Miniver Cheevy Summary & Analysis
by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Miniver Cheevy Summary & Analysis
by Edwin Arlington Robinson

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The Full Text of “Miniver Cheevy”

1Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,

2   Grew lean while he assailed the seasons;

3He wept that he was ever born,

4   And he had reasons.

5Miniver loved the days of old

6   When swords were bright and steeds were prancing;

7The vision of a warrior bold

8   Would set him dancing.

9Miniver sighed for what was not,

10   And dreamed, and rested from his labors;

11He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot,

12   And Priam’s neighbors.

13Miniver mourned the ripe renown

14   That made so many a name so fragrant;

15He mourned Romance, now on the town,

16   And Art, a vagrant.

17Miniver loved the Medici,

18   Albeit he had never seen one;

19He would have sinned incessantly

20   Could he have been one.

21Miniver cursed the commonplace

22   And eyed a khaki suit with loathing;

23He missed the mediæval grace

24   Of iron clothing.

25Miniver scorned the gold he sought,

26   But sore annoyed was he without it;

27Miniver thought, and thought, and thought,

28   And thought about it.

29Miniver Cheevy, born too late,

30   Scratched his head and kept on thinking;

31Miniver coughed, and called it fate,

32   And kept on drinking.

  • “Miniver Cheevy” Introduction

    • Published in 1910 by the American poet Edward Arlington Robinson, "Miniver Cheevy" spotlights the dangers of romanticizing the past. The titular character, Miniver Cheevy, is an unhappy man who believes he was born in the wrong era. He covets tales about famous figures from history and fantasizes about eras ranging from ancient Greece to the Middle Ages, idealizing ways of life he has never experienced. As the poem develops, it becomes clear that Miniver's obsession with the past interferes with his life in the present, as he rejects his current circumstances and spends all his time feeling sorry for himself. The poem uses rhyming quatrains, or four-line stanzas, and a strong iambic rhythm throughout.

  • “Miniver Cheevy” Summary

    • Miniver Cheevy was somebody who was always wretchedly unhappy and full of contempt. Miniver wasted away while complaining about the passage of time. He cried over the fact that he was ever even born, and he believed he had valid reasons for this.

      Miniver loved the olden days, when chivalrous heroes carried gleaming swords and rode around on noble horses. The mere sight of a brave historical warrior would make Miniver giddy with delight.

      Miniver expressed sadness and despair over all the things that didn't exist anymore, and spent his time fantasizing instead of working. He fantasized about the ancient city of Thebes and King Arthur's mythical court at Camelot, as well as about the Greeks who defeated Priam (the king of Troy) in the Trojan War.

      Miniver grieved over the fact that that modern times lacked the sense of respect and admiration that once gave so many historical figures such lasting reputations. He grieved for romance, now treated like frivolous enjoyment, and for art, which had no home or support in the modern world.

      Miniver was obsessed with the Medici family, a rich and influential Italian dynasty, despite the fact that he had never actually met any of them. He would have done endless terrible things if it meant he could join the ranks of that family.

      Miniver hated all the ordinary, everyday parts of the modern world, despising things like khaki military uniforms, which he believed could never measure up to the eloquence of medieval suits of armor.

      And even though Miniver hated the idea of having to chase after money, he was also very unhappy without it. As such, he ended up spending all his time thinking about money.

      Miniver Cheevy was born in the wrong era. Instead of doing anything with his life, though, Miniver puzzled over his discontent and coughed. He blamed his misfortune and unhappiness on fate, relieving himself of any responsibility, and went on drinking and wallowing in despair.

  • “Miniver Cheevy” Themes

    • Theme The Dangers of Romanticizing the Past

      The Dangers of Romanticizing the Past

      The poem shows that excessive nostalgia can get in the way of a person’s ability to enjoy the present. Miniver Cheevy—the fictional character at the center of the poem—is so obsessed with the past and all of its apparent splendor that he simply cannot accept the conditions of his own life in the modern era. Instead of accepting his reality, then, he spends his time wishing he were in “the days of old / When swords were bright and steeds were prancing.”

      By romanticizing experiences he’ll never have, Miniver ends up cutting himself off from the world and living a stagnant, unengaged life. In turn, the poem implies that idealizing the past is a form of escapism that not only makes it harder to enjoy the present, but also leads to an unproductive, aimless existence.

      Miniver Cheevy is especially attracted to what he sees as the valor and glamour of life in the past. However, he doesn’t seem to make much of a distinction between specific historical periods. Rather, he glorifies life in ancient Greece right alongside life in medieval England, indicating that what he’s mainly interested in is the general idea of “days of old.” He covets the vague idea of leading a life that is respectable and superior to everyday existence in modern times. And for this reason, he “mourn[s]” the loss of the gallantry and “renown” he associates with olden times, apparently unwilling to even entertain the idea that such things might still exist in his own century.

      This thinking has clearly led Miniver to view himself as too good for his own time period. Having romanticized epochs ranging from antiquity to medieval times, Miniver acts as if he belongs to a superior era, believing that he was “born too late.” All in all, this is a pretty pretentious way to move through the world! This mindset enables Miniver to convince himself that he’s better than his contemporaries, despite the fact that he’s done nothing to actually prove this.

      Miniver’s obsession with the past and his complete disinterest in the present has clearly kept him from even trying to do something worthwhile with his life. “Miniver cursed the commonplace / And eyed a khaki suit with loathing,” the poem’s speaker notes, implying that Miniver scorns the idea of dressing in the normal, drab clothing one might wear to an office (or, alternatively, the idea of joining the military, which used to issue khaki uniforms). This, in turn, suggests that Miniver thinks he’s too good to work a steady job or generally go through the necessary motions of sustaining himself in modern times.

      Instead, Miniver spends his time drinking and lamenting his so-called misfortune, cursing “fate” instead of actually doing anything to improve his life. In this way, it becomes clear that Miniver’s preoccupation with the past—along with his sense of superiority over his contemporaries—keeps him from actively participating in the surrounding world. The poem thus warns against the dangers of overly romanticizing the past, which can lead to a sense of apathy and pompousness that completely divorces people from their own lives and realities.

  • Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Miniver Cheevy”

    • Lines 1-4

      Miniver Cheevy, child of scorn,
         Grew lean while he assailed the seasons;
      He wept that he was ever born,
         And he had reasons.

      The poem's opening line introduces Miniver Cheevy as someone who has been disdainful of life ever since he was a child. The phrase "child of scorn" suggests that Miniver is and always has been highly critical of the world, though it's not yet clear why, exactly, he has such a disapproving outlook on life.

      Building upon the conception of Miniver Cheevy as an unhappy, grouchy man, the second line suggests that he does not live a prosperous life. He is "lean," suggesting that he's underfed and poor. In turn, the speaker subtly associates Miniver Cheevy's negative outlook on life with hardship and struggle.

      At the same time, Miniver seems too distracted by his scornful attitude to pay attention to his health or well-being, an idea implied by the fact that he spends his time "assail[ing] the seasons" while he gets poorer. To "assail" means to attack or assault, and as such this phrase hints that Miniver hates the passage of time—an idea that will become clearer in the second stanza. For now, though, it's evident that Miniver is an unhappy man with a pessimistic worldview that keeps him from properly taking care of himself.

      The opening stanza also establishes the poem's interesting meter. The first and fourth lines follow iambic tetrameter, meaning they contain four iambs—metrical feet made up of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (da-DUM). While these lines thus have eight syllables in total, the second line in each stanza actually has nine—ending each time with a final unstressed beat. To get fancy about it, this is something called catalectic iambic pentameter; it leaves the reader hanging, expect that final DUM.

      The fourth line in each stanza is then also catalectic, featuring an incomplete line of iambic trimeter. This just means that it is made up of two iambs followed by just the first half of a third iamb. This might all seem confusing, so take a look at lines 2-4 to see how this changing meter affects the pace and feel of the poem:

      Grew lean | while he | assailed | the sea- | sons;
      He wept | that he | was ev- | er born,
      And he | had rea- | sons.

      Line 3 is a perfect line of iambic tetrameter, containing four iambs. Lines 2 and 4, on the other hand, end with those dangling unstressed beats, those strange half iambs. This makes the stanza feel a bit off-kilter and uncomfortabe. Although the speaker claims that Miniver has "reasons" for being so scornful, the incomplete rhythmic quality of this line makes the speaker sound somewhat unsure and skeptical. As a result, it feels unlikely that Miniver actually has good reasons for being so negative.

      This stanza also establishes the poem's ABAB rhyme scheme: the first and third lines rhyme with each other, as do the second and fourth lines. The second and fourth lines also feature what's known as feminine rhymes, or rhymes in which multiple syllables rhyme with each other. For instance, the first syllable of the word "seasons" rhymes with the first syllable of the word "reasons," while the final, unstressed syllables of each word also rhyme with each other: "seasons" and "reasons."

    • Lines 5-8

      Miniver loved the days of old
         When swords were bright and steeds were prancing;
      The vision of a warrior bold
         Would set him dancing.

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    • Lines 9-12

      Miniver sighed for what was not,
         And dreamed, and rested from his labors;
      He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot,
         And Priam’s neighbors.

    • Lines 13-16

      Miniver mourned the ripe renown
         That made so many a name so fragrant;
      He mourned Romance, now on the town,
         And Art, a vagrant.

    • Lines 17-20

      Miniver loved the Medici,
         Albeit he had never seen one;
      He would have sinned incessantly
         Could he have been one.

    • Lines 21-24

      Miniver cursed the commonplace
         And eyed a khaki suit with loathing;
      He missed the mediæval grace
         Of iron clothing.

    • Lines 25-28

      Miniver scorned the gold he sought,
         But sore annoyed was he without it;
      Miniver thought, and thought, and thought,
         And thought about it.

    • Lines 29-32

      Miniver Cheevy, born too late,
         Scratched his head and kept on thinking;
      Miniver coughed, and called it fate,
         And kept on drinking.

  • “Miniver Cheevy” Symbols

    • Symbol War and Battle

      War and Battle

      Miniver's obsession with brave warriors of the past represents his desire to be seen as a respected hero. In his imagination, gallant knights used to carry around "bright" swords while galloping on impressive "steeds"—an idea that makes him giddy with excitement. Similarly, he spends his time dreaming about the sites of mythical and legendary battles, fantasizing about places like Camelot, where King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table used to live and fight. He also seems to have an interest in the Trojan War, judging by the fact that he enjoys thinking about the Greeks who defeated Priam in Troy.

      Given his interest in old, legendary battles, one would think that Miniver would be eager to prove himself as a modern-day warrior. However, he rejects what he sees as the unremarkable station of a 20th-century soldier, despising the military's drab khaki uniforms and wishing he could dress in the impressive suits of armor that chivalrous knights used to wear.

      In turn, it becomes clear that Miniver's preoccupation with battle isn't about the actual act of fighting, but about the glory and honor he believes comes along with such things. Accordingly, the idea of soldierly combat comes to symbolize Miniver's superficial way of moving through the world, ultimately spotlighting his vain desire for prestige and renown.

  • “Miniver Cheevy” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

    • Repetition

      Repetition is built into the poem because the speaker begins every stanza by stating Miniver's name, which creates an anaphora. This enhances the poem's feeling of consistency, but it also draws attention to the absurd nature of Miniver's name. A "miniver," after all, is a white fur that lines certain kinds of fancy clothing. By repeating Miniver's name so often, then, the speaker increases the likelihood that readers will note the absurdity of this man's name—which is fitting, since Miniver clearly likes to see himself as the kind of person who would wear lavish, expensive clothing.

      The speaker also uses repetition within single stanzas, often making use of anaphora to create a parallel structure between the first and second halves of a stanza. For example, the fourth stanza features the word "mourned," which appears at the beginning of the first and third lines:

      Miniver mourned the ripe renown
      That made so many a name so fragrant;
      He mourned Romance, now on the town,
      And Art, a vagrant.

      In this case, the stanza's third line mirrors the construction of its first line, making it possible for the speaker to build upon the general idea by clarifying the actual things Miniver thinks have disappeared or deteriorated over time (namely, "Romance" and "Art").

      The speaker uses anaphora again in lines 10 and 11:

      And dreamed, and rested from his labors;
      He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot,

      This repetition stresses the extent to which Miniver loses himself in fantasies of the past. In this way, repetition helps the speaker depict Miniver as somebody who is out of touch with reality.

      In keeping with this image of Miniver as an out-of-touch dreamer, the speaker uses both diacope and epizeuxis in lines 27 and 28:

      Miniver thought, and thought, and thought,
      And thought about it.

      The repetition of the word "thought" is a diacope, as the speaker uses the word multiple times within the span of just two lines. The complete phrase "and thought," though, is an epizeuxis because the speaker repeats it three times in a row with no intervening words. Once again, then, the speaker's repetition accentuates Miniver's tendency toward inaction, inviting readers to consider this idle man's inability to do anything but sit there and think about his unhappiness.

    • Alliteration

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    • Assonance

    • Consonance

    • Allusion

    • Personification

    • Irony

    • Caesura

  • “Miniver Cheevy” Vocabulary

    Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

    • Miniver
    • Scorn
    • Lean
    • Assailed
    • Seasons
    • Steeds
    • Thebes
    • Camelot
    • Priam
    • Ripe renown
    • Fragrant
    • Vagrant
    • Medici
    • Albeit
    • Incessantly
    • Mediæval
    • Grace
    Miniver
    • "Miniver" is the name of the poem's central character, but it's also a word for a white fur that lines or adorns certain kinds of fancy clothing.

  • Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Miniver Cheevy”

    • Form

      "Miniver Cheevy" is a 32-line poem broken into eight quatrains. Each stanza begins with an anaphora, as the speaker repeats Miniver's name in the first line before saying something new about him. The steadiness of these short stanzas—combined with the poem's dependable rhyme scheme and regular meter (both discussed separately in this guide)—makes the poem feel predictable and dispassionate. This combines with the speaker's deadpan delivery to evoke Miniver's detachment from modern life and to underscore the poem's sense of irony. Though Miniver dreams about exciting and heroic eras, his actual life is predictable and mundane.

    • Meter

      The predominant meter in the poem is iambic tetrameter. This meter consists of four iambs, or metrical feet made up of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (four da-DUMs), for a total of eight syllables per line. That said, the meter in "Miniver Cheevy" is interesting because, while very consistent across stanzas, no two consecutive lines actually have the same rhythm.

      In each stanza, the first and third lines are written in iambic tetrameter, the meter defined above. Take, for instance, lines 1 and 3:

      Miniv- | er Chee- | vy, child | of scorn,
      [...]
      He wept | that he | was ev- | -er born

      The first foot here is actually a trochee (DUM-da) because of the pronunciation of the name "Miniver." This variation occurs at the start of every stanza, however, making it a sort of consistent inconsistency as Miniver asserts his presence throughout the poem. Broadly speaking, though, the meter of the poem is strongly iambic, creating a steady bounciness throughout.

      However, as noted above, the second and fourth lines of each stanza feature a variation on tetrameter—which, remember, has a total of eight syllables per line. The second line has an extra syllable (nine in total), while the fourth is missing one (seven in total). The ends of both lines thus trail off rather unceremoniously.

      Let's take a closer look at these variations. The second line of every stanza is written in something called catalectic iambic pentameter, which simply means that the line is in iambic pentameter (five iambs rather than the four of tetrameter) but is missing the final expected stressed syllable (which is what "catalectic" means). For example, line 2 lacks the last syllable that would complete the fifth iamb, the fifth da-DUM:

      Grew lean | while he | assailed | the sea- | sons;

      The lack of a final stressed syllable at the end of this phrase gives the line a falling sound, almost as if the speaker has drifted off into an awkward silence before finishing the thought.

      The last line of every stanza also features catalexis. This time, though, it's an incomplete line of iambic trimeter; "tri" means three, so this is a line of three iambs. Again, though, the fourth line of each stanza is catalectic because it contains only two and a half iambs, as that last iamb once again lacks its final stressed syllable. Line 4 is a perfect example of this:

      And he | had rea- | sons.

      Once again, the absence of a stress after the phrase's last syllable makes the line sound unbalanced and odd, unfinished, especially since the speaker alternates the catalectic lines with lines of iambic tetrameter.

      By switching back and forth in this way, the speaker manages to establish the general feel of iambic tetrameter before breaking away from that rhythmic pattern in the catalectic lines. As a result, the poem's rhythm and pacing often sounds shaky and disjointed—an effect that matches Miniver Cheevy's overall incompetence and laziness. It's as if the speaker's unwillingness to stick to just one meter reflects Miniver's unwillingness to commit to and invest in his present reality. In other words, Miniver's wishy-washiness creeps into the sound and texture of the poem.

    • Rhyme Scheme

      Each stanza in "Miniver Cheevy" follows an alternating rhyme scheme that can be mapped out like this:

      ABAB

      This rhyme scheme runs throughout the poem, giving the stanzas a musical, predictable quality.

      The second and fourth lines of each stanza feature feminine rhymes, which are rhymes in which each syllable of a word or phrase rhymes with the corresponding syllable in another word or phrase. For example, both syllables in the word "labors" rhyme with both syllables in the word "neighbors."

      The speaker adheres so closely to this pattern that the poem comes to sound light, comical, and musical—so musical, in fact, that it almost makes the story of Miniver Cheevy sound like a much-repeated nursery rhyme or cautionary tale.

  • “Miniver Cheevy” Speaker

    • There is no identifying information about the speaker of "Miniver Cheevy." The only thing that is discernible is the speaker's thinly veiled judgment of Miniver Cheevy and his inability to embrace life as it is. This, in turn, suggests that the speaker is somebody who recognizes the futility of thinking about the past so much that it ruins the present. And because there's so little information about this speaker, many readers will perhaps choose to attribute the words to Robinson himself.

  • “Miniver Cheevy” Setting

    • "Miniver Cheevy" is most likely set at some point in the 20th century, considering that Robinson published it in 1910. One thing that's certain is that the poem does not take place in any of the time periods Miniver fantasizes about, thereby ruling out all antiquity, medieval times, and even the Renaissance period (when the Medici family was active). In all likelihood, Miniver lives at the beginning of the 20th century, when U.S. soldiers wore khaki uniforms.

      This, then, would place him roughly 70 years after the Industrial Revolution, which means that Miniver likely lives in a world that has already undergone and adjusted to significant change and groundbreaking technological advancements. For somebody who has romanticized the past so thoroughly, this period would be especially bothersome, as society in the early 1900s remained intent upon making progress instead of dwelling on antiquated ways of life. In this regard, Miniver is at odds with the world around him.

  • Literary and Historical Context of “Miniver Cheevy”

      Literary Context

      "Miniver Cheevy" is often considered alongside Arlington's poem "Richard Cory," which was published in 1897—13 years before "Miniver Cheevy." The two poems are frequently compared because they are both relatively short, use quatrains and iambic meter, and focus on deeply unhappy men. In some ways, "Miniver Cheevy" can be seen as the inverse of "Richard Cory," at least in that the character Richard Cory has everything he could ever want but is still depressed; conversely, Miniver Cheevy is depressed precisely because he doesn't have the life he wants. In the end, both poems shed light on the existential and restless discontent that many people began to experience in the 20th century.

      Although "Miniver Cheevy" and "Richard Cory" have proved to be Arlington's most enduring poems, he was also celebrated for writing much longer, more serious poems. His book-length poem Tristram, for example, won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1927. Interestingly, Tristram centered on the medieval themes of Arthurian legend, suggesting that "Miniver Cheevy"—whose central character is obsessed with such stories—might be a work of self-parody, as Arlington mocks himself and his own interest in such old tales.

      On the whole, Arlington's work stood out from the poetry that was popular in the early 20th century. Whereas the majority of well-known poets were beginning to experiment with free verse, Arlington remained committed to meter and form. Even his short poems like "Miniver Cheevy" and "Richard Cory" adhere to convention, using meter and a tight ABAB rhyme scheme.

      Whereas famous poets like T. S. Eliot experimented with a mixture of verse and free verse in poems like "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," Arlington continued to work with formal limitations while also keeping the narrative poem alive in the time of Modernism, which was otherwise more interested in using realism and vivid imagery to simply portray life as it was. In this sense, Arlington's poetry sometimes feels like a nod to the kind of story-based poetry that was popular in Medieval times, sharing certain narrative and humorous sensibilities with works like Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.

      Historical Context

      "Miniver Cheevy" was published in the United States in 1910. Around that time, the country—and, for that matter, the world at large—was undergoing a number of changes, many of which were continuations of the Industrial Revolution that took place roughly between 1760 and 1840. For instance, the Wright brothers executed the first successful flight of a powered airplane in 1903, marking a huge turning point in the way the public viewed the possibility of air travel. Similarly, the Ford Model-T automobile was released on the US market in 1908, quickly transforming the country by opening up a new realm of transportation and accessibility.

      With all of these advancements afoot, Miniver Cheevy's reluctance to embrace the present is especially striking. After all, people were generally excited about all of this progress, so Miniver's attachment to the past is especially notable.

      The early 1900s also saw the proliferation of workers' unions and the fight for fair labor practices. In this context, Miniver's apparent unwillingness to work to support himself seems particularly lazy and dishonorable, since one of the core tenants of labor unions is that people deserve to be treated well in exchange for their hard work. To not work at all, then, undercuts such demands.

  • More “Miniver Cheevy” Resources

    • External Resources

      • A Reading of the Poem — Check out this recording of a dramatic reading of "Miniver Cheevy."

      • Camelot — Read more about Miniver's beloved Camelot, the legendary castle and court where King Arthur hosted his Knights of the Round Table.

      • About the Author — To learn more about Edwin Arlington Robinson, take a look at this overview of his life and work.

      • The Medici — The Medici family was one of the most influential Italian dynasties in the Renaissance period, and their story makes for an interesting read!

    • LitCharts on Other Poems by Edwin Arlington Robinson