Summary Of For A Dead Lady, By Edwin Arlington Robinson

Throughout his life, American poet Edwin Arlington Robinson faced frustration, poverty, disappointment, and family tragedy. Being the youngest of three sons, Robinson was free to turn to poetry as a career. He started writing at a very young age, and his passion for poetry landed him a spot in Harvard. Unfortunately, Robinson’s fortunes dwindled when his father died in 1892, and the economic panic of 1893 left his family bankrupt. Due to his family's financial difficulties and mother’s failing health, Robinson was forced to leave Harvard. His mother soon died of a highly infectious disease, and his brother Dean, a doctor, became a drug addict and committed suicide. This series of tragedies and struggles influenced and benefitted Robinson’s …show more content…
One of his very infamous poems, “For a Dead Lady,” is said to be a eulogy to his mother in honor and remembrance of her (Joyner). It is very evident that death is the theme of the poem, and Robinson incorporated this dark theme into his poetry to demonstrate his feelings of loneliness and sorrow. He engages the readers by incorporating death in the chilling lines, “The breast where roses could not live/ Has done with rising and falling” (15-16). Throughout the poem, Robinson described what the lady would no longer be able to do since she was dead. For example, he mentioned how the lady would no longer be able to look over children, talk, or answer to any callings. Robinson also acknowledged the agony of time in the closing …show more content…
Both of his parents and his brother Dean died, and his brother Herman moved fifteen hundred miles away with his wife. He also repeatedly said “There is nothing more to say” because the house on the hill speaks for itself. The ruin, decay, and emptiness of the house symbolizes the people who were missing from his life. The repetition in the poem reveals the discomfort Robinson felt realizing that everything he owned, and his very own life would eventually rot and expire. Even though Robinson consistently states “There is nothing more to say” he continues the poem, and each stanza brought him closer to the ruins and memories he was trying to restrain (Huff). He tried to restrain his memories because of the loneliness he would feel remembering everything he once had, and everything he had looking back at the abandoned house. Robinson was troubled by the loneliness he felt and the thought that his own home and his own life were similarly, destined to