Robinson, Edwin Arlington - Glauco Cambon (essay date 1963)
Glauco Cambon (essay date 1963)
SOURCE: “Edwin Arlington Robinson: Knights of the Grail,” in The Inclusive Flame: Studies in American Poetry, Indiana University Press, 1963, pp. 53-78.
[In the following essay, Cambon outlines the main characteristics of Robinson's poetry, particularly noting the unique aspects that set him apart from his contemporaries.]
The gentleman from Gardiner, Maine, was an isolated conservative in a literary world that had seen the triumph of an aggressive Imagism. He refused to court public favor by joining the winners, and kept on writing, mostly in a narrative vein which, in the changed climate of American letters, seemed to be obsolete. In the deafening labyrinths of Manhattan he would walk like a shadow of his own characters besieged by time and enlightened by defeat—Captain Craig, Fernando Nash, Merlin, Lancelot, Ferguson.
Yet today, when a generation of careful craftsmen has succeeded...
[The entire page is 7691 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
