Miniver Cheevy

“Miniver Cheevy” was published in 1910 at the precipice of American Modernism. While the poem reflects its themes of disillusionment and alienation, the poem is better categorized as a work of Realism.

Realism began in the mid-1800s and lasted through the early 1900s as a reaction to the conventions of Romanticism, an artistic movement characterized by rural or surreal settings, grand plots that rely on moments of characters or readers experiencing awe, larger-than-life emotions and internal turmoil, formal language, and a longing for a distant, gold-age past. In contrast, Realism features everyday life and realistic settings, carefully studied ordinary protagonists, the examination of social systems and mores, and complex presentations of character psychology.

The tension between these two movements can be found in “Miniver Cheevy,” as the main character uses Romantic views of the past to cope with the harsh realities of his life. Romanticism describes life how it should be, while Realism depicts life as it is. Miniver, a romantic, dreams about being a bravo hero, but the poem reveals is that he is a mediocre man without any unique talents or achievements. Nevertheless, Robinson takes care to examine the details of this ordinary man’s psychology as if he were worthy of study.