Verlaine by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The speaker rebukes those who pry into the buried body and degraded life of a man who fled the uplands for the fens and rioted among “doom’s worshippers.” He urges them to let grass cover the grave, to leave the dead man’s flesh to worms, and to allow the man’s verse to tell the story of his life. The poem argues that song sheds sin through art’s enduring remembrance: although the poet suffered, the Muse marked him, and only hell’s final destruction could erase the star that shines on Paris.
By Edwin Arlington Robinson · First published 1916 · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Sonnet, Literary Tribute · 130 words
First lines
WHY do you dig like long-clawed scavengers
To touch the covered corpse of him that fled
The uplands for the fens, and rioted
Like a sick satyr with doom's worshippers?
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Genres
- Lyric Poetry — A compact, highly musical fourteen-line poem expressing an intense personal and aesthetic response to Verlaine's reputation and legacy.
- Sonnet — The work follows a fourteen-line structure with an octave-like opening and a concluding sestet, using a formal rhyme pattern and rhetorical turn characteristic of a sonnet.
- Literary Tribute — It defends the artistic stature of Paul Verlaine, arguing that his poetry should outlast scandalous attention to his private life.
- Biographical Poetry — The poem directly addresses the posthumous treatment of Verlaine's troubled life, including his descent from elevated origins into degradation.
Tags
poetry · lyric poem · literary portrait · French literature · Symbolism · Modernism · biographical reflection · artistic identity · melancholy · alienation · poverty · suffering
What this Textopian page supports
Verlaine 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, Sonnet, Literary Tribute, Biographical Poetry, Elegy
- Length: 130 words
- Structure: 1 section, 13 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Verlaine by Edwin Arlington Robinson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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