Modernities by Edwin Arlington Robinson
“Modernities” reflects on the temporary nature of human knowledge and progress. What people now regard as advanced understanding may someday seem as quaint and outdated as ancient learning preserved in old books and chronicles. Humanity takes pride in being the latest generation, yet it may forget the long struggle, damage, and sacrifice that have shaped its achievements. Though people have confronted unseen and intangible enemies beyond what their forebears could have endured, they will still face their own darkness. Future generations, in turn, will have another history to tell of struggle, loss, and change.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1916 · Genre: Poetry, Sonnet, Philosophical Poetry · 125 words
First lines
SMALL knowledge have we that by knowledge met
May not some day be quaint as any told
In almagest or chronicle of old, / Whereat we smile because we are as yet
The last - though not the last who may forget
What this Textopian page supports
Modernities 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: Poetry, Sonnet, Philosophical Poetry, Modernist Poetry, Meditative Lyric
- Length: 125 words
- Structure: 1 section, 10 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Modernities by Edwin Arlington Robinson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Poetry — The work is a fourteen-line lyric poem structured as a sonnet, using compressed imagery, rhythm, and reflective language rather than narrative plot.
- Sonnet — It follows the traditional fourteen-line sonnet form, with an octave-like opening meditation and a concluding turn toward humanity's future darkness and historical repetition.
- Philosophical Poetry — The poem examines the limits of human knowledge, the transience of modern achievement, historical perspective, and the inevitability of future uncertainty.
- Modernist Poetry — Its skeptical treatment of progress, fractured historical confidence, abstraction, and modern humanity's unseen struggles aligns with early twentieth-century modernist concerns.
Tags
poetry · American literature · lyric poetry · dramatic monologues · psychological insight · melancholy · alienation · irony · symbolism · modernism · New England · small-town life