A Song at Shannon's by Edwin Arlington Robinson
In “A Song at Shannon’s,” two men leave Shannon’s after hearing an old song sung in a thin, wasted voice by an unhappy, damaged night-bird. The singer’s life has harmed not only himself but more vulnerable people around him. The two men, long familiar with one another’s faces, depart silently into the darker space beyond the light they leave behind. Avoiding each other’s eyes, each goes separately toward loneliness or companionship, carrying private regret and unaware of what meaning or pain the other heard in the song.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1897 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Modernist Poetry, Dramatic Poetry · 132 words
First lines
TWO men came out of Shannon's, having known
The faces of each other for as long
As they had listened there to an old song, / Sung thinly in a wastrel monotone
By some unhappy night-bird, who had flown
What this Textopian page supports
A Song at Shannon's is listed on Textopian as a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, dated 1897 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Edwin Arlington Robinson
- Date: 1897 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Modernist Poetry, Dramatic Poetry, Psychological Poetry, Narrative Poetry
- Length: 132 words
- Structure: 1 section, 11 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for A Song at Shannon's by Edwin Arlington Robinson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a short, highly compressed poem centered on mood, image, sound, and emotional implication rather than narrative development.
- Modernist Poetry — Its ambiguity, psychological distance, fragmented social connection, and suggestive rather than explicit meaning align with early modernist poetic sensibilities.
- Dramatic Poetry — The poem presents a small implied scene with characters, setting, action, and unspoken emotional tension, functioning like a brief dramatic tableau.
- Psychological Poetry — The focus falls on loneliness, regret, silence, alienation, and the unknowable inner responses of the two men.
Tags
poetry · lyric poem · American literature · early twentieth century · tavern setting · song · melancholy · nostalgia · loneliness · memory · mortality · disillusionment