Late Summer by Edwin Arlington Robinson
A confused man finds a woman absorbed in memories of the dead and in an attachment he sees as a ruinous illusion. He believes that even a little faith in him could free them from the past and replace loss with happiness, but he recognizes that a dead man’s absence has made him powerful in her imagination. Speaking with restrained honesty, he tells her that truth, however painful, must keep the dead from standing between them. He offers to reveal the height of the dead man’s infamy so that she may decide whether to remain bound to him, and says he will leave if she commands it. The woman reflects that what he calls right for them proves that he cannot belong with her. Asking to be spared further truth, she chooses lies for the future. As darkness falls, she remains alone, gazing toward the cold ocean, where no ship is coming.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1916 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Dramatic Poetry, Psychological Poetry · 689 words
First lines
(ALCAICS)
CONFUSED, he found her lavishing feminine
What this Textopian page supports
Late Summer is listed on Textopian as a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, dated 1916 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: 1916 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Dramatic Poetry, Psychological Poetry, Tragic Poetry, Narrative Poetry
- Length: 689 words
- Structure: 1 section, 53 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for Late Summer by Edwin Arlington Robinson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a concentrated poetic meditation on emotional conflict, memory, truth, and loss, using heightened imagery and musical verse rather than conventional plot development.
- Dramatic Poetry — It stages an intense implied confrontation between a man and a woman, with direct speech and psychological tension driving the poem.
- Psychological Poetry — The poem closely examines conflicted consciousness: jealousy, grief, guilt, faith, denial, longing, and the woman's attachment to a dead lover.
- Tragic Poetry — Its central situation offers no emotional reconciliation: the living man cannot overcome the dead man's hold, and the poem ends in solitude, darkness, and defeat.
Tags
poetry · American literature · modernist poetry · lyric poetry · melancholy · mortality · aging · disillusionment · isolation · memory · love · loss