Edwin Arlington Robinson's "Miniver Cheevy" is about a man that believes he is living in the wrong era. He is sure that if he was living in the time of the Medici's, he could be one. It is made evident that Miniver compulsively dreams "of Thebes and Camelot, And Piram's neighbors." The language the speaker uses, repetition of images, and the attitude of the poem paint a picture of the depressed world Miniver lives in.
The speaker begins the poem by saying that Miniver is a "child of scorn, Grew lean while he assailed the seasons," this is setting a negative tone that stays true throughout the rest of the poem. In these particular lines, the speaker is telling the reader how Miniver is wasting away as time passes. In the next lines, Miniver begins weeping at the thought of being born, and then the speaker goes on to give reasons for his depression.
The repetition of images throughout the poem is made very evident. The stanzas are remembering images of Camelot "When swords were bright and steeds were prancing;" and later picturing men in iron clothing. While dreaming about Camelot, he gives a sigh and realizes that he will never be able to be a warrior. Miniver is now resting from a day of work, again dreaming, this time of "Thebes, and Camelot, And Piram's neighbors." Now possibly walking the town, Miniver begins mourning the fact the romance and art are no longer a part of the town that they used to be. Now Miniver is in a commonplace, most likely a pub, where he sees a man in a khaki suit, and begins to remember "the medieval grace Of iron clothing" for the second time in the poem he's thinking of the Middle Ages. He "scorned the gold he sought," but was irritated that he had to live without it. The lines showing the only thing Miniver does is dream about the life that he will never have says, "Miniver thought, and thought...