Edwin Arlington Robinson

The general opinion of E. A. Robinson seems heavily influenced by the "anthology effect." Space constraints usually force editors to choose shorter lyrics over longer narrative poems. Robinson's voluminous works in this latter form are necessarily skipped over, which leads to a misrepresentation of the poet's body of work. In the case of Robinson, however, it seems few would lament this omission.

Though I don't claim the authority to speak of "the longer works" in any depth, it does seem that these poems don't provide Robinson the opportunity to display his strengths: humor, concision, and the use of everyday speech. While there's nothing prohibiting a long poem from employing these qualities, they tend to retreat in the face of a wordy horde. Check out the opening lines of "Roman Bartholow":

Where now the morning light of a new spring
Fell warm on winter, patient in his grave,
And on a world not patient, Bartholow--
Like one above a dungeon where for years
Body and soul had fought futility
In vain for their deliverance -- looked away
Over the falling lawn that was alive.

This all still appears a bit overstuffed compared to short poems (though still narrative) like "Miniver Cheevy," a concise character study capped with a wryly humorous ending. Similarly, the shorter poems usually treat more contemporary subject matter, unlike Robinson's trilogy of long poems on Arthurian themes.