Appearance | Lost | Poetry | Pride | Self

MODERN POETS VISION OF PRIDE
There are a number of modern (within the past hundred years) poets who have giving us powerful, colorful and picturesque visions of pride — threadbare, poignant, and tragic. Consider these two American classics by Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935). Robinson shows us the complexity and the subtlety of the human caught in the modern world. Robert Frost’s lines are an caution against hubris. MINIVER CHEEVY Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,
Grew lean while he assailed the seasons;
He wept that he was ever born,
And he had reasons.
Miniver loved the days of old
When Swords were bright and steeds were prancing:
The vision of a warrior bold
Would set him dancing.
Miniver sighed for what was not,
And dreamed, and rested from his labors;
He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot,
And Priam’s neighbors.
Miniver mourned the ripe renown
That made so many a name so fragrant;