Neighbors by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Name: Neighbors
Author: Edwin Arlington Robinson

The speaker and other neighbors remember a woman whose gray, difficult life had made her a careful, burdened wife in a wolf-haunted existence. They respect what she endures, including outward signs of hardship, while recognizing that her suffering is not theirs to bear. Her distant expression and rare, brief visits make her seem emotionally far away even when present. Later, a strange shadow falls over ordinary life, revealing that change has come; the neighbors find little to explain except that love’s painful gift had placed more grief or feeling upon her than one heart could contain.

By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1916 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Narrative Poetry, Psychological Poetry · 186 words

First lines

AS often as we thought of her, / We thought of a gray life

That made a quaint economist

Of a wolf-haunted wife; / We made the best of all she bore

That was not ours to bear, / And honored her for wearing things

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Neighbors is listed on Textopian as a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, dated 1916 CE.

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Work type: Poem
Author: Edwin Arlington Robinson
Date: 1916 CE
Language: English
Genres: Lyric Poetry, Narrative Poetry, Psychological Poetry, Tragedy, Social Realism
Length: 186 words
Structure: 1 section, 17 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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Genres

Lyric Poetry — The work is a concise, emotionally concentrated poem that uses rhythmic verse, imagery, and a communal speaking voice to evoke the remembered life of a woman.
Narrative Poetry — Although brief, it presents a discernible narrative: neighbors observe an isolated wife, recognize her suffering only imperfectly, and later confront the implication of her death or disappearance.
Psychological Poetry — The poem centers on inward pain, emotional distance, loneliness, and the hidden burden that 'more than one heart could hold'.
Tragedy — Its concluding revelation frames the woman's life as shaped by love, suffering, and an implied fatal emotional burden, giving the poem a restrained tragic force.