Imagery by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Hall 1
Mrs. Hawks English CP 1 10 April 2012 Imagery by Edwin Arlington Robinson Edwin Arlington Robinson was born in Head Tide, Maine on December 22, 1869. He moved to a town named Gardiner where he grew up; the town later provided the model for a series of poems that he wrote throughout his career as a poet (Peschel). Robinson attended Harvard from 1891 to 1893 even though his parents were against going to a school of higher value for the education. President Theodore Roosevelt helped Robinson get a job at the New York Custom House as a clerk in 1905. There, he realized his true passion in life was writing (Scott). Robinson became the first major American poet of the twentieth century, “unique in that he devoted his life to poetry and willingly paid the price in poverty and obscurity” (Peschel). He was a great poet and could use metaphors to enable the reader to be able to picture his characters and scenes in their minds. Many of Robinson’s works follow the same patterns. He describes his characters personality through adjectives of the person or of the setting. Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poems “Miniver Cheevy”, “Charles Carville’s Eyes”, and “Richard Cory” use imagery to create men who are not satisfied with themselves. Imagery is “the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of such images collectively.” or “pictorial images and mental images” (Quinn). Edwin Arlington Robinson usually doesn’t use imagery from the natural world, but if or when he does, the images are functional and are made from metaphors and symbolic
Hall 2
context (Scott). Every metaphor or simile that Robinson uses while writing his poems constitutes an image of some sort. His imagery tends to engage the readers on their “sense experience” (Quinn) and this enables them to re-create the story. Robinson uses words like “grew lean”, “bright”, “iron clothing”, or “insufficient eyes.” These words help the reader to visualize how the characters in the poem look or
Mrs. Hawks English CP 1 10 April 2012 Imagery by Edwin Arlington Robinson Edwin Arlington Robinson was born in Head Tide, Maine on December 22, 1869. He moved to a town named Gardiner where he grew up; the town later provided the model for a series of poems that he wrote throughout his career as a poet (Peschel). Robinson attended Harvard from 1891 to 1893 even though his parents were against going to a school of higher value for the education. President Theodore Roosevelt helped Robinson get a job at the New York Custom House as a clerk in 1905. There, he realized his true passion in life was writing (Scott). Robinson became the first major American poet of the twentieth century, “unique in that he devoted his life to poetry and willingly paid the price in poverty and obscurity” (Peschel). He was a great poet and could use metaphors to enable the reader to be able to picture his characters and scenes in their minds. Many of Robinson’s works follow the same patterns. He describes his characters personality through adjectives of the person or of the setting. Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poems “Miniver Cheevy”, “Charles Carville’s Eyes”, and “Richard Cory” use imagery to create men who are not satisfied with themselves. Imagery is “the formation of mental images, figures, or likenesses of things, or of such images collectively.” or “pictorial images and mental images” (Quinn). Edwin Arlington Robinson usually doesn’t use imagery from the natural world, but if or when he does, the images are functional and are made from metaphors and symbolic
Hall 2
context (Scott). Every metaphor or simile that Robinson uses while writing his poems constitutes an image of some sort. His imagery tends to engage the readers on their “sense experience” (Quinn) and this enables them to re-create the story. Robinson uses words like “grew lean”, “bright”, “iron clothing”, or “insufficient eyes.” These words help the reader to visualize how the characters in the poem look or
Cited: Anderson, Wallace L. “On “Richard Cory”’ Modern American Poetry. American National Biography. Web. 29 February 2012. Bovee, Timothy. “‘Miniver Cheevy.”’ DayPoems. The DayPoems Poetry Collection. Web. 22 March 2012 Bruccoli, Matthew. “‘Richard Cory.”’ Student’s Encyclopedia of American Literary Characters. 2012 Bloom’s Literary Reference Online. Web. 26 February 2012. Fetzer, Scott. “Robinson, Edwin A.” The World Book Encyclopedia. 2010 ed. Print. Peschel, Bill. “Edwin Arlington Robinson’s Life and Career.” Modern American Poetry. American National Biography. Web. 26 February 2012 Quinn, Edward. “Imagery” A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms. 2012 Bloom’s Literary Reference Online. Web. 10 April 2012 Robinson, Edwin Arlington. “Richard Cory” Poem Hunter. Web. 31 December 2002 Robinson, Edwin Arlington. “Charles Carville’s Eyes” Poem Hunter. Web. 3 January 2003 Hall 6 Squires, Rodcliffe. “On “‘Miniver Cheevy”’ Modern American Poetry. American National Biography. Web. 29 March 2012