Erasmus by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Erasmus challenges an exhausted divinity that cannot sustain the world, examines a sick Europe through his own judgment, and sees the human man beneath the monk’s cassock. Accused of recreance and heresy, he publishes his dangerous truths in black and white, alarming religious fathers; those who fear him most deeply are the ones who recognize that he is right.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1920 · Genre: Sonnet, Historical Poetry, Biographical Poetry · 134 words
First lines
WHEN he protested, not too solemnly, / That for a world's achieving maintenance
The crust of overdone divinity
Lacked aliment, they called it recreance; / And when he chose through his own glass to scan
Sick Europe, and reduced, unyieldingly, / The monk within the cassock to the man
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Genres
- Sonnet — The work is a fourteen-line poem with a tightly organized argument, characteristic of the English sonnet form.
- Historical Poetry — It portrays Erasmus and his conflict with religious authorities amid the intellectual and ecclesiastical tensions of Renaissance Europe.
- Biographical Poetry — The poem condenses aspects of Erasmus's public career, especially his criticism of clerical corruption and the hostile reaction to his writings.
- Satirical Poetry — Its depiction of anxious 'good fathers,' hollow divinity, and the monk reduced to a merely human figure employs pointed religious and institutional satire.
Tags
poetry · narrative verse · dramatic monologue · psychological portrait · modernist literature · American literature · character study · alienation · disillusionment · loneliness · failure · self-deception
What this Textopian page supports
Erasmus 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: Sonnet, Historical Poetry, Biographical Poetry, Satirical Poetry, Religious Poetry
- Length: 134 words
- Structure: 1 section, 9 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
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- Work identity for Erasmus by Edwin Arlington Robinson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
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