The Closet Professor

Villanelle of Change
By Edwin Arlington Robinson

Since Persia fell at Marathon,
        The yellow years have gathered fast:
  Long centuries have come and gone.

    And yet (they say) the place will don
        A phantom fury of the past,
    Since Persia fell at Marathon;

    And as of old, when Helicon
        Trembled and swayed with rapture vast
    (Long centuries have come and gone),

    This ancient plain, when night comes on,
        Shakes to a ghostly battle-blast,
    Since Persia fell at Marathon.

    But into soundless Acheron
        The glory of Greek shame was cast:
    Long centuries have come and gone,

    The suns of Hellas have all shone,
        The first has fallen to the last:—
    Since Persia fell at Marathon,
    Long centuries have come and gone.

About the Poem

The poem begins with a reference to the Battle of Marathon, which took place in 490 BC. Edwin Arlington Robinson uses this historical event to establish a timeline for the poem and to show how the passage of time has changed the world. Robinson describes how the glory of Greece has faded over time, and how the suns of Hellas have all set.

The poem is, as the title suggests, a villanelle, which is one of my favorite poetic forms. I love highly structured poetic forms such as sonnets and villanelles. Villanelles are a French verse form consisting of five three-line stanzas and a final quatrain, with the first and third lines of the first stanza repeating alternately in the following stanzas. These two refrain lines form the final couplet in the quatrain. The form’s repetition of lines suggests that the villanelle is often used, and properly used, to deal with one or another degree of obsession. Robinson often wrote his poems as villanelles.

The final line of “Villanelle of Change,” Long centuries have come and gone, is a reminder of the fleeting nature of time. The poem as a whole is a meditation on the power of time to change and destroy. It’s a complex and challenging poem, but it is also beautiful. The poem’s use of language is precise and evocative, and its structure is carefully crafted. Like many of Robinson’s poems, “Villanelle of Change” is a poem that will stay with you long after you have finished reading it. “The House on the Hill” is a haunting poem about an abandoned house. “Richard Cory” tells of a man who seemingly had everything but companionship, and I’ve never forgotten the shocking final quatrain. “Miniver Cheevy” describes a man who dreamed of living in long ago times and would have likely loved “Villanelle of Change” as it harkens back to a different time.

In comparison to Robinson’s other works, “Villanelle of Change” is a more subdued and reflective poem. It lacks the dramatic intensity of some of his other works, such as the three listed above, but it more than makes up for it with its subtle beauty and wisdom. “Villanelle of Change” is a poem that is well worth your time and attention.

About the Poet

On December 22, 1869, Edwin Arlington Robinson was born in Head Tide, Maine (the same year as W. B. Yeats
). His family moved to Gardiner, Maine, in 1870, which was renamed “Tilbury Town,” and became the backdrop for many of Robinson’s poems. Robinson described his childhood as stark and unhappy; he once wrote in a letter to Amy Lowell that he remembered wondering why he had been born at the age of six. After high school, Robinson spent two years studying at Harvard University as a special student, and his first poems were published in the Harvard Advocate.

Robinson privately printed and released his first volume of poetry, The Torrent and the Night Before, in 1896 at his own expense; this collection was extensively revised and published in 1897 as The Children of the Night. Unable to make a living by writing, he got a job as an inspector for the New York City subway system. In 1902, he published Captain Craig and Other Poems. This work received little attention until President Theodore Roosevelt wrote a magazine article praising it and Robinson. Roosevelt also offered Robinson a sinecure in a U.S. Customs House, a job he held from 1905 to 1910. Robinson dedicated his next work, The Town Down the River (1910), to Roosevelt.

Robinson’s first major success was The Man Against the Sky (1916). He also composed a trilogy based on Arthurian legends: Merlin (1917), Lancelot (1920), and Tristram (1927), which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1928. Robinson was also awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his Collected Poems (1921) in 1922 and The Man Who Died Twice (1924) in 1925. For the last twenty-five years of his life, Robinson spent his summers at the MacDowell Colony of artists and musicians in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Robinson never married and led a notoriously solitary lifestyle. He died in New York City on April 6, 1935.