But for the Grace of God
The speaker reflects on a man who has gone away and wonders what hidden hunger lay beneath the mask he wore. Remembering words left unsaid and a bleak day associated with him, the speaker questions why memory returns so strongly to this person. Though the man seemed despairing, he also brought a faint, sorrowful brightness into the speaker’s life, and that light remains after his departure. The speaker resists the man’s continued presence in thought, insisting that their own life should belong to them alone, yet fears being trapped again by his loneliness, strange influence, and enduring “sorry sunbeam.”
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1920 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Psychological Poetry, Dramatic Monologue · 286 words
First lines
"There, but for the grace of God, goes."
THERE is a question that I ask, / And ask again:
What hunger was half-hidden by the mask
That he wore then?
What this Textopian page supports
But for the Grace of God 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, Psychological Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Elegiac Poetry, Dark Romantic Poetry
- Length: 286 words
- Structure: 1 section, 33 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for But for the Grace of God by Edwin Arlington Robinson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a short, intensely subjective poem centered on the speaker's memories, anxieties, guilt, and emotional response to an absent man.
- Psychological Poetry — Its principal action occurs within the speaker's mind: obsessive questioning, uncertain recollection, fear of renewed influence, and speculation about another person's despair.
- Dramatic Monologue — A single unnamed speaker addresses or reflects upon an absent "he," revealing character and emotional conflict through a sustained, self-questioning voice.
- Elegiac Poetry — Although the man may be absent rather than literally dead, the poem adopts an elegiac mood of loss, belated regret, memory, and mourning for a vanished relationship.
Tags
poetry · American literature · early twentieth century · lyric poem · spirituality · religion · grace · morality · human frailty · sin · redemption · humility