Credo by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The speaker is lost in a dark, silent world without stars, guidance, or welcoming voices. Only a remote echo of lost imperial music remains, associated with angel fingers making garlands from dead leaves where roses do not grow. Despite the fearful chaos of night, the speaker trusts in a message carried through the years and feels certain that the glory of the Light is approaching.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1920 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Religious Poetry, Spiritual Poetry · 145 words
First lines
I CANNOT find my way: there is no star
In all the shrouded heavens anywhere; / And there is not a whisper in the air
Of any living voice but one so far
That I can hear it only as a bar
What this Textopian page supports
Credo 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, Religious Poetry, Spiritual Poetry, Meditative Poetry, Symbolist Poetry
- Length: 145 words
- Structure: 1 section, 9 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Credo by Edwin Arlington Robinson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — A concise first-person poem expressing an intense inner state through musical language, imagery, and emotional movement rather than narrative plot.
- Religious Poetry — The speaker's movement from spiritual darkness and apparent abandonment toward faith in a coming divine Light gives the poem a devotional and theological character.
- Spiritual Poetry — It examines doubt, isolation, hope, and transcendent reassurance, framing personal despair within a larger spiritual vision.
- Meditative Poetry — The poem is structured as a reflective contemplation on uncertainty, fear, time, and the speaker's inward conviction of eventual illumination.
Tags
poetry · American literature · modernist poetry · philosophical · spiritual · reflective · faith · doubt · mortality · human nature · existentialism · introspection