The Children of the Night: A Book of Poems

by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Excerpt from The Children of the Night: A Book of Poems
The Torrent
I found a torrent falling in a glen
Where the sun's light shone silvered and leaf-split;
The boom, the foam, and the mad flash of it
All made a magic symphony; but when
I thought upon the coming of hard men
To out those patriarchal trees away,
And turn to gold the silver of that spray,
I shuddered. Hut a gladness now and then I
id wake me to myself till I was glad
In earnest, and was welcoming the time
For streaming saws to sound above the chime
Of idle waters, and for me to know
The jealous visionings that I had had
Were steps to the great place where trees and torrents go.
Aaron Stark
Withal a meagre man was Aaron Stark -
Cursed and unkempt, shrewd, shrivelled, and morose:
A miser was he, with a miser's nose,
And eyes like little dollars in the dark,
His thin, pinched mouth was nothing but a mark;
And when he spoke there came like sullen blows
Through scattered fangs a few snarled words and close;
As if a cur were chary of its bark.
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Genres: Poetry, Classics

129 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1897

About the author

Works of American poet Edwin Arlington Arlington include long narratives and character studies of New Englanders, including "Miniver Cheevy" (1907).

Edwin Arlington Robinson won three Pulitzer Prizes for his work. His family moved to Gardiner, Maine, in 1870. He described his childhood as "stark and unhappy."

Early difficulties of Robinson led to a dark pessimism, and his stories dealt with "an American dream gone awry."

In 1896, he self-published his first book, "The Torrent and the Night Before", paying 100 dollars for 500 copies. His second volume, "The Children of the Night", had a somewhat wider circulation.

Edwin Arlington Robinson won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1922 for his first "Collected Poems," in 1925 for "The Man Who Died Twice," and in 1928 for "Tristram."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Ar...

Reviews

[Illiterate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light (love, truth) and dark (emptiness, chaos) dance on a crumbling faith.

[Joe Bruno · Rating 3 out of 5]

To begin it right I probably have to note that the title "Children Of The Night" does not mean this is about vampires. The use of that phrase, that way, came much later.

This is a collection of verse in lots of the classical structure and rhyming patterns but also includes prose presented as lyrical poetry and narrative poetry. I know very little of this kind of stuff and grabbed this up after I went looking for "Richard Cory" which was used to teach verse structure and rhyming schemes in the second half of the 20th century. I don't know what they are using now. This collection includes that and "Reuben Bright" and a couple of other things important to a public three or four generations ago. I liked the ones I mentioned and also one called "The Night Before." Really though, this guy communicated to me when he did more of the narrative verse. I did enjoy some of these quite a bit.

I have something by Robinson reserved at the library but I think I will cancel my request. This isn't really my thing. Any aspiring poet ought to take a look at this stuff though and you can find it on Project Gutenberg for free in forms you can read on a Kindle or IPad or on any browser.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

"Ballade of Broken Pipes" and the sonnets here were great. As good as Man Against the Sky was this is overall a huge step forward in consistency (though there were still some poems that didn't quite work for me).

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

His poetry gets better the more I read. I believe his Selected Poems will be my next volume to read.

[Steve Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was one of Robinson’s early works, and wasn’t particularly well received. I can see why. His deservedly famed “Richard Corey” is found here alongside a handful of others worth reading. I found the rest disappointing.

For all that this work caught the attention of Theodore Roosevelt, who thought well enough of it to get Robinson a job that sustained him for awhile. He ended up winning three Pulitzer Prizes for poetry.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Children of the Night is just not my type of poetry. The flow is very staccato, and for me and my rhythymless inner-voice, the verse creates a kind of cacophony that I didn’t find pleasant. I like verse and lyrical poetry, and I felt that this kind of bounced me around. It’s also terribly dark, and a little dreary, though I did love the numerous references to Greek mythology (I, too, in Arcadia… it almost makes my degrees seem useful!).

Still I can see the beginnings of who could be a Pultizer Prize winning poet. I’d like to get my hands on some of his later works. He is very crafty in his ability to weave a beautiful picture who’s center is decay. I read somewhere that his later poetry deal with the failure of the American Dream, or rather, the illusion of it. I can definitely see that.

For me this book of poetry was a flop, not because it was bad, but because it wasn’t to my taste. That said, I’d still be interested in looking him up again.

[Scott Whitney · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very dark collection of poetry from an American poet who does not get a lot of recognition. The poetry was written at around the turn of the century between the 19th and 20th. I like the dark nature of much of the poetry in the collection. I think my favorites were "The Tavern" and "Amaryllis."

[Mary O'Neil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love gone

My favorite poet, even though melancholy be found in most verses. All is explained, made clear, though we be saddened by the loss.