Partnership by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The speaker beholds a long-awaited, beautiful gift held by a beloved companion and urges them to raise it into the light. After years of denial, delay, labor, tears, conflict, and mutual dissatisfaction, the speaker declares that the glory they sought has finally been revealed. Though the companion’s tears, faith, and pride show unresolved feeling, the speaker reflects that two people were meant to live, suffer, and forgive together for this moment. Their clashing is now past, the gift belongs to the companion, and the speaker asks for an honest division: the companion will triumph while the speaker rests.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1916 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Love Poetry · 346 words
First lines
YES, you have it; I can see.
Beautiful?. Dear, look at me!
What this Textopian page supports
Partnership 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 Monologue, Love Poetry, Relationship Poetry, Tragic Poetry
- Length: 346 words
- Structure: 1 section, 35 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Partnership by Edwin Arlington Robinson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a compact, intensely personal poetic monologue focused on emotion, imagery, rhythm, and a speaker's immediate response to a decisive shared experience.
- Dramatic Monologue — A single speaker directly addresses an implied listener, revealing both the relationship's history and his own resignation through one-sided speech.
- Love Poetry — The poem centers on an intimate partnership shaped by longing, mutual hardship, forgiveness, devotion, and a final recognition of the beloved's triumph.
- Relationship Poetry — Its central subject is a strained but enduring union between two people who have struggled, clashed, suffered, and remained bound to one another.
Tags
poetry · American literature · modernism · narrative poem · psychological portrait · human relationships · marriage · isolation · disillusionment · irony · melancholy · social observation