"Miniver Cheevy" by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,

Grew lean while he assailed the seasons;

He wept that he was ever born,

And he had reasons.

Miniver loved the days of old

When swords were bright and steeds were prancing;

The vision of a warrior bold

Would set him dancing.

Miniver sighed for what was not,

And dreamed, and rested from his labors;

He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot,

And Priam’s neighbors.

Miniver mourned the ripe renown

That made so many a name so fragrant;

He mourned Romance, now on the town,

And Art, a vagrant.

Miniver loved the Medici,

Albeit he had never seen one;

He would have sinned incessantly

Could he have been one.

Miniver cursed the commonplace

And eyed a khaki suit with loathing;

He missed the mediæval grace

Of iron clothing.

Miniver scorned the gold he sought,

But sore annoyed was he without it;

Miniver thought, and thought, and thought,

And thought about it.

Miniver Cheevy, born too late,

Scratched his head and kept on thinking;

Miniver coughed, and called it fate,

And kept on drinking.

Summary

Upon my first reading of the classic poem, “Miniver Cheevy”, by the poet Edwin Arlington Robinson, I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. On the one hand, the poem presents the whimsical tale of a man who delights in the romance and elegance of the past, a man who longs for the yesteryear in a way that is earnest and almost comical in its extremes. Yet on the other hand, by the end of the poem, this poor, lost soul ends up drowning his sorrows in alcohol.

As the poem opens and we are introduced to Miniver Cheevy, our first impression might be to feel a bit sorry for the sad boy who is described as a “child of scorn” who bemoaned his birth. “And he had reasons”, we are told. The poem then goes on to describe this odd boy (note that even his name is strange) who has a fascination with the past and particularly, it seems, with the heroic figures of medieval times and of Greek mythology. “He sighed for what was naught And dreamed” and Miniver grieved for the things that once held a high place in culture, romance and art, and which in Minivers’ eyes had been reduced to that which is cheap and common.

The poem goes on to describe how Miniver despised the mundane which he observed all around him. Only in his reveries could Miniver embrace the world in which he felt he belonged. In many ways, it sounds like Miniver had become jaded with life but in his imaginings he could live out some of the folk tales and epic sagas that he had probably encountered in books.

In the last lines of the poem, we are given a picture of a somewhat pathetic man who feels trapped by his position in life and who hates the fact that he must always pursue money because he knows how miserable he is without it. Yet throughout the poem, we realize that this poor fellow is only a dreamer, he resigns himself to his misery, and simply thinks, and thinks, and thinks. Finally, he just accept his “fate” and continues to drink.

Miniver Cheevy is memorable for the rather bleak portrait that Robinson paints of him. In the entire poem, the only pleasant parts are the descriptions of Minivers’ daydreams and it is unfortunate that Miniver never realizes that there may be much that he is missing out on, by limiting the power of his dreams to nothing more than the dreams he has of a bygone time. It is interesting though that Miniver Cheevy, a fragment of the past for us today, an unhappy man whose life had been a failure, and a figment of Edwin Arlington Robinsons’ imagination, can actually inspire readers to live life to its fullest, something that we wish Miniver had been able to do.

Edwin Arlington Robinson has been called the first important poet of the twentieth century and indeed, Robinson stayed true to his poetic voice throughout his adult life, despite not meeting immediate success. In fact, he was rejected by several publishers before he finally decided to publish his first book of poetry himself in 1902. Somber and melancholy themes were the hallmark of Robinsons poetic style and it is very likely that much of his poetry, including “Miniver Cheevy” was autobiographical.