Archibald's Example
Edwin Arlington Robinson 1869 – 1935
Old Archibald, in his eternal chair,
Where trespassers, whatever their degree,
Were soon frowned out again, was looking off
Across the clover when he said to me:
“My green hill yonder, where the sun goes down
Without a scratch, was once inhabited
By trees that injured him—an evil trash
That made a cage, and held him while he bled.
“Gone fifty years, I see them as they were
Before they fell. They were a crooked lot
To spoil my sunset, and I saw no time
In fifty years for crooked things to rot.
“Trees, yes; but not a service or a joy
To God or man, for they were thieves of light.
So down they came. Nature and I looked on,
And we were glad when they were out of sight.
“Trees are like men, sometimes; and that being so,
So much for that.” He twinkled in his chair,
And looked across the clover to the place
That he remembered when the trees were there.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 14, 2023
- 50 sec read
- 79 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABXB XXXX XCXC XDXD XAXA |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 873 |
Words | 168 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
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"Archibald's Example" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/9937/archibald's-example>.
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