An Old Story by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The speaker recalls once resenting a friend whose praise exposed the speaker’s own envy and pride. Unable to recognize the friend’s kindness, the speaker offered no friendliness in return and even wished him gone. Only after the friend’s death does the speaker understand his value and regret having failed to know him.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1920 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Elegy, Confessional Poetry · 79 words
First lines
STRANGE that I did not know him then, / That friend of mine!
I did not even show him then
One friendly sign; / But cursed him for the ways he had
To make me see
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An Old Story is listed on Textopian as a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, dated 1920 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: 1920 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Elegy, Confessional Poetry, Psychological Poetry, Moral Poetry
- Length: 79 words
- Structure: 1 section, 10 paragraphs
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a short, first-person reflective poem organized in compact rhyming stanzas and focused on a single emotional realization.
- Elegy — The speaker mourns a deceased friend and recognizes the friend's value only after his death, making belated grief central to the poem.
- Confessional Poetry — The speaker candidly admits envy, hostility, pride, and a past desire to destroy the friend, presenting an intimate self-indictment.
- Psychological Poetry — Its principal subject is the speaker's inner conflict: envy at being praised, wounded pride, guilt, and retrospective understanding.
Tags
poetry · narrative poem · lyricism · melancholy · memory · love · loss · disillusionment · human relationships · aging · regret · loneliness