How Annandale Went Out
The speaker recalls being present when someone was called Annandale and watching his decline. Though claiming the roles of liar, physician, hypocrite, and friend, the speaker says he could neither repair nor fairly describe what remained: Annandale was a human wreck, with “hell” between him and his end. The speaker knew both the ruined figure and the man he had been, and challenges the reader to combine those impressions while also remembering the speaker’s own worst qualities. He asks the reader to imagine witnessing such a ruin with only a limited means of responding, then suggests that such understanding should prevent the reader from condemning him.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1896 · Genre: Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Psychological Poetry · 152 words
First lines
"THEY called it Annandale - and I was there
To flourish, to find words, and to attend:
Liar, physician, hypocrite, and friend, / I watched him; and the sight was not so fair
As one or two that I have seen elsewhere:
What this Textopian page supports
How Annandale Went Out is listed on Textopian as a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, dated 1896 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: 1896 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Psychological Poetry, Tragic Poetry, Narrative Poetry
- Length: 152 words
- Structure: 1 section, 11 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for How Annandale Went Out by Edwin Arlington Robinson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
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Genres
- Poetry — The work is a compact fourteen-line poem structured through concentrated imagery, meter, rhyme, and figurative language.
- Dramatic Monologue — A single unnamed speaker addresses an implied listener, revealing both Annandale's ruin and the speaker's own morally compromised perspective.
- Psychological Poetry — The poem probes guilt, self-knowledge, moral ambiguity, and the unstable relationship between observing another's destruction and recognizing oneself in it.
- Tragic Poetry — Annandale is presented as a human wreck approaching a hellish end, while the speaker's account emphasizes irreversible damage and moral failure.
Tags
poetry · narrative poem · dramatic monologue · tragedy · psychological drama · alienation · despair · loneliness · social judgment · small-town life · New England · unrequited love