Leonora by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Leonora is placed in a low dwelling in the ground, whose walls are woven with cedar and greenery. Her burial is surrounded by flowers—roses, pinks, and lilies—and by outward ceremonies of beauty and preservation. Yet the speaker treats these adornments as deceptive: lilies are “liars,” and the rose possesses its own separate truth. The grave will be quiet and dark, but those who made it foresee that Leonora’s future nights will be darker still than the night of her burial.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1910 · Genre: Elegy, Lyric Poetry, Funeral Poetry · 168 words
First lines
THEY have made for Leonora this low dwelling in the ground, / And with cedar they have woven the four walls round.
Like a little dryad hiding she'll be wrapped all in green, / Better kept and longer valued than by ways that would have been.
They will come with many roses in the early afternoon,
They will come with pinks and lilies and with Leonora soon; / And as long as beauty's garments over beauty's limbs are thrown, / There'll be lilies that are liars, and the rose will have its own.
What this Textopian page supports
Leonora is listed on Textopian as a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, dated 1910 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: 1910 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Elegy, Lyric Poetry, Funeral Poetry, Symbolist Poetry, Pastoral Elegy
- Length: 168 words
- Structure: 1 section, 7 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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- Work identity for Leonora by Edwin Arlington Robinson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
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Genres
- Elegy — The poem mourns Leonora's death, focusing on her burial, the flowers brought to her grave, and the finality of death.
- Lyric Poetry — It is a short, emotionally concentrated poem whose musical language and imagery express meditation rather than extended narrative action.
- Funeral Poetry — Its central setting is the preparation of a grave and burial chamber, with cedar walls, darkness, mourners, and funeral flowers.
- Symbolist Poetry — Flowers, darkness, cedar, and the grave function as suggestive symbols of beauty, mortality, concealment, and the deceptive endurance of worldly appearances.
Tags
poetry · American literature · modernist poetry · lyric poem · dramatic monologue · psychological portrait · melancholy · loneliness · love · disillusionment · memory · regret