An Old Story Poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson

An Old Story

Rating: 3.0


Strange that I did not know him then.
That friend of mine!
I did not even show him then
One friendly sign;

But cursed him for the ways he had
To make me see
My envy of the praise he had
For praising me.

I would have rid the earth of him
Once, in my pride...
I never knew the worth of him
Until he died.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Britte Ninad 26 June 2018

I never knew the worth of him Until he died. everything of greatness discloses itself after retreating................ nice

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Lungelo S Mbuyazi 26 June 2018

Wonderful...it's sad that many people realise someone's worth when they're death..

1 0 Reply
Mahtab Bangalee 26 June 2018

They've gone and they're going and they'll go silently without complain; disdain and with merry Here I, the living soul, will understand it after his/her departure

1 0 Reply
Adrian Flett 26 June 2018

Such rhyme and rhythm in profound thoughts

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Bernard F. Asuncion 26 June 2018

Such a great write by Edwin Arlington Robinson👍👍👍

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Sharon 10 January 2020

One of my favorite poets, he speaks to the hearts of all of us. Beautiufl.

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Paresh Chakra 29 November 2018

I realized this poem thank for sharing this poem

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Glen Kappy 26 June 2018

This poem is lean and powerful to any of us who have struggled with envy. To value the one he, in retrospect, could call friend indicates growth. But of course it would been better if he would have appreciated him in life. It took me a while to embrace the biblical encouragement to consider others better than ourselves. Besides the fact that there always are people better than us, how we need others to see ourselves. -GK

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Sylvia Frances Chan 26 June 2018

Regret usually comes after someone's death, as we can read here in this brevity of a poem. BUT E.A.R. can write lengthy, very lengthy poems, like AVON´s HARVEST, consists 8.898 words, you would not believe that. Just look that up here on PH. This Poem is correctly chosen as TCPOTD (The Classic Poem Of The Day) . I like his poems very much, his poem has a tint of ironic tune, but so subtile and smartly rendered. Love it!

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Enas Almzoghi 26 June 2018

the sad in this poem is he didn`t knew the worth of him until he died.

0 0 Reply
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