Edwin Arlington Robinson And Edgar Lee Masters

Essay, Research Paper

The Realist Poets incorporated the theme of death into their works. Edwin Arlington Robinson and Edgar Lee Masters both wrote about thetheme of death and is clearly shown in their works. Edwin Arlington Robinson wrote ?Richard Cory?. ?And Richard Cory,one calm summer night, Went home and put a bullet through his head.? Thisis clearly showing a theme of death because he went home and killed himself. Robinson also wrote ?Miniver Cheevy?. ?Miniver caughed, and called it fate,And kept on drinking.? This is about death because it tells how MiniverCheevy is drinking away his life because he wishes he was born back in thetime of Camelot. These works are both Anti-Transcendental because theyare both pessimistic about death because one shot himself and the otherdrank himself to death. Edgar Lee Masters also had a theme of death in his writings. This isclearly present because he wrote a book of epitaphs, or gravestone writings. This collection was called the Spoon River Anthology. In the epitaph?Lucinda Matlock?, it says ?Degenerate sons and daughters, Life is toostrong for you–It takes life to love life?. From this quote, Lucinda meansthat she loved life and she did love life, and was ready to die. This isTranscedental because she is saying how great her life was, and she wasntafraid of dying. ?George Gray? had a different theme in his epitaph. Hislast name Gray is symbolic because gray means dull, like his life was. ?Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid. Ambition called me, but Idreaded the chances.? This means that he never gave life a chance, he wasalways too scared. This Anti-Transcendental because his life was boring anddull, which is pessimistic. The Realist Poets incorporated the theme of death into their works. Edwin Arlington Robinson and Edgar Lee Masters were authors who bothexpressed the theme of death in their writings.