Discovery by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The speakers had expected a man of prophetic vision to reveal profound truths and warn them of the world’s evils, but his only return is regret. Their disappointment teaches them that no earthly school can provide wisdom beyond what human beings are able to know.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1921 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Sonnet, Philosophical Poetry · 132 words
First lines
WE told of him as one who should have soared
And seen for us the devastating light
Whereof there is not either day or night, / And shared with us the glamour of the Word
That fell once upon Amos to record
What this Textopian page supports
Discovery is listed on Textopian as a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, dated 1921 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: 1921 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Sonnet, Philosophical Poetry, Religious Poetry, Meditative Poetry
- Length: 132 words
- Structure: 1 section, 12 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Discovery 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 compact, reflective fourteen-line poem centered on a speaker's emotional and intellectual response to another person's failed promise of wisdom.
- Sonnet — It uses the fourteen-line form, a structured rhyme scheme, and a concluding turn that delivers a philosophical resolution about the limits of human wisdom.
- Philosophical Poetry — Its principal concern is epistemological: it argues that no earthly institution or person can provide wisdom beyond what human beings are capable of knowing.
- Religious Poetry — Biblical allusions to Amos, Zion, Hamath, divine warning, and prophetic revelation frame the expected wisdom as something associated with sacred insight.
Tags
poetry · American literature · modernist poetry · lyric poetry · narrative verse · psychological insight · melancholy · isolation · human nature · mortality · love · loss