Bokardo by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Name: Bokardo
Author: Edwin Arlington Robinson

In “Bokardo,” a speaker receives Bokardo into a diminished but still shared place and urges him to speak about why he abandoned what had belonged to them both. The speaker bitterly observes that friendship is undervalued in an age ruled by money, then challenges Bokardo’s concealment and his confession that he wished to die and attempted it one night. The speaker argues that Bokardo cannot overcome the laws governing life by attacking himself. Though those laws may seem cruel, they continue beyond individual desire; striking against them harms Bokardo rather than the laws themselves. He warns Bokardo against mistaking despair for courage or freedom, and tells him to forget the time when life seemed a feast. Bokardo is not fit for death, the speaker insists, and should not behave like a beast when no one can fully repay old debts or free himself from the past. Bokardo appears burdened by a debt greater than money, by Remorse, and by Death. The speaker advises him to leave Remorse outside and accept that Death will return in its own time. Until Bokardo’s mind is clear, he should remain alive, active, and quiet. Even if devils trouble him, the speaker sees his suffering as part of a needed cleansing after the low course of his last attempt. Bokardo should regard it as having learned something necessary. Battered by the past, Bokardo will retain a scar, but the wound will not endure forever. The speaker distinguishes him from lives already crushed beyond recovery and warns that his desire to escape has deserted the faith it mocked. Death requires decency, and Bokardo has not yet been consumed or mourned. Much will come into view and need rearranging; in time Bokardo may marvel at the change, as hidden skies clear and the stars appear strange.

By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1916 · Genre: Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Psychological Poetry · 865 words

First lines

WELL, Bokardo, here we are; / Make yourself at home.

Look around - you haven't far

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Bokardo is listed on Textopian as a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, dated 1916 CE.

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Work type: Poem
Author: Edwin Arlington Robinson
Date: 1916 CE
Language: English
Genres: Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Psychological Poetry, Philosophical Poetry, Moral Poetry
Length: 865 words
Structure: 1 section, 89 paragraphs
Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)

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Genres

Poetry — The work is a sustained verse composition structured in rhymed stanzas and written with concentrated figurative, rhythmic, and rhetorical language.
Dramatic Monologue — A speaker directly addresses Bokardo throughout, creating an implied dialogue in which the absent or mostly silent listener is psychologically revealed.
Psychological Poetry — The poem examines Bokardo's remorse, despair, suicidal impulse, self-deception, fear, and struggle to recover from emotional collapse.
Philosophical Poetry — Its central concerns include freedom, fate, reason, mortality, moral responsibility, the limits of human will, and the impersonal force of natural laws.