Edwin Arlington Robinson
(1869–1935)

Edwin Arlington Robinson's poetry bridged the gap between two literary eras. Like most 19th-century poetry, his work was traditional in form. Yet like the work of modern poets, his poetry was innovative in content, probing beneath the surface of human behavior and exploring the psychological realities of the inner self.

Robinson was raised in Gardiner, Maine, a small town that served as the model for Tilbury Town, the fictional setting of many of his finest poems. When his father, a successful lumber merchant died, Robinson's family suddenly found itself living in poverty. Robinson attended Harvard for two years before his family's financial problems forced him to leave. He returned to Gardiner and began writing poetry, depending on friends and patrons for financial support.

Just before the turn of the century, Robinson published two unsuccessful collections of poetry, The Torrent and the Night Before (1897) and Children of the Night (1898), at his own expense. Hoping to improve his financial situation, he moved to New York. As it turned out, his situation did improve when President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him to a post at a New York customhouse. Robinson also discovered success as a poet when his fourth volume of poetry, The Town Down the River (1910), sold well and received much critical acclaim.

Robinson went on to become a highly regarded poet. His collections The Man Against the Sky (1916), Avon's Harvest (1922), and Collections Poems (1922) were very successful; as was his trilogy of long narrative poems based on the legends of King Arthur: Merlin, Lancelot, and Tristram. During the 1920s Robinson received more recognition than any other American poet, winning the Pulitzer Prize three times, in 1922, 1925 and 1928.

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