Ben Trovato by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The Deacon reflects on people and events too elusive for any certain moral judgment. Though he is a Presbyterian, he hesitates to condemn a wife’s stratagem. Her blind husband, with only an hour to live, senses another woman in the fur his wife is wearing. The wife has apparently forgiven whatever occurred; her rings are gone, and when the husband discovers that she wears none, he smiles at her as he has never smiled before.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1929 · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Psychological Poetry · 151 words
First lines
THE DEACON thought. "I know them," he began, / "And they are all you ever heard of them -
Allurable to no sure theorem, / The scorn or the humility of man.
You say ‘Can I believe it? ' - and I can;
And I'm unwilling even to condemn
What this Textopian page supports
Ben Trovato is listed on Textopian as a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, dated 1929 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: 1929 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Narrative Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Psychological Poetry, Moral and Ethical Poetry, Literary Realism
- Length: 151 words
- Structure: 1 section, 9 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Ben Trovato by Edwin Arlington Robinson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
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- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Narrative Poetry — The work presents a compressed story involving a dying blind man, his wife, another woman, and the morally ambiguous circumstances surrounding them.
- Dramatic Monologue — Much of the poem is voiced through the Deacon, whose speech reveals his own judgments and values while recounting the incident.
- Psychological Poetry — Its central force lies in the characters' unspoken emotions: jealousy, forgiveness, recognition, humiliation, and the husband's final smile.
- Moral and Ethical Poetry — The Deacon considers whether deception may be justified as a benefaction, making conscience, mercy, and moral compromise central concerns.
Tags
poetry · narrative poem · character study · psychological portrait · social isolation · alienation · irony · melancholy · disillusionment · small-town life · New England · modern American literature