Oh, I do not like rhyme. I find it's fine for humor, but little else. And yet I like this poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson. Looking at his profile and a selection of his poetry I have to say that I am mildly in awe since he wrote three poems I consider part of cannon and all of them rhyme.
I think the type of person described in the poem exists. It is (perhaps unfairly) who I imagine to be typing rants in internet forums. Lusting after a past age where they are sure they could have been wonderful, brave, a stand-out, everything they are not currently.
Of course, with that kind of pressure on the perfection of days long past and allowance for not accomplishing anything in the present times it's no wonder that Miniver drinks and does nothing (in the same way that those internet posters merely rant online and yet enact no change in the real world).
Favorite line: "Miniver loved the Medici,/Albeit he had never seen one;/He would have sinned incessantly/Could he have been one."
An aside: "Miniver Cheevey" is a hilarious name and a near perfect one for a sniveling, wimpy, dreamy drunk.
Friday, September 4, 2009
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He's pretty conventional, but the characters he creates are memorable.
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