • /

.10

to give up alcoholo With only spasmodic returns5 he kept ■his resolve o

: By 19l6s although the war news was interrupting much oftho ease, of American life? Robinson had completed a volume of poetry to which he gave the title Collected Poems and with it achieved recognition« About 1916 there was a change in: the attitude of poetry editors of such magazines a s The Out look <, the At lant i c „ and Harper’s, and these peri­odicals were more favorable to the newer poets’ work6 Critical reviews' of Collected Poem's, on the whole, were ex­cellent but Robinson was still playing to a small audience and therefore was not much more secure financially,,

»i3espite increased recognition, Robinson was more at ' home at the Colony than anywhere else. Away from the Colony for short periods of time, he was happily entertained by his - good friends the Frasers, the Hagedorns, George Burnham, and many otherso However, he more quickly tired of New York and Boston than.formerly, and even cut short his visit in Eng­land to return to his quiet, pleasant, studious life in New . Hampshire o A "A _ ' ■ . , \ " A , ; 7 ' y /-

■: .'With the'Announcement in 1921 and 1925 of the Pulitzer : Prize for poetry fOr Collected Poems and fhe Man tfho Died - Twice:, he worked now •feverishly .at, the Colony 0 With; the .:;publication of..Pristram in 1927, he won not only; recognition but; a eel aim o. Honors of all kinds flooded in. He was now

the winner of the coveted Pulitzer Prize for the third time. More than for his own eeonoiiiic stability;he valued this recognition because now he had justified himself as far as Gardiner9 Maine was concerned0 The natural fear of being . aloneg Old; .111 and penniless was also liftedo- It was with some pride that he could have his: friends cease their annual allotments *

He was glad for fame but it was as secondaryin his life as possessions or money, or women -or any Individual5, indeed = or personal happi=- ness o 14 '■ . •

He seemed to heed the comfort of a home and firesides but |could not feel at ease even in his brother's widow's home orwith his favorite nieeev n =.c he was a man detached bothfrom-family and friendss a denizen of a world more real to

' • ■ /' o : 15 :him than Beacon Hill or Broadway«■■ ht the Colonys where Robinson was pointed out to every

visitors: he managed to liaye a comparatively private life„Ihis5, of eourseg was his desire0 Robinson did not ask anyspecial favors and made ,:very f ew close friends at the Colony0He was a complete enigma to most people0

Although a Stimulating listenerj, reflect- . . 'ing; every shade' of. meaning in his dark eyes., he

■ still agonized Over his - incapacity to express * himself accurately in conversations0it

h ' :. 11° Hagedorn0. Robinson Po. 3k8a ' - : r'15o Hagedorn? Robinson, p0 359o . ;16o Hagedorn, Robinson, p0 359o

He continued to stay aloof from people and write c The strain of writing3 howevers was beginning to tell on M m and shortly after he finished King Jasper he underwent an ez= . ploratory operation: which revealed a cancer, too far ad­vanced to be removed0 He. was never told what the operation disclosed and seemed satisfied with the explanation given» During his illness he re-examined King Jaspero On April 5$1935» he dieds v

Eobinson was fifty-three years old before he became • self-supportingo His determination to be a poet, despite the many obstacles9.indicates;an"attachment to an art or to a principle hardly paralleled and not excelled in recent times oh ;■ ■'; t p - - it -1

. Eobinson was himself among the thousands in ' bur small townss with nothing provincial in the . ; tquality of their minds, who must grope their way towards the best in literature. - If their way as readers, could be made easier <, writers of his stature would be spared his ordealQ17

17 o' ■ Neff s Eobinson, p0 263 o

o m # m ii

BASIC TBlMi t' BISTRUSI- OB miBBIAI GAIN

.RicAard Crowder has separated the poetry of NoA* Rob= insoii iritb three periods whioh parallel his career: •

The first from the start (1896) to 1915 (the year of the publication of the second Torsion ; of' Qaptaln Orate)— a period of comparatiTe ob= ■■■". scnrityj the seoonds frd!m 19169 the date of the appearance of The Man Against the Sky, whioh

. brought fame 9„ ~Joo~T^2Es the fallow year after .Sionyus in Doubt 1 the third from 1927 (the year of Tristram, whioh introMeed. him' to thousands ofnew readersf to, 1935? the year of his deaths To- these three periods a kind of 00da must be added since King Jasper (1935) Was published posthumous­ly arid the Collected Poems (1937) called forth

This paper does not concern itself With Robihson9 s; short ; and earlier workss but must include' "Captain Craig," a : long . verse-movel 9. and "The Man •Against the Sky0" While the latter poem cannot fall into the category of his long Terse- notels3 it must be discussed because it was among the first poems which brought Robinson some, aeclaim and'recognitiono: likewise^ it is an example of some of Robinson8s most con- troTersfal Worke ■ - ; ' ■; ■ :

s- lo ' Richard Crowder, "NoAo Robinson9s Oraftmanshlp: 'Opinions of Contemporary Poets,'" Modern language Notes, L H

, (January- 19 6):$ f ' - = • ::

- : . :v . ; : : : V -u:.

• In order to clarify the basic themes of Mr, RobinsonSsworkg 'this paper will provide a thematic division of the long verse-novels based on what these novels suggest ooncern= ing Hobinson8s psychology as deduced from his background»In the first group will be included the poems whose basic themes portray distrust of material gains0 These writings include i$Captain Craig g n "The I#n Against the SkysM The Man :, Who Died Twice, and Matthias at the Door 0 .

In the second section the tragedy of love in contrast . with duty is the basic.theme of the poems dealing with the -Arthurian legendso These poems include Merlin, Lancelot*, .and Tristramo In the third section the theme is the complex effect of guilt and fear upon a -man’s life 0 These writings :include Avon’s_Harvest, Roman Bartholowl Cavenderss Houses '•and The Glory of the N ight Ingales <> ■ The long vers e-novels Tallfer9 Amaranth„ and•King lasper have been excluded in this discussion because they do not fit into this thematic di­vision of the poetry0 1 - v ' v ^

'"'v-' ' ’ / ’’Captain :Cralg’’. p ' ' -

55Captain Craig” Is a character sketch and is: said to be based upon the.character of Alfred Louis, an acquaintance of Robinson who claimed to have had some type of political career in Londoho The narrator and five or six of his ;friends discover the old oaptain destitutes ill/ and a . 1 fallureo They deeide to take care of him until.he dies?

15

Tills small group gathers In liis room to listen to M s plillo= sophleal advice0 . The narrator finds his stories so absorb- - ing that he stays, longer tflistening 5, unwearied and un-' v.; 2 \ - i -stung0a The captain is happy to have his friend remain to tell him ^things that are not words alone0e? Craig tells a story of a soldier who engaged in only one fight and was killedo His friends brought his body hack and had a brass band play at his funerals as Craig himself wishes his friends would do for him0 , ■ : . ' .

The subjects of the captain8 s stories are defeat and successo The young, soldier, who early in life was defeated

; by his untimely deaths, is successful in-the eyes of his .' friendso The captainhsks: :: v , ‘11 : - -- ' vv .

v = : . Uv .V- . By . the.: . : _" ' " - .y 1 :.When you; are weary sometimes of your own ;Htllity, I wonder if you find l 'Occasional great comfort pondering . '

: / v ■ . v . . ’lhat 'power a man has in him to put forth?- . 'The captain regards m n as the most marvelous thing y/ :

in the 'world3. as did Sophocles o Craig thinks a though8 that man must learn to laugh with God and to see the humorin .human situations as God does* - •' ■

:2o Edwin Arlington Robinson% Cbllected Poems (HewYork: EMe.millan^y 1948) g p0 115 = ; ? y- : - ... • y .yyi ■ ."y' y• 3.0 Robinson, Collected Poems., p0 11.5»- -y .

4o Robinson, Collected Poems , Po ll?a: ;

16

<,, Tou quiver and; you clutch. • . :For something larger s, soEiethlng tmfulfilled a Some wiser kind of joy that you shall have Never, until you learn to laugh with God05

Oralg*a influence was keenly felt by all of his young com­rades, but specifically he affected the narrator who -re­veals: ... ;

o.oo He made me laugh-"'. Sometimes, and then again he made me weep;- Almost; for I had insufficiency - '

; Enough, in me to make me know the truth /Within the jest, and I could feel-it there 'As well as if it were the folded,note .1 felt between my fingers. .. = .' ■ ■ \ ;Later the narrator leaves Tilbury Town for several

months and during his absence receives letters of a philo­sophical bent from. Captain Craigo' These letters are filled with wisdom and observations of human nature:

Time Steals the infant, but the child he leaves;And we, we fighters over, of old wars —We men, we shearers of the Golden Fleece—Were'- brutes without him, - brutes to t ear the scars , Of one another5s wounds and weep in. them.And then cry out on God that he should flaunt For life such anguish and flesh-wretchedness.But let the brute go roaring his own way«We do not need him, and he loves us not.7 -

Such belief in individual will is in .contrast to the mechan-, istic. trend of many materialistic thinkerso There are notmany people who have the wisdom of Craig, even though he is

5o Robinson, Collected Poems, p. 119 =6= ' Robinsdh, Collected Poems, p. 122.

. Robinson, Collected Poems, p. 125 =

a failurey in a material way. ' When the narrator returns to Tilhury Town^ Gaptain Graig is dying0 He has s however, more Information to leave this small circle of friends: -

' f orget yon not that he who in his. work Would mount from these> low roads of ‘measured shame To tread the leagueless highway must fling first And fling forevermore.- beyond his reach ■ ;The shackles of a slave who doubts the sun 0 8

As he lay on the hed with his eyes half closed5 the littlecircle knows that Gaptain Graig had given his message„ yetthere was some fettered message unsaid <, He smiled, and atlast spoke One word ^tromboneSa^

The men gathered at their cluhroom that night of hisdeath ftand there comes always with it/ The stormg the warmrestraint 9 the fellowship9/ The friendship and the -fire- .•;

: : ' 9 ■ . . ' .. ' - ' - ■ 'light 9 and the f iddle o” ■■ The next day was his funeral; itwas a windy and dreary day when they put the captain in hisfinal resting placed : .

■ = b o o; for men stopped And eyed us on that road from time to time9 . . And on that road the children followed us;; And all along that road the Tilhury Band Blared indiscreetly the Bead hhrch in Saulor* 1

This hrassy exit seems to he the captain’s 'final gesturetoward a materialistic world»

: - 8o,; Eohinson; Gollected Poems, p0 .1660 •9c Hohinson9 Gollected Poems,’p0 169»

:: ’ 10q- Bohinson 0 Collected Poems', p, 169 =

18

The basic theme in "Captain Craig" is the idea that ma­terial success alone is not lasting or satisfying. While Craig laments his failure, he feels his life has been rich in experiences and friendships. Malcolm Cowley in the New Republic praises "Captain Craig" as

the most defiant work he £Robinson] has so far undertaken. With a mixture of eloquence and mis­chief it described the death of a pauper who was more to be admired than all the rich men of Tilbury Town.

He was to be admired because his heart was filled with hap­piness for his neighbor and his mind was filled with wisdom for those who would heed it. The wise old captain remarks:

.... , the midnight leafThat rattles where it hangs above the snow- Gaunt, fluttering, forlorn - scarcely may seem So cold in all its palsied loneliness As we, we frozen brothers, who have yet Profoundly and severely to find out That there is more of unpermitted love In most men*3 reticence than most men think.12

In his wisdom the old captain knows there is need for more love among men in a world steeped in materialism.

Floyd Stovall agrees that the captain wishes to endow his young and charitable friends with the knowledge he pur­chased with a lifetime of defeat, hoping that this wisdom

13he found too late might be useful to them.

11. Malcolm Cowley, "Defeat and Triumph,” New Republic, XL (December 1948), 27.

12. Robinson, Collected Poems, p. 155.13• Floyd Stovall, "Optimism Behind Robinson's Trage­

dies," Bibliography of American Literature, X (March 1938). 27.

The captain says:-There is no servitude so fraudulent As of a sma^shut aina.y for 8t is the inind That makes 'you craven or invincibles Diseased or puisshrLtol^

Eobinsoiig through Oraigg realizes that the world considersa, man unsuccessful unless he amasses money or power0 From

, his early manhood Eobinson worried about his reputationregarding success in Gardiner9 Wine*-' In a; letter to HarryDeForest;Smith in October 8 1893 $ .Robinson says: •"

T am1 half afraid that my'lfdear friehdsr$ here . in Gardiner will be disappointed in me if I do 3

: ; not do something before long, but somehow 1 don’t care half as much about the matter as I ought» -One of my greatest misfortunes:is-the tptal in^. ability to admire the so called successful men who are pointed out to poor devils like me as

. examples for me to follow and revere„15Although Robinson says he does not care .too much about what.they thinky he is merely covering up for.pride5 s sake0 Hisinability to support himself frustrated him throughout half’of his life0 Captain Craig re-echoes Robinson’s idea:' : But with a few good glimpses I have had

Of heaven through the little holes in hell9 v 3 I eah half understand what • price it ish / - . ", : The poet pays 3 at one time and another 9

For those, indemnifying interludes That are to be the kernel in what lives - To shrine, him when the new=born men come singing<,16 ■ -

• ±k* Robinson9 Collected Poems0 p0 16601.5o Edwin Arlington.Robinson, Untriangulated. Starss

Denham Sutcliffes ed». (Cambridges Harvard University Press j, i947)v pi io7o..

l6o Robinsony Collect ed Poems ,pp»: 133=3131-0

20

:' "The Mam Against the Bky? ' V- "

Robinson defines, his purposes in writing this poem in' a letter bo Amy hbwell s : -‘ .

Nothing could have been farther Tnom my mind when 1 wrote "The Man" than an emissary;of - glpbm or despair o in the closing pages I meant .

;• merelya through whaf I supposed to be an obvi= / ^ously ironic medium, to carry materialism to its logical end and to indicate its futility as an ' -

. explanation or a justification of existenceoi?, The poem opens with a solitary person crossing a hilltop

and moving toward the sunset0 - The man represents any humanM being facing deatho This symbolic man may meet death in .. • l various 'ways s faithlessly, defiantly, .triumphantly, or even:r hopelessly. Whatever way- he goes, -he goes, this way alone .. We do not know what influences have guided -him along the: way during' lif e I t may - have been 1 :i;;:; ' " A vision answering: a faith unshaken, : :

An easy trust assumed, of easy;trials,- ; - . .:: 1; : Ayslck' negation born of weak, denials, - v. y.: v A erased abhorrence of an old condition, -

A blind attendance: on a brief ambition, =>Whatever stayed him or derided him,His way was even as ours -> And we s with all our wounds - and all our - powers,

, Must each await alone at his own heightAnother darkness or another light . ' ;:;Robinson warns that if man throws away his belief in 1

heaven and hell and believes in nothing but oblivion, then

.. 17o Edwin Arlington Robinson, Selected-Letters s ; . 'Ridgely Torrence,: ed 4 / (New York: Ifeomillan, 194011^. 93. '/ .. .. 1.8; • Robinson, Gollected Poems 1 pv 65. . ;

21

man ean give no reason for perpetuating the race.- Whatactnally kappeha to man after death, we do not know;

Where was he going, this man against the sky You know not, nor do I>Bnt this we know,, if we know anything, . ;. That we may. laugh and fight i and sing And of our transience here make offering ;To an orient Word Y= „ <,19 • .

Here Bobinson is suggesting that men must live optimisti­cally and hopefullyo The man need not feel that he must . climb only to a sunset; he may optimistically face a dawn.- When man realizes that he is- ephemeral, he may easily sac-rifice himself to a rising light0 A man may perhaps "... by •••.; ■■ - ... ' 1 20 . tseeing all things for the best" be rewarded, while one wholooks at things indifferently or with no purpose or cynically

may have proved a world a sorry thing/ In his imagining,/■ - ' - . :■ ■ .. ■ : 21 ■- . .And life a lighted highway to the tomb." Again, the man

may not have climbed the hill successfully because of ambi-. . 22 ■ : ■ . ttion which "to chaos led.”

Robinson offers no alternative to the reader concern­ing after-life, but recognizes the futility of a scientific and materialistic approach to man/s life here. Robinson says that■his reason fop;writing "ThefMan.Against the Sky” .

19. ;Rpbinson, .Collected Poems / p. 66, ■ 20 o. Robinson,; Oollected Poems, p. 62 <

21. Robinson, Oollected Poems, p. 63,22. Robinson . Oollected Poems, p.. 63 <

22

was to show tihe futility of materialism. His symbolic man, representative.of all mankind, must fae© what- fate has in .

"store for him--alone, Robinson, in "The Man Against 'the - Sky3 te is not. accepting a faith, or a belief in an after-life« It is quite the antithesis, Robinson does imply that we "make offering/ To an -orient Word" and that life with all of its yie issit tides is in some way worth the effort. Tv or "Winters believes that while the poem "purports to be an ex­pression of faith, it is devoted in all save a few lines to

. 24 ' ■ : .. : : ml". :the expression of d e s p a i r . W h e t h e r or not the term"despair": is correetly. used, is doubtful 9 but the poem does leave us with a feeling of ihdecision about man and his des-tiny. ' ' / T y ' / v '■'v;/;-1 ;/ - -

If after, all that we have lived and thought $,:: . All •eomes to'Haught-. : " • : . f v; -if there is nothing after Howa •. '• 1 / I.

- : ' And we be nothing anyhow, . l. vm, ;.f • , : .And we .know that, « why liyeT25 - . - - i 'Estelle Kaplan describes the poem as a prelude to a

song of death. It conoerns. it self. with the question of ,eternal lifes and it includes the belief that man cannotalter destiny. It is . impossible a' then5 to understand why •

23 <> Robins on. Collected Poems, p, 66.. _ 24o Tver Winters ,-. Edwin Arlington Robinson (EorfPlkn•. New.-Directions^; B bp%. # # % T ^ p 0 48, = - - ; . :.. .

23, Rbb'ihsonp G oil acted Po ems, p p.. 60v69. . "

23

- m n wajnts to live wlien he finds life so difficult! Robin­son says; l - ' .. ■ ' ;

Shy pay we such a price s and one we giveSo clamoringlys for each racked empty dayThat leads one more last human hope away3 ’As q.uiet fiehds would lead; past our crazed eyes Our children to an unseen 8acrlfice?27 •

The poem ends with these lines; Vy'-5Twere sure but weaklings8 vain distress To suffer dungeons where so many doors ; Will open bn the cold eternal shores That look sheer downTo the dark tideless floods of Bothingness'Where all who know may drown 02S

In these lines the extreme position of materialistic fa­talism is ironically propounded. He sthtes that anyone whoabandons all belief in heaven and hell and accepts the dark concept of oblivion destroys all purpose and promise in .life..The implication is there that we dare not discard hope and follow the path of cynicism and mechanistic ma­terialism. ' ■!.. '•: ! V

■ The Man Who Died Twice

The Man Who Died Twice is one of Robinsons,s long poems that won for him the coveted Pulitzer.Prize for poetry.

260 : Estelle; Kaplang Philosophy in the Poetry of Edwin Arlington Robinson (Hew York; Columbia University Pressy 1940), pp” . 55“527 . g;,- ... ’/k

2?o ' RobinsonV, Collected Poems, p.- 68.28. Rob inson. Golle cted Poems. p .■69»

24

S’ernan4o Hasll tells hia om: stioyy to Ihe. narrator in the poeMo .-When -the narrator f irst meets Hash5, some twenty years hef ore - the poem9 s inception^ Hash is a musician of promise; and genius o His offensive attitude to his friends, howevers: - alienates him from them. He recognizes■his own precocity and is impatient for success, He spends much time on his- V symphonys listening tpo long to the drums of death that are to he a minor note in his creation, it is the devil who beats on these drums of deatha and Hash succumbs, ' He tears . up his - symphony and for twenty years he dissipates; the type ' of dissipation ;is not revealed, but his looks explain, hislife, J.:.. ; y / :':

° o o Look at that burned out f ace of yours :V-'HXou bloated greasycinder, and say whos . .

Say who * s'to care,: and .then: s a y i f you will \ - Why anyone in a world where there8s a cockroach,

: , Should care for you0;29 :His talent is lost and he is as nThe king who lost his crown■ : h : bin; • \ . 30 . tViw:-■before he had it,/ And s aw it me It in hell 0 i? . He emerges >from his life of debauchery a year before the narrator findshim pounding-a drum for the Salvation Army, H : •

■ : Fernando Hash heard clocks across thetown. One midnight 5 and was forty-five years old; - And he-was too f ar- sundered from his faith .And his ambition, buried somewhere together

29o Hobinson, Collected Poems , 'po 931« ' '30o Robinson, Collected Poems, p0 933o

25

Behind him to - go s t umMing' back for them.Only, to find: a shadowy grave that held " 'So little and so muciu „„„031 .It is suggested that the fears of his incapacity and failurecause his:final breakdown. Be is a tragic character because

' Robinson makes us, f eel that if he only could have waited f orthe completion of his symphony, he could have attainedglory. Throughout the poem, Hash is convinced that hewould have become immortal. He talks here of his formerfriends: ; - ' ' ,

000= ^They knew I had it =» once,”He'said; and with a scowl said it again,Like a child trying twice the bitter taste ■

:■ ■ ■ Of an unpalatable medicine; , ;‘"fhey knew I had it “ oneel Do you remember 'fthat . an upstanding Ajaxlwas then? .And what an eye I had? I scorched 'em with it.I scared 'em; and they knew I was a gianto • I knew it, also; ...."32

It. is when he gives up his music that his first death iseffected. Just as the drums of death are pounding in hisears, he is figuratively lifted into heaven. He is now seek­ing his own redemption and finds it "... beating a bassdrum/ And shouting Hallelujah with a fervor." Hash con­tinues on in this manner until his final death, when the . 'narrator cremates his body and throws his ashes into the : sea. The narrator c o n c l u d e s ., I believe/ To-day that all

31. Robinson", Oollected Poems, p. 926.32. .Robinson, Collected Poems, p. 924.33- Robinson, Cdllected Poems, p. 921.

26

Se; "bold me for the truth/ Was true - as 1 believed him long ago/ To be the giant of his acknowledgment.^ Eobinson evi­dently believes in the spiritual release that Hash gets from the Salyation-Arm^o' . ‘ v

The story of The-h&n Who Died Twice is only incidental since Robinson intended a universal application. The basic theme is One of mistrust of materiaT gaino Fernando Nash,;in his early life8 was filled with worldly ambition which did / not bring him sue cess or peace of mind. He turned from this type of materialism to a more, available form and dissipated his talents defiantlys living wastefully for twenty years. This type of life did not make him happy. At last he turned his thoughts and mind away from worldly materialism and . found in the drums of the Salvation Army the drums of life which he had always been seeking. With the awakening of his spiritual life be is happy: . • h ; :t . :: / - ' ' A year ; before you found' what11 s left of me.

That evening.in the streeta 1 should have said My way was blank and ruinous to the end, .But there was more to be, Glory to Godl

. . There was to be a more revealing endThan that = an end that once had been for me. ■ The bitterest and of all = and is not so. ■

; •. . Tor in the music 1 W v e heard since then .'V .,y There, are the drums 'cf life. Glory to God % "35In. this poem there is evidence that Eobinson is a student

• of:human behavior and personality. Unlike the story of

34o. Robinson. Collected Poems i n, 957= • / ’4 . .7 f 535° Robinson, /Collected EoemSj, p. 925. 7 . -

Roman Bariholow* there is no obscurity in this poem. Thepoet's Ixieidity ih'^ar^icul&lsr noticeahle throughout inlines sueh as these which the narrator- speaks ?

Why did you have to. kill yourself like .this?Why did you let the devil's retinue \.• . • .That was td- he a part he everything, .'And so defeat your daemon till your star Should sing unheard for yon whose ears were left. Only for drums and songs of your destroyers?And now even they are gone = all but the drums <,3°

Herbert So Oorman feels this is Robinson’s best work of modern life. He says? fSIt is technically constructed in actual symphony form. There are macabre touches in it andthe analytic theme clutches the mind of the reader so that a' ' : • ■ ' ' :' ' ■ ■ / 37 - - . / . %painful intensity is producedo,?

In a symphony there is an agreement or harmony of sounds, ■ So in' this poem, there is that symphonic harmony; between the thought and the lines, A person can almost hear the music when Hash imagines he sees the rats coming through the key­hole and taking their places to get'ready to playV This imagery is harsh and aptly selected to coincide with the ma­terialistic theme? - ;

; r And still the music soundeds weird but .firm, ■And the more fearful as it forged along To a dark and surging climax, which at length

- Broke horribly into coarse and unclean laughter

. 36, Robinson, Collected Poems, p0 928, .; , 37° Herbert S 0 Gorman3 Crop of Spring Verse,"The; Bookman, LIZ (March 1924$, August 19241» 467°

28

That rose above a groaning of the damned.;■ ; And. through .it all there were those drums of death,

• Ihibh always had been haunting him from ehildhood * 38Iferk l?an Soren sajs the poem isluminous with an other =worIdly light; not the sun j, but s ome energy of gho st 1 ier brillianoe and . •le,ss warmth glitters along these lines and makes them clearo Open it at random and in ignorance^ and.many a .passage will; yield no music; temper the.ears however5 to the whole and. the whole will sing where Mr» Robinson intended that it should -s i n g i n the depths of the braiUo39

- Matthias at the; Door . 'h ''h /

Matthias at the Door is an;Intricate narrative of mari=.tal adventure a When the poem opens, Ifetthias is exploringhis estate near his home and feeling very self-satisfied;

If. years had been the children of his wishes s ; Matthias would have wished and been immortal 9 ; ' ;:. ' For so he felt; and he was only as old -b

■As half a century Of serenityHad made him^O - .Garthj, ;an old friend, approaehes unannounced and asks forhospitality> He is a materxal .f ailurehis eyes no longer : 'show any lustre and thad seen more,/ Perhaps, than"eyes, of

- " - ; ' . ■;. : kl .men are meant to see/ Of earth and earthy works 0?f Vfhile ■

38o Robinson,;Oolleoted Poems, pc 9400' 390 -'Mark Tan Borens nA Symphony of Sin: The -Man Ifho

"Died Twice, The Nation, 0XTI11 (April 16S 1.924) , 446.'40o Robinson, Gollected Poems, p0.1077 o -

' 4 1 » :,;#obinson, Oollected Poems, po 1079»

^h© two walk and- talks, the reader is aware of the self=sa.tisfaotioiGL and self-righteousness which Matthias possesses c

. o 0 , o •" ; ; / If others were allveg ;And had g tof reasons hidSen in ©111861*68 , An interest and a pride in their endurance Of - an estate precarious and peculiar

; . Matthias would /mt hurt them0y He would smileAt them and their mutations and elatlons9 At their illusions and.Importances,And wonder why they were so much in earnest Over so littleo^ : ■/■ . /

They approach some Ragged rock formations which resemble anEgyptian tomb0 This tomb«1Ike arrangement has a large open-ing symbolizing a doorway to death0 Garth speaks:

:../ :;olo6 ' -; Do you sea f rom her e . ; ' /■; / '/ Two pillars' ■= one on either side? Two shafts ' // Carved out of solid night P they are to me/,

With darker night between themo That9s a door /: Worth watching; and I3ve been watching it , Matthias^)Matthias tells Garth that the place is gloomy and that he should stay away from it» Soon Matthias leaves Garth andgoes into his home to his wife 9 Natalie. In a later conver­sation between Natalie and Matthias,, we learn that Garth has •poisoned himself in the omb Natalie, is obviously upset by this news: and Matthias - speaks: • . V; i //.■..;

oo = o '■ ^Tour thoughts are living ' ; \i Down there too long - down there in the dark9 with himo. .: • But he is not there now, and you,had better / ; ./;'/

Be somewhere else* You-had better be here s with - me = ': I like to see you here = _ You are SO: fair / ;

To mes sometimes s that I’m afraid of you -= ■- v: Dr rather of ■ the :place-W world would be ' . , : .- ; Without you ’ in it ow4A ; • , ' . ' .

42o Robinsons Collected.Poems/ p0 1081=43* -Robinson« Collected Poems B p= 1083 =

• 44* Robinson 9 Collected .Poems, p= 1091 =

As. they are talking s Timber lake,. another material failure suddenly appears and joins in the conversation about Garth0 Both Matalie and Timberlake subtly criticize the self- righteousness of Matthias„ After Timberlake leaves> Natalie and Matthias settle their quarrel.and Natalie.reveals to the readers ”1 might have married Garth and starved to;death-,-/Or Timberlake, if he had seen it so,/ And maybe poisoned

45 ■ ' - . - ■- ■ . ' . ' : . '■him.o!! But she had married Matthias? "Bor reasons old ashistory,- and as good/ As reasons mostly are when they are.

m/v 46 :■ : • t,- ■ : . .; / ifound." . y ; . A , . ,r -.:, -g- 'Mataliei who cannot forget about Garth, goes down among

the -rocks’ where the suicide took place and f inds Timberlake ,there o They talk lovingly of Garth and a bit ironically ofMatthias'who-places so much trust in material things. Mata-'lie then admits that she has always loved Timberlake:

You should have married me, and tortured me s And got drunk, and left me for other womens And then come back when you were tired of them.

" ■ O o O O o O O O O O O O O O 0 6 ' ‘ ’ i .■ - 0006' That would haVe been all right. ‘We should have killed each other, and so. known - i That we have lived a little before we died.47

From here on we can.trace the beginning of Matthias8 self-destruction when it is revealed that Natalie married him.solely for security. Hence both his insecure marriage and -

45o Ebbinsono Collected Boemso p. 1101. : i >46o" EobinsonV Ooilected Poems, p. 1101.47o 'Robinson, Collected Poems. p. 1105« - ■

his. false personal ieouipity were "based upon Matthias8 1 ex­pending on material things0 . ■

The next night Natalie admits to Matthias the truth about her love% but that her sin was only in thought <, They deeide to go on togethero Little by little Matthiass his material world crumbling r degenerates and resorts to drink­ing „ One night in a drunken condition he attempts to kiss her; she repulses him and runs out of the room0 The nextmorning Matthias finds a note which reads9 "Matthias„ I am ■ . ' : 48 - ;y . y : ; ; ; ; /sorry3 Natalie 05! He . finds her body later by the door amongthe rocks o ’ ; : y .' VV yy t. t " - ; h;;: : "

: ' . MFor a long time : ' 'Eis world,.which once had been so properly And • admirably f illed with hi s ,ambit ions s With Hatalies with his faiths and with himself j

•. Was only an incredible lonelinesssx ' h The lonelier for defeat and reco>gnitionvTimberlake arrives during Matthias' meditatibn and is

ill; Matthias welcomes him and takes .care of himo Matthias, gets a promise from Timberlake that he will not do away with himself o The- next day ? however •» ■-Matthias finds Timber lake half dead because of exposure» Timberlake lives a few days :and the two.talk about their respectiye failuresi - Their

; fa llure s are alike in - that they had both trusted material things as their chief; support Q ?/hen Matthias is left alone 5

: A8o Robinson, Collected Poems* p0 1125„ .•.;:49« . Bobinsong Oolleoted Poems,. po-1126o yy?ry : "

32

he eontemplates suicide but a voice which sounds like : Garth}s tells him he cannot die until he is reborn spiritu­

al! y0 These words fprecast the hopelessness that Matthias must experience beforej stripped of materialistic depen­dence a he may.find.peaceo ' ; .

He must go back again; he must be born.And then must live; and he who had been always So promptly served, and was to be a servants,Must now be of some use in a new world That Timberlake and Garth and Natalie

; Had strangely lived and died to find for hlm050Matthias at the Boor is a psychological drama with the

typieal Hobinsonian theme of distrust of material gainoMathias who had everything, had nothing„ It is a story ofdefeat and includes four, sharply delineated people0 Garth,the wastrel & has knocked on too many doors and, at f ifty,realises the futility of his life» He tells Matthias thathe is drawn now to the place where the dark rocks are„ He/is sensiti's'e to Matthias* fears of the rocks; they convey toMatthias evil foreboding of materialistic downfall 6 Garththe man to whom life has left no more room for hope, hasfound in these dark rocks the place to end his wanderings? •wHere is a place I like0 Do you see it?/ One of these -days 1 Shall go there to knock,/ And that will be the last '.

51 ■ ; -i : v. .: • of .doors for me . v-: :

; 50o Robinson, Collected Poems, p , 1154o .

: :51o' Robinson3 :Collected Poems, Po tQ&ko

; Timber lake s another sharply drawn character, is. a roix-. - ture of folly andwisdomo In his weakness there is a recog­nizable strength;which is evident when the reader learns of ;

./his; age-old love for Natalie, and of his solid friendship for..; -Matthias-o - He is honest with Natalie after her open profes­sion of love for hims "1 made myself more worthless than 1: was-/ ior his sake, andg- as I saw then9 for yours 0 ” - later, he sagely remarks that even though he.could have taken.her away from Matthias, kFire leaves a mark/ On friendship,.that , would be a brand on love s/ Always in sight; and even without Matthias.gYou might .have.paused« \ : -V ' • ; :

fimberlakers obvious strength is an instructiye con­trast with the.: character of .Matthias» Timber lake has learned • from' life the value of sacrifice and has gained a sympathetic understanding of human natureo These things are learned when no dependency is placed upon worldly possessions and power.

In direct contrast to these two men— darth and Timber- lake— stands Ifc-tthias ^wfapped in reetitude0 Matthias ; is f illed with his ■ own Importance. .He ;■ is. • self-satisfied:' 'he ; is contented with his property9 his wife s. and himself 0 He looks down on;lesser man who meets obstacles too great for him to handle. % e n Matthias learns of Garth^s suicide and

52b Hobinsons Gollected Poems, p 0 1108c ' ■53o ;Hobinson? Collected; Poems, p; -1109.5#o: ; Robinson, Collected Poems, p. 1084°

is speaking of M s action3 Matthias has little understandingfor his friend’s weaknesst . . - / : ■

/ - o o. . '5e woh/t come hack; t -i hi .■ . And I can show no better friendliness:fo M S fhan i1! my joy. he m y not; v : r.;; .; •; For the same- life would he awaiting him, -

'■ :" ■ And one more, death P . for cause .that was ..appareht ; h Dying was M s career» iihen a man says

. . Unceasingly what things he is to do,i ' : Until he says' at last he can do nothing, .

•; ;: - ' He meets a .■despefation=, tr55 ■ ■ . i ': gvNatalie8s sharply defined characteristics reveal her

.emotional.intensity and imagination and her knowledge of■human nature° Her intelligent retort to Matthias regarding .the reason for Garth’s death strikes hard.0 Natalie8 s 'sagelyironic remark points up her wit in lines such asi "Womenare funnys but there5 s nothing alive/ So funny as men whenthey are telling others/ How to put fate in a cage1 = as they• 56 .. t::' .: v.:i'have done0Sf The loss of this; intelligent and imaginative

woman brings Matthias to a re=evaluation of his materialistic

Edna; Lon Walton, in describing Matthias at the Door,

This theme heard in his ; Robinson5s earlier.- : verse has continued to command the poet8 s analysis,

and presents, his matured understanding of human nature and of the forces that motivate it A No / .more can be asked of a poet than that he widen and deepen his observation until it becomes a compre-

... hensive study of life, a poetic philosophy vfhich

55= Robinsono Gollected Poemsy p0 1098o . 56= Robinson, Qoilected Poems, p= 1098=

is; illminating and satisfying to both the heart •. and Blind 8 and this' is the aoooraplishnient of the . , mature Eobinsono57 - . - x c - .'V"' :-y;' >:; ;

Gertaih-ly': Eo.binsbn: has proved- his ability in this pbem in Gharaoter analysis and in his treatment of human drama0 "He has given us here, excellent portraitsof the'four Gharaeti ; ■ •ters 3 specifically bringing out.the intensity of feeling inHatalie0 Itoile the work is a psyohologioal study, it is notheavy with psychologieal analysis which has clogged the mean­ing in some of his long, narratives. . • . : ' ' -

The poem is not one of despairs since at the end the story is lifted to a high level by Matthias, who at last recognizes, that two men and a woman have lost their lives that he might be awakened :from his materialistic dream; -: ; h ... o-o 0 = i ; fhe night was cold, ; ; h:

And in.the darkness was a feel of death,; But in Matthias was' a warmth of life s : . ■ ,

Or birth, defending and sustaining.him With patience, and with an expectancy '

v ' ; That he' had said would never in lif e; again ; ' . Be his' to knowo There vrere long hours to. wait,

\ • And dark hour s; and he met'• their iength and' • . : : " "•• ' ''' ' V:"V • . darkness

; . ITith a vast .gratitude that humbled him kk -. And warmed him while he waited for the dawno'^

57» " Bda-... Lou Walton, i8So Wrapped' in Rectitude? Matthias - at the Door," The Hat ion „ SHY. (October 14, .1931), 4(34«

581 Robinson, Oolleoted Poems., p0 1155 =

CHAPTEE III

' : BASIC THEME ? LOVE VERSUS DUTY '

The Arjbhiirian legends remain: f or poets of bur day, as they were for poets of former years <,: some of the richest and most tempting legendary material in the world0 In an arti= .. ole in the Dial in 1917% Odell Shepard commented that ffMr 0 Robinson had not availed himself of that wealth of material 0tf There seems to be more justification, however, for Tvor Winters8 remark that the Arthurian poems 9 particularly Merlin and Lancelot, "contain the best poetry to be found in Robinson8 s longer work 9: regardless of sub ject „88 In these legends the theme:is the conflict between duty and loved. In Merlin love has incapacitated the hero Merlin for his duties as adviser; yet duty is the stronger urgea In Lancelot and Tristram the strain of duty causes impotencyi :ln ;iove^.:v ?y;-;.:Vd;, : - 'd y.' " ;: : :\y :i.

• -10 - Odell 'Shepard3' "Versified Henry James? Merlin/8 ■ Dialt m i l (October 11 sy 1917) y 34G o '2<, Tv or Winters s Edwin Arlington Robinson (lEForfblkg

W&8#i&ut4ym##^#bbtion#^BWk9 igtiiy Do- 6i0 . .

57

Merlin

In Merlin Robinson ”indulges in a good deal of inven=tion, suppression and'alterations no matter which of the .earlier treatments one examines 0 8? The story itself has a double theme o The conflict of love and duty appears as the .story of Vivian and Merlin; the other is the theme of dis­solution represented by the' breaking up of King Arthur8s Round Table, which seems to reflect Robinson’s concern with the breaking up of the stable society he had known- prior to the World War „ - .

"Merlin, is not pictured here as an olds mysterious wizard but as a ' very intelligent man who has the .ability to foresee s weigh situations,, and advise wisely. It is in him thatArthur places all his conf idence o '

.a*,,,. Then Merlin sailed . >;.. Away to Vivian in BroceliandeWere now she crowns him and herself with flowers

' = And feeds him fruits and wines, and many foods■ Of . many savors, - and- sweet; ortolans .; Wise books of every lore of every landAre.-there to fill his days, if he req.uife them?: ■-And here are. playefs';of all instruments—flutes, hautboys, drums and viols; and she sings \ - ,...To- "Merlin, till he trembles in her: arms ' ■ - "

. And there forgets that any town alive •'. Rad ever such a name as Game lot --Merlin ..and "Fivian. are. happy for many year s'until one day

3o WintersRobinson,p. 61. .. ' ■ vh "1 'ko Edwin Arlington Robinson g Collected. Boems (New York?

Macmillan, 1948) p pp. A; - ' : : . - :

an emissary from King■Arthur requests Merlin’s return be­cause of the serious situation in•Gamelot0 Reluctantly he . takes leare of Vivian and goes to Arthur„ His words„ how- ' • evers contain:little help for the king because they are hot words of imports but mere deductions which Arthur could con­clude for- himself o Merlin says: . . : ■ - - ■

: • ■ M v;": Be hot from hearsay or despair too eager. : To dash your meat with bitter seasoning 3. ■ '

So none that are more famished than yourself v : - - Shall have what you refuse. For you. are King i

' - Mtd, if you starve yourself s you starve vthe state; : ' And then by sundry looks and silences . Of those you loved s and by the lax regard . -

■■.-.'■■..•■'Of' those you knew for fawning enemies $ ' _ : h. ■ ' You may learn soon that; you are King no more'0 5 ' ; ;His warning words conclude with,."For it is Modred"now^ not Launcelot/ Whose native hate plans your annihilation-” .

; The king is made more miserable and goes to bed,: butnot'to sleepo Merlin returns to.Broceliande'and Vivian buthe is not happy because - he; -worries about Arthur and the dis­integration of Camelot o. Hrevlously Vivian had;, f eared the ;;hingis influence and is jealous of Merlin’s devotion to -him..■ Her,fears; are/'lustifled,; :foriMeriin’s.- loyalty toiduty super-, sedes love. But his return is too late to save the city;' its deetructioh has long before been set, Merlin,, upon his -v arrival in.Oamelot, meets Bagonet, the fool, and the latter

, 5,. •'' R ob ins o n Gollected Poems., p, 250, . 6, . Robinson,- Collected.Poems, p, 253 =

39

swears allegiaiioe to; Merlin until death0 Merlin ■ places M sWeighty hand on Dagohet’s shoulder and the two stroll to- ;get her through the .gldomi .' -it ■ • : ;.... ■

i T h e rock above them Was an -empty place / ■ ■ v.: ", Ihere neither seer nor fool should view again . //■ - The stricken city. Golder blew the wind .. ■v.fi:; Across the world,.: and on it:-heavier l a y ■:: / • - -

; -:v -. The shadow and the burden of the nighty ' - iAnd :thefe. was. darkness: over Gamelotp? . ■

' few poems have ever shown a more powerf ul ending;- whenMerlin and the fool walked together- down the gloomy path, -it.was• the end; for- the great Merlin; it-was the end of his wls-,dom; it was the end of the love affair which had hr ought, thisdestruction to ;him0 i Tt. does not, however 9 mark the end tor '■.Gamelot or for Arthur. Merlin has early discovered his f a t e '

I saw too much, when T saw Ca.melot . ;Ahd I saw'.: farther" hackward intd Time s ■ ; '

.; And forward s than a man may ■ see and live,When I' made. Arthur ■king. I saw too far, . • -

■ ; : But .not so far as this r Fate played ; with" me ■ .■. ' As I have played with Time; and Time; like me,, Being less than Fate, will have on me. his vengeance„On Fate there is; no vengeance, even; f or : God, ■o ; aHe drew;her slowly into his embrace,And held her there;.hut when he kissed her lips ; ;They were as. eqld -as leaves and had no, answ:er:; ;

■ . For Tlmeohad.given him then, to prove.his words, -. A frozen moment of a woman’s life08 %-."■ ■ ;'; : Eobihson writes of his poem Merlin to Mr.s0 Louise T„L e d o v t s t - V

- The thing; seems to; me" to be interestingv a n d - on the;; whole,; entirely, moral 0; It all

?0 RObinsonf Goilected Poems, p 0 314. ..8 . . . Robinsoh, Golleot ed Poems A p ot 297^

depends on the point of viewo Ton may call me an evangelist of ruin when you have read it"hut ' 'you mustn't forget the redemption-==even if you ;;Wh^t see it^9 • ■ . .

This seems to refer to Merlin5s personal redemption throughhis return to duty— a resolution of the conflicting themes9though this resolution comes too. late to save Came lot c '•

; An anonymous article written for the Catholic Worldconfirms the fears of Mr, Robinson regarding, his poem; ’ . ,

This taste: of futility and desolation / n. A 'lingers longest after the poem is reads and puz® zles most as to its meaning, A faint promise

; is: half givens - in the ends; that' catastrophe will _ ' - ■'he the t eacher of men, and that the wor Id will a ; ;;. -finaliy ■ profit by these mistakes and sin. Rut ' y ‘ ; v

it is hard to reconcile this tentative= after® : .thought of hope with the strong sense of fatalism in the poems the sense that a will before which the human;; wili' is powerless, has caused each act and directed each disasterfl® . ;

Glimpses of this philosophy are evident in the poem, Che'isnoticed when Merlin speaks; t?All" this that was to be/ Mightshow man how vain it were to wreck/ The world for self if itwere all in vain,n ; : i: - -; ■

HermahiHagedorn remarks that ; ..-h - 1 h .' ;His narratiye, nMerlins !i grew and was . ' ■

finished9 a symbol primarily^ only incidentally a story9 full of wisdom, humor, and movement 9 . and of unforgettable pictures8 the most iridescent

9o Bdwln Arlington Robinson, Selected Letters, ! Ridgeiy Torrence9 ed, (Hew York: Macmillan, 1940T/ p’o 97,,10,■ "Merlins" Catholic World, 071 (November 1917)» 25511, Robinson, Collected Poems,. p., 3P7>V ,: . '

41

he had painted sluce he had written “Captain :Oraig“ seventeen years" before012

. Merlin is undoubtedly- a symbol primarily, since -We Rob­inson wrote the narrative in 1917 when-his' own world was on the .verge of a cataclysm of ruin-* Robinson saw elements in' the legendary story of the fall of• Camelot which seemed com- , parable to the great forces at work in his. own day. And man in the imaginary era of Arthur and in the real period; of Robinson’s writing was a victim of uncontrollable powers leading to tragic destinyo ' 1

hi';. - _ Lancelot

Lancelot, the second of Robinson’s Arthurian poems$ according to Mr. Yvor Winters is "the best constructed of Robinson's longer poems and strikes me as one of the most powerfully constructed long poems in English." Robinson begins the poem'with Lancelot and G-awaine speaking about Lancelot 's intention to leave Camelot. When Guinevere enters. Cawalhe withdraws and Guinevere tells Lancelot that Gawaine is cognizant of their love affairLancelot is not moved'by this, news because he fears Modreds King Arthur's illegiti­mate son. who has designs on Guinevere. Guinevere cannot

. • 12. Herman Hagedorn s Edwin. Arlington Robinson (New .' Tdrk-CvMaemillan:5, 193S) 5, p. 318.; 13o Winters, Robinson, p. 6ll - \ -

42

mderstan^ Lancelotf S' iistre to leave Camelot and her . and .■ persuad.es him to come that same, night to see her;

; . 000= You will eome3 . : \ - . y -: '' v : - And you may t ell me everything you must - /

• ; ' That I must hear you tell me =- if 1 must <= ,. Of hones and horrors and of horrid wayep .y "f

, That break forever on the world 9s last. edge 0-^The king s suspicious now. of..their love,/ feigns a hunting trip ' and returns-that night;, 'discovering the; lovers < /'The; hing. is /

/ crushed by this disclosure, -and rambles on as one mentally •. illo Lancelot, however, escapes from the castle, 'killingmany of the knightso The queen, of course, is easily/appre­hended and/ is to be burned, a punishment for her unfaithful-

/ ness o - /While the burning presumably /is taking place, .'news:; / 'comes to the king that Laneelot and a small group of knights

/have rescued Guinevere and killed many of the king’s men, ;including Gawaine’s two brothers 0

-. / i The king, talks alone with Gawaine. He realizes, that' Lancelot and Guinevere are together•“Oblivious of the/living .

; : /'-/:;//. /// / ' / i g , /// >: /;\.v/:''/'■ /•/'/ :and the dead/They left in Gamelot,e° he also knows that"the King has had his world, and he shall have no peace0nGawaine, fuflous because of the slaughter, tries to forcethe king to make war on Lancelot/ Guinevere tries to get ; ' /Lancelot; to kill both Arthur and Gawaine <, Lancelot not only :

14° Boblnson/, Gollected Poems „ pg 3S20 ; / ///'// :/ \'/'/x/ ,/'/' ■ 15o Robinson, Collected Poems „ Po 400° //x/ / -/: -

' l6o Robinson, Gollected Poems, po 420o ' . / / .

43

• refuses j, but insists that Guinevere leave; Joyous Gar-d and go back to Game lot 0 Ee is .again concerned with the better > lif e as he was at the beginning - of the poem," and believes .

t he will- f ind it if he remembers the ideal of the Grail«Before this realisation, Lancelot knows his "life m s liv- ■ ing backward for,the moment c n: t" .An emissary from the Pope arrives and commands Lancelot .to send Guinevere home, to Arthur 0 There is a promise that ;if he does, she will be unharmedo t

The more he gazed upon her beauty there,The longer was he living in two kingdoms,

• Not owning in his heart the king of either,And .ruling not’himselfoI® . t

.Lancelot, in spite of GuinevereSs arguments, takes her back to Gameloto Lancelot is banished and Gawaine finally per­suades the king- tol; wage -war oh him» The king , however, is f orced to withdraw from his battle because of -Modred's vil- lainyo Gawaine, mortally wounded, sends for Lancelot and they are reconciled<> 'Lancelot then gets an army together to help Arthur, but it is too late; Arthur has been slain0

Lancelot sends his army back to Prance and goes to find Guineverec Guinevere has taken refuge in a convent and be­comes a nun at Aimesbury0 During the time .that she is a

17o Robinson, Gollected Poems, Po 420» . ' y18c Robinson, Oolleoted Poems, p0 413* ■ - '

44

virtual pfiso&er in London's Tower to escape Modred, she hashad time to think about Lancelot's remarks0 Kow when he ar=rit'es; at the convent and begs her to go with him, she isjust as determined as Lancelot was earlier to do as she.feels she musto "There is not even the world left, Lancelotfor you and me 0” The oonveht bell rings and Lancelot'leaveso During his. ride away from her, he begins to realizethat people only gain by givihgo .

But the 7oice within him saidr You are not free0 You have come to the world's end, and it is best You are not free, inhere the Light falls, death falls; And in the darkness comes■ the Light»20The strength of this poem seems to be in the exacting

portrayal of the characters. Marguerite Wilkinson says in' this:respect? ; , ' -

:In presenting Lancelbt and Guinevere, Mr.Robinson seems to have thought of them chiefly '. as two unique and powerful human beings who might have lived at any time in the world's his­tory and simply happened to live in the reign of King Arthur „21 : : . . . . ' •

The strength is of necessity in the characterizations; there dan be no element of suspense in the plot because of the"fa­miliarity of the story. • :y':i . \

TJnllke Merlin,-there is’only one theme running-through

19 . Robins on, Co lle cted Poems, p 0 415V20o , Robinson, Collected Poems, p. 449..21. ; Marguerite Wilkinson,. ^Lancelot ,” The Hew York

Times, April il, 1920. P. 170° y

45

Lancelot =-=the theme that reveals duty' overcoming loveo" Lan­celot8 s ideals have forced him to send: his love back to Came- lot to regain with king Arthur^ - At the end of the poem Guineverenow permeated with Lancelot8s philosophy, re­fuses to leave the convent where she- f eels duty has bound ■; hero . The great grief Of all four of the main - characters is brought poignantly to the reader8s attention0

.. Robinson insists that the situations- developed here in this poem do hot belong only to Arthur 8s time 9 but also to histowtt; time« It is ,a story of an age wherein ^men wronged each '.other and helplessly hurt each other in ways no differ- ent from Our own.88 . • . , ■ • < ' -

The derogatory criticisms of the poem were many when the poem, first appeared but, as is evidenced by the fragmentary Gomments of the preceding pages, favorable criticism Soon;, followed„ Amy Lowell as late as 1930 still felt that:

- Mr <, Robinson’s :old gospel of failure .serves him again in "Lancelot &" The light he

, has always belleyed in shines somberly across . the poem, but more' than in "Merllh," it seems a - : will-o< -the-wisp ;gleam= The . only hint of poig- - .

nance in the end of the poem is the very failure . of. the "Light*; to emit any warm glowo Lancelot,' riding aimy/' seeking to comf ort himself by this • wan flameg is a pathetic figure0*3

22o Babette Deutsch, MA Hew- Light on Lancelot 9nX?r (duly 1920}^ 21?o

r 23o • Amy Lowell, Poetry and Poets (Cambridge: The River-: side. Pressi. 1930) s piRjDo - h:::. " •: : h -

Even though there is.a hopeful note at the end of the poem, , the mood throughput:ig. one of sadness a As Lancelot leaves Almshury h is a pathetic and grief-stricken figure, hut the ^Llght*' is not just a faint gleam to aid him for the l .rest of his life0 It is evidently -strong enough to make him ' resigned to any situation, he has met or will meet0 .

He rode on into the dark, under the stars9 -, And there were no more faces 0 There was nothing,But always in the darkness he. rode on ; .Alone; and In the darhness came the lighto2^-'

The last of the Arthurian poems,. Tr1stram, is perhaps hot the hest of Ephinson8 s legendary tales, hut "it is the most human of them all, and ahoye everything shows an in- ' crease of emotional power over all the work even of this■ ' . " / ; ■■■■ \ h % ' 7 : i 25 ::' : ■youtho This last is an astonishing phenomenon«!9 .

In Tristram Rohinson has taken very few llherties with ;; the.old legendo The poem hegins with Isolt of Brittany tell- • ■ ing; her Jfather , King Howell, of her IpVe for Tristram. The king is distressed hy this news because he feels Tristram 'regards her as: a child => r Tristram at: this time is in Oornwall' witnessing the marriage of Isolt of Ireland toKing Marko Tristram and Isolt of Ireland are very much In love hut. = 1

24o Robinson, Collected Poems, p0 449«' . 25c William Rose Beret*, "Escort to Leviathan,"- Outlook. 0XLTI . (June 1, 19271, 158° f ;

47

■because: he tlier e: is no hope for the ip love, he leaves/ Cornwall and wanders aimless!#.awajo 'He is found by Queen: Sorgang who wants' Tristram for herself When she learns-1hat; he has /no interest in her, she leaves him, Isolt of■ Ireland eomes to Iriatra# end their open deelaration/of loveis overheard by Andred, the king8s man» King Ma.rk appears.-and s; when ■ he, he comes /cognizant.,: of the situation orders>. istr/am;i-'te leave Cornwall. Iris tram, /emot/lonally confused,/becomes ill and is taken to the' castle /of Queen Morgan. _After he regains:his strength he leaves; much to, the indigo.nation of the queen, and goes' to Brittany. Here in Brittany .Iristram,.distinguishes himself - as a ‘ soldier and .marries isolt/of Brittany.o Qihe ;kin&,:;her; father j/l ells Tristram: f //',. ' .:.//

r; • t, .1 o ■ . / ’’Tou have a child that .was a'woman / -/Q - / BefOre she. tras / aQchiid,.-and. .is today /■ // . Q / ■/.- Q / //Woman and child, and something not of either , / / ; / / .

/; BOr you; t o ke ep /Or crush » without a sound / / • ,' Of pain froia/her rto tell ^ . so. Beware /" / / ' /'/- Somewhat hf that ?. Tristram; and mmy you both • . / '/.. Be wisef enough not to ask more: of lifed t / . / v f >//•■'' //. :/.-, Than to be life, - and fate/..... "26 • - *

, After - about two years/ in /the kingdom., of 'Eing E o w e l l / . //Tristram is, sent for1 to attend Arthur in Canielot. While v Tristram-is at Joyous - Card, he learns that Isolt of Ireland . ,\is there /hlso. They meet and again there: are long passages,of •,talk: of undying love. Theirs is - a story of complete physical passion over which the/ lovers have no control. /// //

■. ; 26. Robinson A Colleot.ed Poemsf pp. 651-652. / . / .

• While Tristram, is away' one day Iferk arrives after animprisonmerit and takes Isolt baok to Cornxvallo hater. Queen

telling him where; Isoltis and to cdme if he wishes to see her, Tristram follovfsMorganIs suggestions and arrives in Cornwall0 . With thepenitent kingis permission, he sees Isolts but. during theirconrersation indred stealthily enters: and stabs them bothto d e a t h . Tristram9 s body is sent baek to Brittany,: whpreKing Howell tries to • eOmfort his daughtef o. His comforting ■is in vain9 and Isolt of Brittany looks out across thewafers ■ hv \ 1 ::, ' ' /V'lh ' • ; '- :' .o'o'ol"';:/: . He had been there, ' ■'' < She thought 9 but not- with, her o . He- had died there,

But not for hero Be had not thought of her, % ■.Perhaps9 and that was strange» He had been all,

. And would be always all there was for her, ; “;. ; And he had not come back to her alivea . Not even to go again*2f ' • '

It .seems to be the consensus that Tristram, "if onetakes into aecount all that has been said of it, is the most

■ - 28 • ;controversial of Hobinsoh's poems 1" The strong elementof irony is noticeable in Tristrami but the basic themeswhich shows duty taking.the joy Out of love, stands outpoignantly in the story. Morgan5 s letter to .Tristram is "ironical when she.says: • '

27o ; Robinson, Collected Poems, p. 7280 %2Bo >leonie Adams s "The Ledour Collection of Edwin

Arlington Robins On Manuscripts,n - The library of Congress Quarterly Journal of Current AcquisitionsV TII (November19491; 11° .

Greetings s Sir Tristram^ Prince of Lyonesse s : It iyas; a joy to share with, you a house " :

' . /:■.'lil3.■ere I was onoe 0 That 'was ’a pleasant house 9 ;Say what you will of it; and .it was pleasant Of me t.o make you safe and cbiaf or table s - -Say what you: will of that 0 29;} ' '

This bit of irony here as well as in the triangular tragedy ' does - hot seem to destroys but father seems to heighten, the effect of .'the poem* By the use of this irony, Bobinson dis­plays his knowledge of men and their reactions to situations in. which men find themselves = His familiarity with the feral nine mind is also acute, even though his personal experi- ' enees with women were lacking0 - His observance of human na­ture is strikingly noticeableo: There.is irony in the situa-

' tion in which Tristram finds himself when he and Isolt of Brittany are alone together after his return-o ' .

o.ooo It was her eyes, }Held open to behold him, that he saw,More than }it. was himself, or any torture }That would be only torture worse than his

}} /For her o He turned himself away from that,„ ■ And saw beside him two gray silent eyes

- ''' ; }■ Searching in his with quaint solemnity , ; .Bor some unspoken answer to a thought'

; An article in the Dial pointed;out that because of this irony in: the poem "the reader is apt to feel 9Tristram’1 somewhat more drawn-out emotionally than the prior poems.

29o Robinson,' Collected Poems . p. 704.30o Hoblnson,;Collected loems, p. 649.31o ^Tristram,» Dial, LXX2I1I :(August 192?), 174»

There.seems to be little justification for this statement„ ■because the reader hhows. that the- -conflict within the lead­ing character is intense- and understands the deep emotional '; straih in. so s ensit ire a manc Throughout the poem. Tristram. is torn between this love for isolt of Irelands over which he has ho eontroij. and his duty to his lovely wife. Isolt Of Brittany, Isolt of the VJhite Hands? --iyi"'-:--;

' - : ;6:=:V0'.f - ; ^There are no ships t i - .' from : the north now that are worth looking at 'She said; And he. could feel her trembling warm -Against him till he felt her scorching him

- With an unconscious and accusing fire033There-are some critics3 toos who feel that because

Mr o Robinson has shorn so much Of the mythical element from his poem he has not given, his characters real human com­plexity 0 In the lesser Isolts however, Robinson seems to ; •have done one of his finest characterizations0 She is nota tragic characters, but .pathetic and willing to accept com- , promise0 She sayss ' j: ;■ ; ■ W ■ -j

' I am -npt one who must have everybhingc^^ .v-'W' i-; 1 was hot fated to have everything . ’i " . ■ One may be wise enoughp not having all, 1 1- • ' Still:to be found among the fortunate„33

It seems logical to suspect that Robinson intended to . complete the idea of the dissolution of the Arthurian kingdom

32o Robinson0 Collected Poems.up033o Robinson,, Collected Poems0 p<, 65S-0 ' - v .

in the work of Tristramo However s he refutes the implica­tion of this idea in a letter to: Miss 'Heleii G-race Adams;

In writing Tristram I-was merely :telling a . ' . : .story9 using the merest outline of the old w ,There is no symbolic significance

in it9 .although there is a certain amount in ■' Merlin and Lancelot ,, which were suggested by the W

WorTd™War.= Game lot representing in a way the *' ■ going of a world that is now pretty much gone *"

.. But possihly these two: poems may be read just as well as narrative poems with no inner sig- v nificahee beyond that which is obvious=34 ■ •The c pmbihat ion of this ironic love story f rom the .'

- legend and the keen.portrayal of characters is certainly - enough to account f or this poem4 s sudden fame 0 rThe beauty of the lines as well as the intense emotional feelings .aroused is what makes the poem memorable Oonrad. Aiken9 howevers, feels that 44one cannot saf ely in a poem of 200 odd pages longs restrict oneself wholly to analytic dialogue and romantic descript ion, with, ihterlar dings of lyricism0t? It ■ is true that the poem has a.:' somewhat tenuous form0 Hevefthe ' less5, the passions of love9 joy9 longing3 sorrow, even per­manent sorrow9 and the ravages of doubt are in the worky jAgain; love challenges fate and fate again has its way*

34o Bobinson l Selected letters * p* 160»: 35 o Oonrad Aiken,, "Tristram, " New Republic, LI (May.■25-, 1927), 22* : I'-/;;; -> ' : " ' . . . ■

Alone with her white face and her gray eyes,She.watched them there until her thoughts were white? And-, there was nothing alive but white birds flying s jPlying, and always .flyings and still flying..And the white snnlight flashing oh the sea03o ■.

3^0 Robinson, Oolleoted Poems, po,729=

0H4FTSE It

h&sio .THEms-ra EFFBet oz Giaiz. - : '. ■ MI) ZSiB? UFOH S6H m IjZE :;; :. V :

/"/ ■ ■ " - Avon' s Harvest . , .

• ": Ayon8 s Harvest has Been referred to ty W c Robinson and his pnbiishers as his metrical dime novel0 It is actually the type of - ghost story: one- usually expects to find in a prose select ion o: Ayon the protagonist-, tells his own story of the effect of three imposing passions— hate, remorse, and fear^ahd: how. these same pass ions''affect and rule his lif e» :

: Avon, now a grown man, is reviewing the whole story6 It all begins when Avon is sixteen and away from home at a boys8 schooL A; new student arrlyes one day who. is immedi- . ately repulsive to Avon; but since the boy seems to cling to Avon, he permits the relationship?

• This fellow had no friend, and, as for that No s ign of an - apparent ne ed .of .- one .

. : . . Save always and alone ~ myself„ He fixedv His heart and;eyes on mej insufferably, » y A n d in a sort of Nemesis-like way,

,i : y \ -Ihvlnciblyol ' ' y i , . ,: i . v ;One day the boy; t ells Avon that he has lied about another

io Edwin Arlington Robinson, Collected Poems (New Porks Macmillan, 1948), pi '552o / '

54

student and in so doing has. dishonored this student» Avon- is irate and strikes the boy0 Vi/hen the nexvs about the die- ; agreement is known , the boy leaves „ school but not "before he -v sees Avon: - '

• 00 = 0' ' "Well, then," -I ' ' .:Ee said, "have yon thought yet of anything % - . Worth saying? If so, there5s time. If you. are silent 9 ;- I shall: know where you are until you -dieit* . \ : :A:'The hoy remains true to his threat, and every.year there- /A ■after on his birthday Avon receives a card which has the •

: A : y y ' 3 A '': ‘h A- i• words, "I shall know where you'are until you, die0"The- boys meet throughout the years in Rome and London, '

but .they do ;not talk-0 9/hen the Titanic sinks-, Avon^s friend/ is listed as missing and no more cards arrive: ■ "It seemed..as for the first time in my life/ I knew the blessedness of

4 A ■ /W-;- iA-being warm io o 0;" 'Vi. : - ; ' - ’ .Some time lator, Avon goes with a friend to the Maine

wopds for felaxationo Avon’s host leaves him one night -to. . go to a nearby town to secure supplies, andthat night Avon senses presences about him. He lights a fire but cannot get / warm by it and finally, paralyzed With terror, he drops on - the bedo His enemy comes closer to- Avon, and he sees ah uplifted arm and a flash of metal. . "Then I caught/ The

20 Robinson, Collected Poems, Po 557o ‘ \ A-- 3° Robinson, Collected -Poems 0 p0 557°

4° Robinson, -Collected Poems, rpi 563o A, ; . - V ' i

55

stiadeiwy glimpse of an uplifted arm/ And a moon-flash of' , . 5 :: v - - v . : , " ■metalo That was all 0 0 0 =<e Avon sinks into unconsciousness and is found there hy his host the neztdayo -

All this, takes place a year ihefOne Avon is telling the story;, and •his hirthday; is the following .day0 The person to who# Avon is relating the story leavess only to be re-" • called in the early morning "by Avon" s wife 0 The doctor who has heen: attending Avon also is there and Avon is dead 0 The doctor is puzgled and admits, "And I have wondered often what it \ms/ That I could see that I was not to see»n He con­cludes his diagnosis by saying that “He'died 9 you know, be­cause he was afraid/ And he had been afraid for a long :,time>'» o - :V; . - ^ :.v.. ■■ ' : ; ; .

: ) It is obvious that Avon% Harvest is:a pathological' Study with the basic theme the effect of fear upon a man’s Mndo It is a characterization attempting to. reveal the in­nermost recesses of a man" s soul0 Even though the hate which has been engendered in his youth is recognizable to Avon as fantastic j he cannot control it» Perhaps,, had he been a stronger'characters he could have overcome it * Good advice is given by the person who is listening to Avon’s story:

5» Eobinsori, Collected Poems,, p0 571 = .■ V- . - A :60 Eobinson, Collected Poems, p0 .573°/ --7o Robinson, Collected Poemsi n» 573°

56:

If only you had shaken hands with him, . •' 1 : v ’' . imd said the truth, he would have gone his. way , .;' And you your wayo He Might ha#e wished you dead, . - *. But he would not have made you miserable 0 8 ; : ■ v,• After years of separation from his enemy, Avon is of- •-fered no solaoe; and-only a short relief oomes to him whenthe news reaohes him that the man has gone down with the 11=

; \ :: : And I remeMher that. 1 had a, drink, . ■ ■ -Haying assuredly no need of it.; ■ •' h , ■ di -Pity a f ool ;for; his \ereduiitys ' : ; :If so you Must0 But when I found his name :.

' • Among the ;dead, I trusted once the news <,<> <, = A - -But fear takes over very shortly0A And upon this distraught -nature his euemy plays, giying him the idea that a ghosthaunts hiMb v : . - ; - : -•■■■: . ,<

- Although we usually give the poet a freedom in theehoiee of suhjeet matter, Yvor Winters criticizes the choiceof: topic» -He 'sayst' d';'.■ - , ; - d.-A d d" -d :d '-.dd ’ :d A vh d As a study .in .remorses it is inconceivablea - d '. :d -"for the consequenees are out of all proportion to the initial act; as a study in fear, it is incon= _ d eeivahle for the same reasons; unless in both d ; ; eases we assumed that Avon is abnormal at the out-

d set and progressively becomes insane0 And if we v -assume, this, we;have abandoned the realm of normal '

human nature and of moral action.10It seems more plausible to suppose the poem is an allegorical

8o Robinson^ Collected Poems, pe 558d d9o Robinson, Collected Poemsd p. 563d d

d d :;l6;iA^Ivorv ii^erabdSdwih Arlington Robinson ('Horfolks: MheotlhdtA: W 1941 }s ,p 0 102d : , d

"bale of a6 evil emotion. It is not to be treated as a re­al! stio storys since Robinson'uses the allegory to bring to O W attention the evils of fea'ro fear and hatred eat in a oancerdhs fashion9 finally causing the mind to snap and ultimately resulting in deaths g : ■' • -•: : ; t; - o . ■ And how shall. I go , on ■ v At / 'r.'.To say by what machinery the slow net; .

, ;A A Of my fantastic and increasing hate ‘.AWas everA#oven as it was around usf '. 1‘ cannot: answer 0 dl

Oar 1" Van, Doren sagely remarks concerning the poemthat yiAA ;

the interest lies not in the little war: between -;Ayon and a spook but in the vaster war within - A• Ayon himself between that part of him which is - i.man and r easdnable and that part of him which inu^easombly:leans upon its ancestors of theA-inh^le and the, swamp dd2 i ' A • " A " •

Evidence of his inability to escape his primitive emotionscan be f ound in lines such as these ?

... - A , .A.o ; but the cure ::A'- ^Of my complaint is nots for me 4 in Time 0 ; There may be doctors in eternity •To deal with it ? but they are not here now0

There's: no. Specific for my three diseases That I could swallow9 even if I .should find it0 A

-A And I shall never find it here on earth*13

11» : Robinson, Oollected Poems, p0 549012o Carl Van Boren, "In a Style of . Steele.," Nation,

VCZII . (April 20 9 igaif , 596c A :.' A Al3v Robinson, Collected Poems, p<. 559v •

Roman Bartholow

Roman Bartholow Is One. of.the longest as well as one of the most Ilfficult of;Robinson’s poems to understand„ ?ftien we first meet Bartholow he is recovering from.a mys™• ter ions malady'He Is cured of this condition by a friend $ Penn “Raven 8.who accidentally appears at their secluded.hoine Bartholow5 s wife s Gabrielle;, has not known how to help him in his dilemimo How Bartholow is joyous, at his apparent re covery and is a changed mahV

: But now, with all the morning light upon him - .He "looked.about him with a life renewed Upon a world renewed, and gave himself-.

. • Less tc remembering an obscure monitionIf: an assured renascence = 14' Although this 'tragedy is concerned primarily with the

three characters mentioned„ the author also introduces a favorite type of Robinsonian character, Umfraville, a;fish­ing hermit,: who has turned his back on society and acts as ; father conf essor to Bartholowo Umfraville is a’ philosophertype and advises Bartholow about his life," telling Bartho­low to visit him if ever in need of helpt• - And if perchance in some unlikely future

You find yourself astray and in the dark,■' -And the veil - down again , and if you ask -"What f ellow it was one morning in the spring

h" - "Who -said that of all men" he found In you .'A

14"„ "Robinson, Collected Poems, p. 735» "

59

Alone a friend5 and would, were.it feasibles . ;Pay with an arm to prove his loyalty = » 0015

if ten, Bart ho low4 s r ecoveryhe shows affection to his -. wife bnt Gabrielley eol.d and evasive, flippantly spurns his .attentions o tfhen. Gabrielle refuses to eat the fish which .

. . Umfraville has brought, Bartholow reflects about the former8sremark:s and deeides that Penn^Eaven is the cause of their

■'unhappiness0 Later9 Penn-Raven and Gabrielleare alone and :she; remarks that she has been most miserable living with ■ -Bartholow during his three=year illness -and that she is ..

: still unhappyo She is lamenting3;tooa that she has per- imitted herself9 because of her misery^ to succumb to Penn-

v Raveno Pehn-Raven remonstratess; oooo . Because your soul' ■ " ■ -h :■

; Eds found itself and is'at last alive r : "Never believe that you have not a body0 : ; '

: . lose that5 and off your soul will, go again - ; ’Into the dungeon where it was I found you : : And' you; will go "there with it = IS ; ' v ' 'h - ::.

- Despite Penn-Raven9s attempts to - change Gabrielle? s ;-. mindj she continues to repulse himD Gabrielle now begins to

brood over the wreck of her life, and in a talk with Bartho­low she apparently loves him again0 She realises, however, that the situation is hopeless and it will do no good for them to continue"-life togethero Gabrielle replies to Bartholow: hi ' 1. :: .11: 1

15o Robinson, Collected Poems* Po_ 740o - 1' 160 Robinson,Collected Poems, p.0i ?60oii, / ' h- 1 ; h:iy;

: : 2 am the "bridge 8 then3 over which you. passs . Here in the dark9 to find a lighted way • - = "r L To a new region where i cannot followg

n ;■ - .And. where there is not either sand or moonshine» And. a new sunshine always«27; 'Indirectly the reader learns that Bartholow knows

ahout the affair between Penn-Raven and Gabrielle s and f inally fights with Benn-Raven "and orders him out of his home <, Penn-Raven intimates that Bartholow8 s marriage was always doomed and that, his mental . collapse was a result of his ineffectual- marriage0 Bartholow is offering a check to Penn-Rayan^ insisting that he leave immediately, when the dead body of Gabrielle is brought in; she has-drowned her­self in the river 0 : 1,: .

Penn^Raven leaves and Bartholow goes to visit Umfra- ville o Although it is late at night a Umfravl11e admits him and slowly gets the tragic story from himo Bartholow.con­fesses to the scholar that Gabrielle married him without love and after some time decided that she had come to love himo Her change of heart s however, is too late. TJmfraville listens and advises Bartholow; he urges him to go out into the world9 but refuses to go with him. Bartholow then takes his leave;of Umfraville and later of his home forever.

Bartholow pressed his hand and held it long Before he let it go again. ’’Goodbye He said i !fWe should have known each other better If:I had known myself, a word of yours Will always find me - somewhere. You know best

17o Robinson, Collected Poems, p. 802.

61

- "#ier e you. belong - whet her among your deal ' \llid;vare :stlll .witS, uap’ or' among the living : . ■ %lio are not yet alive6”18 : ' ■

■ Bartholow'1 s grief permeates the lines of the entire ipoem* Even though Penn-Raven has awakened Bartholow and has

; shoMi "hiai %he: lay to .his soul he has not taken away the sad­ness , which envelops his nature because of his unsuccessful; marriage« G-abrielle? s grief is caused by her own inability to seize life boldly; she grieves inwardly for her ruined life and finally commits suicideo

Mark Van Boren aptlydescribes the characters. "They file almost too regularly by, one after anothers dark and im- . pressive in their straight pentameter cloaksbut. sometimes frigid, having.little to communicateo" This, inadequacy ofcharacterization naturally clouds the effectiveness with which the theme is presented0 Such characterization as does ex­ist, howeverP plays subtle changes on the effect of grief upon the human mind, There are some very revealing lines spoken by Babrielle, the person whose mind we are told is emptyo The problem is not actually the emptiness of her mind, but her Inability to take some positive actiono In one of G-abrielle Is last encounters with her husband, she

; thinks aloud about her life and the reason for their

ISo - Robinson, Gollected Poems, p. 855o ';19o l&rk Pan Borenj, “Roman Bartholow," Nation, GZPI'

4 Pune 13, 1923), 700, , ; : ./V- ■ x t . : y; ::

62

:es-brangeSent i : , ; ; ■; >;-v%- Bef ore you -knew me s if was; your conceit

; . ; To 'praise me a;:;saying . that 1 1 hai a mindo- ■ ; ' :\ But I should have had more than I did have,'Br- less 0 Either provision might have saved us- ' Or me, I mean; for now I can: see nothing Before me. or.behind me. It1s all gone»20 ; , -

Yftien this line of reasoning has permeated her thinking and .she realizes there is-no further:happiness for her in this'/life:;, "She felt herself/ Brawn to the door, as if a kindly -ghost/ Were leading her and-she must follow it/Where shewas led of ; This ghost leads her from her room down, the.path to the riveroBenn^Baven attempts to elucidate furtherher. character: when..he talks to Bartholowr . .

o o o b o o ,oo Her tragedy :. '' .; f Is;knowing, how hard it is to care so little

:. • Bor all that is unknown> and heed so little: f.' ' .'Of all that is unseeno.; She made herself

■ Believe, she loved the world that wearied her :' : Hntil she-left it and saw what it w a s , -: ' .. .Although, there is diff iculty as well as obscurity inthe'lines: of homan Bart holow, the reader is forced to agree,with the editor of the Bookman when:he remafks about thepoem: ^fou will f indit fascinating in all: its: pristine : ".murkiness6 ■ It moves me too much, and it means so little to: : -it ■ ' ; ■- 23 : '■ h.me-, that I. suspect, it of ..being great„n -; . :

20o : Robinson, Oollected Poems , p0 793»211 Robinson, Odllected Poems, p. 805= ' ' •

- 22>':. Robinson, Pollected Poems, p, 826„ ,1 ' • 123 o 1,Roman- Bartholow,n' The Bookman, LVII (June 1923)

: ; ; GaTender 8s House

The narrative; poem- Gavender? s Piouse is a tragic poem ofmarital. utihappiness« The story concerns a man,: Gavender, ' ; ;who"has home back:to his housetwelveyears after he has mur=

-<h.: i-: 24. dered his. wife o He ..goes "Into that house where no man wentHe is forced to revisit the place because of a compulsionWhich :1s his: conscience. He feels that his wife, Laramie,has sent, f or him and searches through:the house to find her0.. He is not surprised when he realizes she is. in : the same roomsitting in a chair opposite his. Here" is the woman who has '• a righh to, be there,. since she is- a ’paft of him; ?!She was h hthe part of him/ That he had left behind and wandered from,/■■■ -'f/L ;■ ': ind wandering had started;, for 0 - h : :.■: They converse, but lam ami e is a changed womans she doe s .-. •not give him the hope he desires o Gradually the reader be­comes aware of " the fact that the eohversat.ion■ is not a dia-:. ■:l;ogue but a • eonversation: carried on by one persono. Gavender is possessed so much by L:aramie and is so mentally ..disturbed ■ by -his former act ion that he cannot free, himself of her0:::He ashs her many guestionss but particularly he is interested ih one: :• 1 " hf',; V '' - ■; ' -. 4- . - - v % "/ %: - y 4:: ;

24o Robinson, Gollected Poems, p0 961«2.5o Bobinson, Gollected Poems p0 965o:.-4

64

, v;: ; A 9" o . m e : 91? :•.; ' ;' ■ : ; ■ He begged, i?and you m y let the dogs of hell . -y follow and eat me0 I shall not care tfien0 • i •

that'';I was mad for doubting yon,;: " ; i '- Or that a ^oleoh that was- burning In iae ‘: Was truth on fire, as I believed it was0 . ;;

I am ndt asking now to be forgiyen g - ' .: ; .:- -. Or: dneamlng ;of-it -o: • laramlef^ ■ let; me LEnoWg.. '■ .' - v y ' And leaveme then to dieo M26 -y, v ' yy-l . ; ': ; ■:■ Mrafflies s latet remark is as elear an answer as ; Calender re-

. y: !; . :: : : too o o’ For Gad’s sake. Calenderj,- y Try to forget your tnestionsland be deeento- •

v If other arms than yours have had me In them3 . . ’, . ' v - l y ; I# it matter: noW?^7 ry / " " ■ y; 1: ^' Because she is the f igment , of, his own. frustrated mind» she : :

. cannot give him helpful or satisfactory answers; she cannot: " .tell himVifhat :she does • not' knOWo 1 At: length^■ howelrer s; she

urges him to forget what happened and ■blames his action on - . ■ destiny: .

; 1 " :-My wish would be that you forget it all9 .: v ■ But my will is not yours y The best for you

■ . Is to believe me always when I tell you ;y'That hands harder than yours were helping you ; y To hurt yourself ; that higbt 02S :

Her explanation does not comfort him. even though she adds:■■:; ' : ' :: h . y - v : \ - - I f . : i : ' y ; ..V v; ' i v2 9 :■■■. ■ 1:; ■■ y ^ . l ' ■- .-y' ; :: y - was not hurt; you frightened me 0" She offers the sug­

gestion to him that he turn himself over to the law.and• .permit justice • to -punish him for; his. crime 0

26» Hobihson, Oolleeted Poems 1 p'o :990o27o Robinson, Oolleeted Poems, p0 100111;2Bo y Robihson, Oolleeted Poems,p Po 971%972 0;29 o Robinson,: Oolleeted Poems, po 1000 c

When Gaven&er realizes that Laramie is gone5• he hopes that- the. law will speed.lly' fln<l hlmo But he is still not • certain that he is ready; to- aeeept peace, and he begins to understand that nature has laws which provide justices

- - He was alone . -v-' -,^ 3 darker house • than; any light ' --Might - enter while he lived 0 Tet there was light j :

There, where his hope had come, with him so far , ' " . '■ .• - To find an answer3 there was light enough - .

. To make ■ him. see that ; he was there again " ; "" Where men should f ind him, and. the laws of men,7 , Mong-With older laws and purposes., :' -; : / ' ■ ’ ■

QoEhine to smitet" ' Hexwas ^ ^ m sorry for that 5,: ; And he was not-afraid o He' was afraid ' • V.'Only .of peaceo30 : ";v.7 ; :7

'7 W o Hobinson is huit© at home with the theme in Oaven-derts House°°a grief' which has completely overtaken the maincharacter tod filled his 'mind with strange imagihingSo The /;story is well suited for/the: theatre» hven though the move- .ment is slow, the tragic element is so outstanding that If; would, fit admirably the needs of the stage Q The poem shows; a :keenlanalysis of character and; /is filled with deep emo= ;tlonal force => Oavender lays his soul open for help; he 7wants light in:his darkness^ .77 7 .7 : : ^

': '7' , . . 7 o ^ 0:l, : ; " I s t h e r e a G o d ? " . 7 : 7 '

• ' He askedo... ,?ls there a Purpose, or a la# : ■•7;I thought there was; or I should not have suffered 80 cruelly'more for you than for myselfc"31 . .

The descflptioh'of Oavender is powerfully given in the

30 o Eohinson, Gollected Poems, p<, 1007 o31o Robinson, Collected Poems, Po 9720

m

:Wordtiv'ofV'!La3?aiale?v:: ;; • • ■. You were a playful and persuasive man <,' : v With power, and will beneath your levity : • .: . To iimke a woman curious to be. bent ^

/■ i.; little , but not broken; sfou were a man -• ; ;’ lVh.o covered yourself with your vitality " \ : - ;So well that ;<^ly anhther M n might fihcl yon?': v ihd he might hot» you were a: m n designea . ; : ■; ; ' -

■ To "ehange. a woman to: a desperation 9 ; r:. ..And to destroy her wheh yotir passion felt. : ■.A: twinge>of;inseewlty*^^':' " ,>;■ > . Vi’ - v. y

• The grief in Oavender6 s' heart and mind' is a . result of his own -jealousyo- The author ' deals very shrewdly here in the de<=iineatioh of this character« Oavender» The. f amiliar themeof ,grief is more ysuhtly dealt with in this' poem than in 5Roman Bartholo# and. the ohsdurity here is not so evident as

, it Is in Roman Bartholowo :y .. • .: - . The author ;of an artiole in The Nation f eels Nthe darkdepths of this' poet6s doutit:have for once submerged what he -■. - • 33 : - v : . . ■ ■■ . - :has to' sayon from Robinson5s early yearss however, he hasquestioned the existenee -of a Supreme Being; nevertheless5 < j• he is not a belligerent agnostle> m :H!s doubt; may spring fromsevere self runalysiS: and keen observation of people and .; ':event's i- His' meaning: seems quite clear 0 In this poem: it iswise to follow #?o. Robinson’s dictum and just read one word :after another0 ' y : ■. ’ ■; )/■ • 'h Oavehdef ’ s agonized emotional state is we 11 portrayed "

32° Roblhson. Gollected Boems, ;. p0 9&0of -33 V nGa vender’s House,” The'Nation, CXTVHl - (May :8;, 19Z9)i: 567* ■ • : i" ' V : ; ■ V.'-.' q; : ■ y l . q

67

when he is afraid to touch LaramieJ s hand lest she leave' him: i " h : ; ' ; i ; : : _i; If she was there to lacerate him, sheh; Gould only he God8s agent in the matter -And so there must be God; or if not God9 ; . A purpose or a lawo34; /f:.-; y

■ ; i ‘ Gbnrad Aiken remarks that in this poem pvp; • the process, of' diffusion has gone too far oo o oIt is a little bit thin; there is too much of

mere dialogue and too little scene; and while thepoem as a whole is-skilfully manageds; one comesaway frem it a little bit empty-handed035 ; V - ' ■ -if

fhere. is a superfluity of dialogue and very little action9 but Gavender8 s Bouse discloses ,a • detefmined search for moral values j, hence the reader does not expect changing scenes and does expect intriguing dialogue o ■ fhe mood8here is deterV. mined by the theme- of the poem-=a theme which is the story of a guilt intermingled with grief and fear, and its de­teriorating effect .upon the mind of a man0 - .

. ’ - The Glory of the nightingales : f;

t The title Of this poem has tragic- irony in it because the- glory of the nightingales comes to a sad end. At the poem6s beginning Maloryv a doctor, bitter and frustrated, is oh' his way to Sharon, gun in pocket, to kill an old friend

, 34 o Robins on. Go lie c t ed Poems p 0 981” 962 0 f. : . 3,5o Conrad Aiken, "Gavender6s Housef6 Bookman, IXCX(my 19291; : ^ i f kg 'vf.

65

and enemyc Malory f eels that his work will 'he done when the nnrden t&kes plaoe* _ - , x .

o 0 p o - With his work; done so righteouslyj,Dying ^uld "hothhe much to" pay for heath9

_ - ' hhich was attuned and indispensable ' i" . ■. To quivering destiny0• Nosurer part;/

Was yet .assigned, to, man for ;a-peri or manee ", Than one that" was ‘for Malorys. wh6 'must act/, /'/./ ; /. - Or leave the stage a f ailure 036 /_ ;- ;v;--;:/;: _ ; .Malory stops on his way at. the grave of his wife $ Agatha sand talks' to- hert" Se/ieel that she Is in /sympathy withwhat he plans to dog /

0 0 0 0 ' • "For one who has once had i t \ "He told herj as an answer to her silence^ ■• ??Losing his faith in God is a disaster V.By douht still/clouded and hy nature made

: Supportableo But to lose faith in man. /And in himself, and ail that's left to die for,Is to feel/a knife in his back before he knows 1/fhat8 s there j .and then to know it was/slimed first ' With f iery poison to consume - tbs friend . '. . 1/ho had/no friendo'!!37 ; / / / // / ///;:x' .// / ', //

He continues on his way to the town and goes by the housewhere he and Agatha lived?- He knows neither the people who ■live there nor thbse whom he pas ses on the street0 Medita-'tively. he walks on past the towno He arrives at Nightin=gale8s palatial mansion by the seag and his erstwhilefriend welcomes him: ’ •

36o Robinspn; Collected Poems, p0 1012o - ■37o Robihsons Collected Poems, p« 10226

69

' ' He. stood, and saw the man whom he had eome ; . ;. . . . . Bo fan to kill/ and waited saying nothing9. ;

.: Z, A:- ' . As He-' gazed there at one who had grown older ;> Than time had. made.h i m . I : v' 'Hightingale aoonses" '%lofy of oomihg to kill him, and. the latter admits it0 Nightingale disarms him at the point of his gunv? saying a for Malory to ' commit .-murderwhen his enemy is so hear' deatho ... He. is. a victim. .of iocomotor •, atazis: and arthritis. Malory muses ? . ' ." ;

- ind -he was dying ;in his grand new house9 ,:' - . i % had always wanted^ ' near the ocean. - ; ': ' ■: " A'tired baeteriologistv seeing him there s

Might say-there was a God^ Nature^ at least $- Had never done her. work, so well hefore^6r saved a man Of - science so much trouble 6 39 ' .^Malory .now,' hecaUse: he' is so ..tired and 'weak consents tostay, all night at . the -mansion g > ... • ; :. . V : . ; . ..

The next day Nightingale begs him to stay longer and .confessesvhis guilt to himo The reader knows now the reason for Maloryss: determination to kill.his host0 Nightingale ad­mits he has stolen his money and wants to repay -it 0 They talk ahout. MalOry^s wife, Agatha % and .of Nightingale's de- - sire to marry her. Because Malory won her affection^ Nights ■ ingale vowed vengeance and began his plot to ruin. Malory financially o Night ingale. - before this trouble 9. had been an • honorable man. He had been a help to all in Sharon ands • ; we learn, had encpuraged Malory in his profession* From the

380 Robinsony Collected Poems, p0 1032o39o Robinson, Collected Poems, po 1036.

time he lest Agathas however $, he had heen a ehanged mam "You had taken, everything from me 3 / And. I might have some/' ' ■ : ■ "■ h - ' ; , .. ;v>': . : ' vx;: . ■ 40 ■peace if one of yehg/ Or hothhf yom wene,gone0” ^

The poet conveys the idea that, the shock of Malory's financial riiin- had heen too much for Agatha. and she had died0 Might ingale remarkst "Tell yourself,/ And. let there he nodoubt j,: that I destroyed her/ Ihile 1 believed .i was destroy-'- h '- 41 - - ; ' I:,:./'-:ing youo" Might ingale f s changed,and d evilish mihd is <again revealed: - ; "v. i' i". \ - ■■-■h/;. /V ■ i ■ :

s'0 l r ■ \'h'■■■'houihear ^ ■sayihg‘1 : " ' > '' That I did this', and that my first exploitIn Sharon, on returning, was to stand ' • '

, ; : At Agatha's grave' and thank God she was ■ there/ ,' She-was away from you, and as much mine • •As yours = or my devouring self-defeat .

- Would so believe o I would go there at night •. . •’ . : And talk to her, She was ' the only thing : ; :: I ever wanted that I could hot 'have/4^ ‘ :' After their conversation, is completed, Mightihgale :'calls

in a lawyer and wills his entire estate to Malory. There is; a: hospital to. be built and Malory is to be in charge0 '1 ; ■: '' . ;. =4 o -'' : It was not land - - ;• ' :' ; ' ; -v /And houses s and abundant maintenances,■ ■ . That Malory found when he was given to read

The text of :Might.ingale's last composition - ,; i:-. ( • yBut an imperious, fixed, and lonely way A . ' . >■ :0f life in 5ervlce»43 : ■ ■■ '

:40o Robinson9 Collected Poems, p 0 1059»41o 'Eobinson, Coilected Poems, pv 1059 =42= Robinson, Collected Poemsi p= 1060.43= Robinson, Collected Poems,-p . 1069=

After Malory reads the paper, Nightingale:askshim":and the •lawyer to leave him alone.o I'Then ji&lory returns, he finds him dead; he has.shot himseIf with Maiory4s pistolo '

Guilt'dnd grief are closely, allied in the poem. The Glory of the "Ightlugales'o-The -dominant element» which ' -seems to he the mainspring of the action, is the familiar theme of griefo The poem speaks of the grief and remorse felt by Nightingale because of his double dealing with Malory and Agatha0 •The deed Nightingale committed against them which caused financial,ruin,to Malory, making a tramp

■ of a promising physician9 .is aceentuated by the premature'death of his wife0 Because Nightingale had played so foully' ' ri:' 44 /A/-;Mhe was dying in his grand new house” and was not happywith his life-long dreamo Malory finally subdues his hate . .and realizes there is' constructive work for him to; do inithis Wrldo- , ' " '-L:V-';-' -v-: . - ' . in ; , v:;: ’V i

The idea of "Oaptain Graigw is re-echoed in The Glory. of the Nightingale So. The, captalh d id not believe that man6 s -death ended his serrieeabilihy0 He was convinced that,through :him9 his;friends could live a.more satisfying life0So it is in The Glory of the Nightingaleso Because of Night=

.; ingale9 'Maibry9s "life will be One of service to others0 'There was nothing left forMalory but remembrance -Of the best that was behind hlm„ and life struggling In the darkness, of a longer way before him

44o RobinsonCollected Poems» pi 1036c,

L;::. . Z a way there was from anywhere to Sharon”. ; A darkness where' his eyes were to be guidedBy light that wottld; be hisa and Nightingale8s»45Again Robinson is/.dealing. only ineidentally with a

':story| 'this EOem-has :a^ypieallttiiiyersal theme. . When-Bight- .. Ingale is explaining his actions to Malory, he • says: ,?1doubt if any of this/:Is new„ for I dare say it has all happened/ In Samareand or Gelebes before us

This poem is another psyohologioal undertaking. In it the poet Interprets-the thoughts of these two men who are, aroh enemiesc He delves into their minds and conveys their reactions plainly to. the reader. Granville Hicks; says? ' "Robinsonis perceptions function only within a limited area of experience, and his imagination is subtle father than in- tense." It; seems>.however9 that Robinson8s intuitive■ cog­nition reveals a' knowledge of human beings and •.their prob­lems. What more apt description could a poet write than those concerning the se char act er s ? G-reat knowledge of human beings and of their reactions .to other people affords a limitless area of experience. Robinson8s Imagination plays. in the analytic field of poetic endeavor5 and the situations which;:result are Intense6;. VX -

45. Robinson. ,Collected Poems. p. 1073.46. Robinson,. Collected Boems. p. 1047.47. Granville; Hicks,: "The Talents of Mr. Robinson,88 -

The Hatlon. o m i ( October Hv 1930) i 382. ■

\ Ivo2? Winters criticizes the. poem because of the way it Is told: : . v -: - v - - ,‘

The mnner in which the facts. of the storyare -withheld weakens, heath action and. style and v obscur.es the characterso We do not see che de= '

/velqpmetit '.Of'-'a:story|-:wev'>e'ad '.i‘or sixty-two pages 'in a state of xmeertainty as to what the story . ..is ; and :when we get: to the end we have nothing ..but a handful of bare factss a few. Of theii 'uncer­tain/ for the form Of the poem has precluded : the possibility of the development of 'character;

< :of action; and the relation of motive to emotion*4#This eriticisms that the story is weakened because :the factsare held back/ may be trueo It is the backwards method ofst ory'felling which intrigues:some readers and enlivenstheir interest». Often others give up in despair when faced■ with.such a method* At the end of the poems however, thefacts\of the narrative are clarified, and i&lory sums upthe feelings of Eightlngale: -

^ypu were blind/ Hightingale, but never ■afraid;.And even when you were blind, smu may have .seen5, b^hly/ where you were going 3 and where you: are c for where .you are tonight 3 there m s your place;'

:;, ;ind: your dark glass is broken<, ”49 ,. : . fIn this narrative the pOet has used again his success­

fully fried method, displaying some, faults, but' showing in his treatment of the situation the same analytical subtle­ties and bringing to us a delicate insight into the lives of men* :■ ■ " ;■. . ;v , ■ - ■ , : ■ /■ v : -

. L,S0 Winters5 Robinson, p* 114= ' .' hRa Robinson^ Gollected Poems, p* 1072*

CHAPTER Y

T '' ; CONCLUSION . .

Ill this paper I have pointed out that the phief themes in Mr „ Robins on’s long verse-novels are distrust of material gain9 duty in conflict with love 9 and the effects of grief and fear upon man’s lifeo The source of Robinson’s concern with these themes may be eonjecturally traced in his own life and experiences*

During Robinson’s childhood and early manhood he lived in an- atmosphere of New England coldness and austerity. Even in his own home he was not understood, and as has been pointed out in. the biographical sketch, he was an unwanted child* : The people in Cardiner, Maine,■ believed that a per- . son should choose a vocation as soon as- school.life was over. Robinson wanted - to write' ;and had ho desire for any other kind of work. In 1916 when Joyce Kilmer interviewed Robin­son concerning his ideas on poetry, he asked-him if he .(Robinson) thought literature had suffered because of the ' poverty of poets. His answer wash . ' -v:

I certainly do think that literature has f ' lost through the poverty of poets. I don’t be­lieve in poverty, I never did. I think it’s , ' V

.. good for a poet to be bumped and knocked around - when he is young, but all the difficulties that are put in his way after he gets to be 25 or 30

75

are.eertain- to take some thing out of his work o i - . ;,y / y donlt so can do anything elseo1 .. Only genuine necessity forced Robinson to accept a job

in the subway in 1903o Part of his contempt for wealth andpower can;be attributed tohis own inability to make moneyor gain recognition0_ • In "Captain Craig" Robinson praises

■ the man"who has no worldly possessions.to leave behind him,but merely a wealth of wisdom to bequeath his friends0 When.Fernando Hash abandoned his torturing ambition for fame andhonor and began "beating a bass drum/ .find shouting Eallelu-jah with a-f ervor -=,0. o'," . he found spiritual.fulfillment andgreat happiness in serving God, ' Likewises Matthias found awarmth • in life when he ceased to place emphasis on the ma=>terial things of this world.0 Two men and a woman. had died to.teach him this lessono - v; ':: v .

. '1 ..oh 0 od:;. .-. ' . .There were long hours to wait, ' '/• ; : And dark.hours; and he met their length and darkness : ?fi'th •' a vast. gratitude that humbled him -' . fAnd warmed him while he waited for. the dawnc 3

Also, the man who stands silhouetted against the sky mustawait the darkness of the light stripped of all his worldly :possessions^ and .must face the sunset or the davim.«=-=alonec

lo Joyce Kilmer a Hew York Times, April 9/ 1916, p. 12 o. -2o Edwin. Arlington. Sobinson, Collected Poems (Hew York:

Macmiilan9 1946), po’921o ; /. ;V 3.0 ' 'Robinsoni- Collected Poems, Po 1155. ‘ / j. / .

■WoEldiy possessions are of.no avail0 ; '.' -, In all of these verse-novels dealing with mistrust ofmaterial gains 'the lack of a conventional faith is evident„ :Robinson9 exposed to some dogma and many philosophies 9 was unable to neeept: any certain belief 0' This agnosticism has colored all of his writings^ The very fact that he had no . aeeeptable faith may have resulted in many of his negative attitudes and in the pessimistic approach in much of his . works o "Where was he going9 this man against the sky?/ 1;You know not $ nor do It" Yet the; fact that a conventional religious faith:was not established in.Robinson does not mean his poetry suffered from'this distrust 0 Robinson knew "how to; sustain realism by analysis s skepticisms, and the long fested endurance of honesty and passion0" ;

• In the Arthurian poems where duty triumphs over love,. Robinson- ha.s made' his characterizations his oWo ITivian and Merlin’s' love prevents the lafter from going to Arthur’s aid until too late| but because he is intensely aware of the duty he owes his king, Merlin’s love is weakened- and heleaves Vivian for Oamelot 0 Lancelot 3 "because he thought/ y; I.;.-; J 6 i' , '' 1" . . ■; : . : 'his "life .was living ■backward s, *’ : f orced Guinevere to leave

Ao Robinson„ Gollected Poems 9 p0’ 66 =. • 5« M 0I).b Zabel5 "The Ironic Disciplines" Ration, • -o m (August 289 1937)» 2220 - - ■■ -

; 60 Robinson, Ooilected Poems, Pc. 4200 ‘

- f''-' - 77

him &nd Joyous Gard to return to Arthur and Game lot« Lance­lot 5 s moral oourage oireroomes his love

: The way before you is e; safer way '‘ For you to follow than when I was in it0

We children who forget the whips ■ of Time s To live- within the houm* are slow "to see

: That all such hours are passing<,7 - y .Tristram, consciously aware of-his duty to his wife9 suc­cumbs to, his passion when, he sees: Isolt of Brittany but can­not .quiet his conscience =• Tristram says, of himself, "There’sa contentious kingdom in myself / For me. to rule before I -

■ 8 . - ^'7: y : " : 7:: '-'Ishall rule others 0?t • 'Duty over coming lov e, or almost any other emotion •

would have an anpeal for Robinson since he sustained himself in loneliness and. in integrity. His heritage, in large.mea­sure, is responsible for :his tenacious attachment to duty,

. He waS a man of strong moral habits inherited from his rigidCalvinistic backgrounds ..His: writings show that he was torn-between the spirit and the flesh0 Although Robinson had . :little experience with sexual love,"it seems possible thathe chose the love emotion, almost at random, as a natural '

v ' 1 . ■ 'i-y.-. 9 ■... / - ■ 'antithesis to the idea of duty. v

7. Rob ins on. Collected Poems, p. • 113 °:8d- Robinson, Collected Poems, n. 611 °Ro - See, for example, his letter to L0Erti Chase in 19170

Edwin Arlington Robinson, Selected Letters, Ridgely Torrence,edo (Hew Hork? Macmillan," 19401, pi 108, : : .

78

RoTDinsdh Is adept in treating the effects of grief and fear upon a m n ’s life> He himself, was not a happy man.He was not a social heing and ^agonized over his incapacity

■- '' ; v':": ; . '-H'ir; " - ' ■■ ■ - . ' . . - 10to express himself adequately in conversation/" Outsideof a few close male friends* his youth and young manhood were spent in solitude =, The family estate was depleted be­fore he was able to finish college; his brother Dean became a drug addict * and both of his parents' were old' and ill . /These sources of constant worry and grief were a strain on a personality so sensitive to the moods and unhappiness of Others. Homan BarthOlow is remorseful over his early ac­tions when he realizes his wife is. dead and that his life will be an empty waste without her. The collapse of his personal world drives Bartholow from his home forever0

Because Robinson experienced sadness in his early life■: H ■ ■. ; . . : ■ ; .. . .. .. ' . ■in Gardiner* Maine, he eventually refused to return there=

.Brooding brought on by intense grief caused Malory to walkmany miles to kill his erstwhile friend* Nightingale*- whohad wronged him. Cavender, fearful of peace yet griefsstricken.over having murdered his wife * returns to his homeafter many years away from it* to torture himself with hisown imaginings.

: Fear is a common emotion among men* and in Robinson it

10. Herman Hagedorn* Idwin Arlington Robinson (New Torkt Macmillan* 1938)s Po359o

79

was a dominant one0 Bobinson feared old age with its in= firmities; he feared poverty and illness; he feared people and crowds; he feared criticism of his poetry0 Avon^'Robinson’s dime-novel character8 becomes so enveloped in f ear that his mind snaps and he dies o The grief-stricken wife •

. and the doctor are unable to give any help to this man who 1 believes a ghost haunts him0 ■ . . :

- This writer intended to point out the progress ion g if ; anys in Robinson’s thought in the long verse-novels from his .earlier to his later work0 This has been a difficult task, since it is apparent to the writer that his works fluctuate in interest, in clarity, and in characterization0 The fact appears to be that there is no consistent pattern of thematic development in Robinson^s worki

It is true that the .successful writing of a long verse- novel is a difficult task0 Edgar Allen Poe warns that;

A poem deserves its title only inasmuch as it excitesy by elevating the soulc The value of the poem is in the ratio of this elevating ex­citement o But all excitements are, through a psychal necessity, transient„ That degree of ex­citement which would entitle a poem to be so called at all, cannot be sustained throughout a composition of any great length0 After the lapse of half an hour, at the very utmost, it flags = fails = a revolution ensues = and then-the poem is., in fact,, no longer suchoAl

There is truth:behind such reasoning, and Robinson seems to

lit Edgar Allen Roe, Selections from Roe8s"Literary Griticism, John Brooks Moore", edb (Emv TorkT^BA-GrSfts. EzGog.,. 1926), pc 20 .

80

have more appeal in Ms' short works and in the poetry of medium length0 He; did 9 however, labor for more than twenty years to perfeot himself in this difficult art«

Hehad maintainedvan attitude towards that art hardly to be matched in literary history for austerity combined with affectionate fidelity*He had chosen his own themes, looked at the world with his own eyes, patiently arrived at his'own opinions, and he had expressed himself in terms which could never conceivably be palatable; to ■ 'Unintelligent or insensitive persons Ooo= His

• poems were the result of long and by no means happy brooding over the fundamental perplexities of a life wherein most good things are fragile, and soon gone*12 ' . ' " '

12„ Mark Van Doren, Hdwih Arlington Robinson (Hew York Thelliteraryv Guild Of .Zfiier iea^ 51927T7p°" 2 5 =

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books

Bechlofers Oolo 9 The Literary Renaissance in Amerioao. -London r B'niversity Press s I923o 138 ppo

Brown<,'Polio Walter. Hext Door to a Poet, New York: Do Ap- ' pleton Gentury Go0 9 lne0 $, 1937 o 98 pp0

Hagedorn^ Hermann, Edwin Arlington Robinson<> New York: Mao- millan Co*, 1938o 402 ppo

Kaplan$ Estelle,'Philbsophy in the.Poetry of Edwin Arlington Robinsono New- York: Columbia University Press, 1940c

Lippincott 9 Li Ilian <, A Bibl iography of the Writing s and Oritioisms of Edwin Arlington. Robinson0 Brookline, Ifasso: The Riverside Presss 1937o 85^ppo •

'Lowell, Amy, Poetry and Pdets 0 .> Cambridge, MasSo.: The River=< side;:PreB7^3™:Wppo;;:i^^ : ' V'.

• =3' Tendeneies in Pddern American Poetryo New York:lacmillan Co 0, 1917V 349 pp»

Neff s Emery) Edwin Arlington Robinson, New York: TheVAmerican Men of Letters Series» William Sloane Associ­ates , Inco s 19480: 286 pp<t 0

Payne, Leonidas Warren, Ir0 s History of American Literature, Chicago: Rand McNally Co0 9 1910 =, 416 ppo

Poe 9 Edgar Allen, Selections from Poe,.s_ Literary Criticism, lohn Brooks Moore, ed0 New York: FiSl-Crofts &; Gov 9 IhC»4 1926. 199 PPi . \

Redman, Ben Ray, Edwin, Arlington Robinson0 ' New ,York: -. V ; Robert Mo McBride and Co0, 19260 96 pp» ’

Robinson, Edwin Arlington, Collected Poems „ New York: -Mac­millan Coo, 1948o 1498 pp= V ; : V

82

Ro'binscm$ Etijiiri Arlington, Selected Letters, Ridgely Tor- : v ren.ee j e&. New Yorks ’H5em.llan _0Oo'9 194-0, 191 ppc• ' , Untriangulated Stars, Denham 8nteliffe3 ed0 .

. ; : Cambridge.:" Harvard University Press, 1947« ' :g ";'SimondSr. William. Ldward, A Student History of Anierioan.

Literature o cnieago-: TKe~B.lverside Press, 190.9o W p F o ' — A- : i : a<

Ban Loren.9.: l&rkS;. Edwin Arlington Robinson0 Hew York: The':. - .'.' Litera^pvOnildlOf Amiribas,' ® 90 pp0 , . A ; • A A.. ;.

Winter s.Yv or, . Edwin Arlington Robinson. Blor foik A: Gonhe et ic ut:; HewlDlreW 162 ppA

-Perio.dieal Art!oles;

- Adams.g Leonie 9 “The Ledoux Collection of Edwin Arlington. Robinson8 S Manuscripts s The Library of. Congress Quar= '

terly lournal of Current Acquisitions, YlT(Hovember ■ 1949) s 9»ilo;,:: ;A AAA, : a,. , '!;' A ■ • AAiken, Conrad, "Cavenderds Housesn Bookman, LXIZ (Itfay 1929)A .• A- 322-323o ; A, A ■ ... .• - ' ■ A "

v 88TristramA? Hew Republic, LI (May 253 192:7) , 220 ."Avon9 s H a r v e s t Bookman„. LIII (May 1921) , 248»

' "Avonf s Harvest A8 Dial, LICX1 (August 1921) > 243= . ; ■ BenetWilliam Rose , "Escort to Lev!athan, " Outlook, CZL7I A; ; A tlmne ■; 1 1 927) 158* ::; ■ ■ ’" AAVA: \ : :? A— ^ ^ A A:Crowder3 Richarda "EoA0 Robinson“s Craftmanship; Opinions of

■ .-Contemporary ROetS ,-?t Modern Language Notes, LXI A . (January 1946) , 1-16, ; . . . A.Beutsch, Babette,. % Hew Light on LancelotPoetry, X7IA (Jtiy 1920), 217=219., '

G-orman, Herbert Si, "A Crop of Spring Verse: The Mari Who A ' A - Pied Bookman, LIZ ( June 19 24), 467=4681 .-

":'';AAA w A , "Lane.elot," New -Republic, IDCIII (July 28, 1920) „■ ■ 259-260, ■ : ; ' . '

Gregoryg Horaces- r'The Glory of the Nightingales an HewBepubllo,.Igrr (October 29/ 1930), 303=304d v ; ,

Hicks, Granville, "The Talents : o i •Robinsons An Intro= auction to -kawin,Arlington Robinson's The Glory of

• : : the Hightingales8" Nation, ( O c t o b e r 83 1930),Kresensky, Raymond, "A Poetic Meloarams- The Glory of the .

Nightingales /' Christian Gentur.y,. 2XYII (December 2A„a ; 1930); 1595o :/\: / ; ; ;Howell, Amy, nE0A 0 Robinson's Verses The Man Against• the

Sky/' Hew Republic, YIX (May 2?, 1916), 96-97. 'PMeriih," Catholic World, Clfl (November 1917), 225= ..Moore; Marianne, • "The tlah Iho. Diel Twice," Dial, LZXyilr • -': ; - . (August 192A), 168-170, ' ; AMorris, Hloya, "The Career of Passion: Tristram/' Nation,■ : GJtlV; (my 25 si 1927 ), 586 „ ; / :/ A ' / / "Morrison/ Theoaore, "The Glory of the Nightingales/' - ,

Atlantic Monthly, CZHTI (December 1930)28-30°"Roman Bartholow/6 Bookman, LTI1 ( June 1923) 3 141-145„ •Root, Merrills "The Decline of 1 0A 0 Robinson: Amaranth/3;: - A Christian Century, HI (December 5A 1934)1 1554o, Shephard, Odell, "Tersif led Henry James: Merlin," ■ Dial, .

; . m i l (October lli Ipi?) s 34C, ' / : ■ ...■ ^yyT.-. A :"Tristram/' Dial, Dimill (August 1927) , 174-176°Tan Doren, Carl, "A. Symphony of Sin? The Man-Iho Died Twice

- Nation, CZTII (April 16, 1924-)A 445-446o - .."In a Style of Steeles Avon's Harvest, " Nation i (April 20, 1921), 596o - A"Roman Bartholow," Nat ion, C3TI ( June 13, 1923)=— — ?■ - . Viuow. • •.JttX'VAiyj.yw j • • xto. v v° uti.e ro 9 4 .

.700-701 o ..A:.A'V . - : . .' //^A/y/g - ./• v. .. ' ■ : . , "Tragedy In Camelot: Dancelot," Nation, CX (May 81920)7 622-623. -: : - — .. . ■

84

Walkers Helen"The Wisdom of Meflln," forum,. LZVII V .: y (February 1922), 179-131. : : , y > i.

^lalton9 Ida Lou g "Rob ins oh. 9s- last Poem: King Jasper 3 r<, Nation; OXLI (December 25, 19351, 749=750.

________g niSo Wrapped in Rectitude,8 Matthias; at the Door,w .Hation, O m n i (Ootoher 14s 1931) 9 403-404o •

Weeks 9. ,30Ao, "lost ? A- Wife and,-a Genius: The; Man Who Died Twice," Independent, CXIII (July 5) 1924), 20.

Zahel, MoDt, “The Ironic Discipline," Nation;' G1CLY (August ; : 28) 1937:) 4 222=225« '; : ■; ; --. Vp; A '

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' New, York Times, April .9»- 1916 ; September 14, 1930 ; October - ” ^ ™ i ^ 9 3 i 0w . )