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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE CORRIDOR by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON

Poet Analysis

First Line: IT MAY HAVE BEEN THE PRIDE IN ME FOR AUGHT
Last Line: THAT YEAR, TO STOP THAT HUNGER FOR A FRIEND.
IT may have been the pride in me for aught
I know, or just a patronizing whim;
But call it freak or fancy, or what not,
I cannot hide that hungry face of him.

I keep a scant half-dozen words he said,
And every now and then I lose his name;
He may be living or he may be dead,
But I must have him with me all the same.

I knew it, and I knew it all along,--
And felt it once or twice, or thought I did;
But only as a glad man feels a song
That sounds around a stranger's coffin lid.

I knew it, and he knew it, I believe,
But silence held us alien to the end;
And I have now no magic to retrieve
That year, to stop that hunger for a friend.



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