Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


BOSTON by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: MY NORTHERN PINES ARE GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME
Last Line: IN LETTERS BY WARM HANDS I CANNOT REACH.
Subject(s): BOSTON;

My northern pines are good enough for me,
But there's a town my memory uprears --
A town that always like a friend appears,
And always in the sunrise by the sea.
And over it, somehow, there seems to be
A downward flash of something new and fierce,
That ever strives to clear, but never clears
The dimness of a charmed antiquity.

I know my Boston is a counterfeit, --
A frameless imitation, all bereft
Of living nearness, noise, and common speech;
But I am glad for every glimpse of it, --
And there it is, plain as a name that's left
In letters by warm hands I cannot reach.





Home: PoetryExplorer.net