Llewellyn and the Tree

Name: Llewellyn and the Tree
Author: Edwin Arlington Robinson

Llewellyn and the Tree portrays Llewellyn as a naturally mild, timid man whose marriage to the implacable, shrill Priscilla is marked by recurring conflict and only strained intervals of harmony. Priscilla relentlessly goads him over what God has denied him, destroying his hopes until, one gold October afternoon, her attack provokes a furious change in him. He leaps up and flees forever along the Tilbury way. Llewellyn escapes carrying the roses associated with his downfall and with “the Scarlet One,” a woman described through coral, rouge, civet, and years. The speaker calls her Fate and suggests that her roses do the work of spears: she brings Llewellyn a dangerous liberation or transformation. Priscilla remains behind, watches twenty Octobers pass, grows old, and eventually disappears into forgetfulness. More than twenty years later, the speaker recognizes Llewellyn on Broadway. Age and poverty have worn him down, and the roses have long vanished, leaving ruin; yet his eyes retain the shine of what he considers his one victory. Llewellyn says he has tried the world and found it good, but admits that he paid dearly for having been calm too long. He believes he diluted the wine of life by accepting restraint and passivity, then discovered strength too late. Once he found a new speed and entered another course of life, he could not return; that speed ended abruptly, leaving him where the speaker finds him. The speaker sees in Llewellyn’s worn, satiric eyes a remnant of immortal youth and leaves his fate uncertain. He may still be among the crowds, dreaming of unrepented rouge and coral; he may be dead and nameless; or he may have gone in search of the Tree of Knowledge from which he fell.

By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1920 · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Psychological Poetry · 1,021 words

First lines

COULD he have made Priscilla share

The paradise that he had planned, / Llewellyn would have loved his wife

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Llewellyn and the Tree is listed on Textopian as a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, dated 1920 CE.

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Work type: Poem
Author: Edwin Arlington Robinson
Date: 1920 CE
Language: English
Genres: Narrative Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Psychological Poetry, Tragic Poetry, Domestic Drama
Length: 1,021 words
Structure: 1 section, 86 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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Genres

Narrative Poetry — The work tells a complete story in verse, following Llewellyn's oppressive marriage, departure with the Scarlet One, later decline, and reflective reunion with the speaker.
Dramatic Monologue — Although framed by a narrator, the poem culminates in Llewellyn's extended direct speech, in which he interprets his own life, regret, rebellion, and belated awakening.
Psychological Poetry — Its central interest is Llewellyn's emotional repression, accumulated anger, desire for escape, and the consequences of acting after enduring passivity for too long.
Tragic Poetry — Llewellyn's apparent liberation leads not to fulfillment but to ruin, isolation, poverty, and an ambiguous end, giving the poem a fundamentally tragic trajectory.