Edwin Arlington Robinson

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Boydell Press, 1990 - Literary Criticism - 387 pages
`Traditional yet original, realistic but not in the reductive sense, he is too good to be forgotten.' ROBERTSON DAVIES Robinson's Arthurian poems, published between 1917 and 1927, won him a Pulitzer prize and yet are almost unknown today. With his introspective New England style and quiet tone, he brilliantly catches the tension between reason and passion that drives the characters of the Arthurian stories: these are modern lovers, with the philosophical and psychological concerns of the early 20th century. The sense of vision, and the feeling that the world of Arthur mirrors the fate of all mankind, binds the diverse characters together, and makes Robinson's poems essential reading for everyone interested in the Arthurian legend in the twentieth century.

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About the author (1990)

Edwin Arlington Robinson was a poet. He was born on December 22, 1869 in Head Tide, Maine. Robinson attended Harvard University from 1891 to 1893. Robinson published two volumes of poetry. To make ends meet, Robinson worked as a checker of shale used to build the New York subway system. Theodore Roosevelt later helped Robinson get a job as a clerk in the New York Customs House, a position he held until 1910. Robinson's Collected Poems won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. He also won Pulitzer in 1924 and 1927 for The Man Who Died Twice and Tristram. Robinson died on April 5, 1935.