Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935)\: A Study of His Verse and Technique, with Special Emphasis on His Interest in Human Character

Abstract

Souzi Abdel-Moneim El-Fakkary. "Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869-1935): A Study ofhis Verse and Technique, With Special Emphasis on His Interest in Human Character." Ph. D. Thesis. Women's College for Arts, Science and Education. Department of English Language and Literature. Ain Shams University. The main purpose of this study is to examine and analy?:e Edwin Arlington Robinson's poetry with the intention of showing his ability to reveal and convey, with precision and invariable dramatic power, the innermost dynamics of the human character through his poems. This is made possible through a careful examination and analysis of the poet's own work, first with reference to his early then later and more mature poetry. Chapter One of this thesis attempts to investigate the genesis and function of Robinson's Tilbury Town and Masters' Spoon River with a view to showing the points of similarities and differences between the two towns that lay critical emphasis on the small towns of the Midwest or New England. Chapter Two examines Robinson's dramatic portraits of individual characters as illustrated in his volumes: The Children of the Night (1897), Captain Craig (1902), and The Town Down the River (1910) with the purpose of showing Robinson's early groping approach to the delineation of Tilbury Town characters. Chapter Three attempts to examine Robinson's philosophy as represented in his principal masterpieces: The Man Against the (1916), Merlin (1917), and Lancelot (1920) with the intention of pointing out the degree of development in Robinson's treatment of his characters and the nature ofhis philosophic ideas as revealed in the attitudes of his characters to life, universe, and God.