The Long Race by Edwin Arlington Robinson
A man climbs an old hill to revisit the old house where a friend, young fifty years earlier, awaits among enduring reminders of the past. The meeting is painful as they confront the long separation and the ambitions both have lost. They struggle to find words for an hour before parting. The visitor notices the unchanged weather-vane, a little horse perpetually running, and as he walks back down the hill toward the train, he feels that the little horse, unlike them, has won.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1910 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Sonnet, Literary Poetry · 138 words
First lines
UP the old hill to the old house again
Where fifty years ago the friend was young
Who should be waiting somewhere there among
Old things that least remembered most remain, / He toiled on with a pleasure that was pain
What this Textopian page supports
The Long Race 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: Lyric Poetry, Sonnet, Literary Poetry, Reflective Poetry, Narrative Poetry
- Length: 138 words
- Structure: 1 section, 11 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Long Race by Edwin Arlington Robinson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Similar titles
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- The Passer By by Thomas Hardy
- All Influences Were In Vain by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Cortege For Rosenbloom by Wallace Stevens
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The work is a concise, highly compressed poem centered on a speaker's emotional response to a reunion and departure.
- Sonnet — It is a fourteen-line poem shaped by sonnet conventions, with a structured rhyme pattern and a concluding thematic turn.
- Literary Poetry — Its meaning depends on subtle symbolism, formal craftsmanship, restrained narration, and reflective language rather than plot-driven action.
- Reflective Poetry — The poem meditates on aging, memory, lost ambitions, and the emotional consequences of time.
Tags
poetry · American literature · early 20th century · lyric poetry · narrative poetry · formal verse · psychological insight · human nature · isolation · melancholy · disillusionment · mortality