Edwin Arlington Robinson

The Long Race

Up the old hill to the old house again,
When fifty years ago the friend was young
Who should be waiting somewhere there among

Old things paradox

The things you remember least (everyday objects, weather vanes) are what remain physically—while what you remember most (ambitions, friendship) vanishes.

Old things that least remembered most remain,
He toiled on with a pleasure that was pain

Pleasure that was pain

The oxymoron captures the emotional cost of reunion—joy at seeing an old friend mixed with grief at how much time has passed.

To think how soon asunder would be flung
The curtain half a century had hung

Ambitions they had slain

Not 'failed' or 'abandoned'—'slain' suggests active killing. They murdered their own dreams, possibly for practical lives.

Between the two ambitions they had slain.
They dredged an hour for words, and then were done.

Dredged an hour

'Dredged' means dragging a riverbed for something lost. After 50 years, they had to excavate for conversation—nothing came naturally.

"Good-bye! . . . . You have the same old weather vane—

Always on the run

Weather vanes don't run—they spin in place. The 'little horse' is permanently in motion but goes nowhere, unlike the speaker who left.

A little horse that's always on the run."
And all the way down back to the next train,
Down the old hill to the old road again,
It seemed as if the little horse had won.
The New RepublicEdwin Arlington Robinson
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Robinson's Sonnet Architecture

This is a Petrarchan sonnet with an unusual turn. The octave (first 8 lines) builds the climb up the hill and the anticipation of reunion. The sestet (final 6 lines) delivers the reunion itself—and it's a disaster in under an hour.

Notice Robinson's sentence structure: one massive sentence (lines 1-8) for the climb up, mirroring the physical and emotional labor. Then short, clipped sentences for the actual visit: "They dredged an hour for words, and then were done." The syntax itself shows the failure.

The weather vane detail does all the work. It's the only specific thing either man says—small talk about lawn ornaments after 50 years. But it's also the poem's central image: the friend stayed in place (like the weather vane), while the speaker left and returned. The weather vane "always on the run" but going nowhere becomes a mirror for both their lives.

What They Don't Say

The poem never tells us what their "two ambitions" were, and that's the point. After 50 years, the specifics don't matter—only that both men killed their dreams and know it.

CONTEXT Robinson (1869-1935) spent much of his life in poverty, writing poetry while working odd jobs. He left his hometown of Gardiner, Maine for New York, achieved fame late in life. This poem likely draws on returns to Gardiner and reunions with men who stayed.

The "curtain half a century had hung" isn't just time—it's mutual avoidance. They haven't seen each other because facing each other means facing what they've become. When the curtain finally lifts, they can barely speak.

"It seemed as if the little horse had won" is devastating because it's ambiguous. Won what? The race the speaker ran by leaving? The race the friend ran by staying? Or did the weather vane win by simply enduring, still spinning, while both men's ambitions died? The poem ends with the speaker going "down" (repeated twice) back to the train—the opposite of the climb up—suggesting defeat.