"The `Book of Annandale', a splendid poem included in this collection, is one of the most moving emotional narratives found in modern poetry."-- `Review of Reviews'.
"...His handling of Greek themes reveals him as a lyrical poet of inimitable charm and skill." -- `Reedy's Mirror'.
"A poem that must endure; if things that deserve long life get it."-- `N.Y.Evening Sun'.
"Wherever you hear people who know speak of American poets...
they assume that you take the genius and place of Edwin Arlington Robinson as granted....A man with something to say that has value and beauty.
His thought is deep and his ideas are high and stimulating."-- `Boston Transcript'.
By the same author --------------
The Porcupine: A Drama in Three ActsCloth, 12mo, $1.25Edwin Arlington Robinson's comedy "Van Zorn" proved him to be one of the most accomplished of the younger generation of American dramatists.
Of this play the `Boston Transcript' said, "It is an effective presentation of modern life in New York City, in which a poet shows his skill of playwrighting...he brings to the American drama to-day a thing it sadly lacks, and that is character." In manner and technique Mr.Robinson's new play, "The Porcupine", recalls some of the work of Ibsen.
Written adroitly and with the literary cleverness exhibited in "Van Zorn", it tells a story of a domestic entanglement in a dramatic fashion well calculated to hold the reader's attention.
"Contains all of the qualities that are said to be conspicuously lacking in American Drama." -- `N.Y.Evening Sun'.
Van Zorn: A Comedy in Three ActsCloth, 12mo, $1.25Mr.Robinson is known as the leader of present-day American poets.
In this delightful play he tells with a biting humor the story of the salvation of a soul.By clever arrangement of incident and skillful characterization he arouses strongly the reader's curiosity, and the suspense is admirably sustained.The dialogue is bright, and the construction of the plot shows the work of one well versed in the technique of the drama.
About the author: Edwin Arlington Robinson, 1869-1935.
From the Biographical Notes of "The Second Book of Modern Verse" (1919, 1920), edited by Jessie B.Rittenhouse:
Robinson, Edwin Arlington.Born at Head Tide, Maine, Dec.22, 1869.
Educated at Harvard University.Mr.Robinson is a psychological poet of great subtlety; his poems are usually studies of types and he has given us a remarkable series of portraits.He is recognized as one of the finest and most distinguished poets of our time.
His successive volumes are: "Children of the Night", 1897;"Captain Craig", 1902; "The Town Down the River", 1910;"The Man against the Sky", 1916; "Merlin", 1917; and "Launcelot", 1920.
The last-named volume was awarded a prize of five hundred dollars, given by The Lyric Society for the best book manuscript offered to it in 1919.
In addition to his work in poetry, Mr.Robinson has written two prose plays, "Van Zorn", and "The Porcupine".
In "American Poetry Since 1900", Louis Untermeyer notes, "his name was known only to a few of the literati until Theodore Roosevelt...
acclaimed and aided him." Rittenhouse's Biographical Notes (above quoted)contain this entry immediately before Edwin Arlington Robinson's:
"Robinson, Corinne Roosevelt....Mrs.Robinson, who is a sister to Col.Theodore Roosevelt,...has written several volumes of verse...."It is always interesting to see the coincidence of events in history, and it is worth asking if this was not even a causal relationship.-- A.L.
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