Doctor of Billiards by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The speaker addresses a once-exalted figure who has allowed three ivory billiard balls to make his life vain. Though others urge him to reclaim his natural dominion, he remains content with his diminished, absurd existence. He exchanges a kingdom and crown for the role of a fool, clicking away his former greatness through billiards. Yet his smile and especially his false, unhallowed laugh suggest that there may be some deeper meaning or awareness beneath his apparent fall.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1920 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Sonnet, Dramatic Monologue · 146 words
First lines
Of all among the fallen from on high, / We count you last and leave you to regain
Your born dominion of a life made vain
By three spheres of insidious ivory.
You dwindle to the lesser tragedy -
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Doctor of Billiards 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, Sonnet, Dramatic Monologue, Psychological Poetry, Tragic Poetry
- Length: 146 words
- Structure: 1 section, 8 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for Doctor of Billiards by Edwin Arlington Robinson
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a compact, highly musical fourteen-line poem focused on a speaker's emotional and critical response to its subject.
- Sonnet — It uses a fourteen-line structure with an intricate rhyme scheme and a turn in thought near the closing lines, placing it in the English sonnet tradition.
- Dramatic Monologue — An implied speaker directly addresses a fallen billiards player as 'you,' constructing the subject's character through accusatory and reflective speech.
- Psychological Poetry — The poem examines self-diminishment, resignation, false laughter, and the ambiguous inner condition of a man who abandons his potential.
Tags
poetry · American literature · modernism · dramatic monologue · psychological portrait · character study · urban life · alienation · melancholy · social observation · irony · introspection