Something Sweeter

         "Miniver Cheevy" by Edwin Arlington Robinson told the story of a man who wished he were never born. Which is interesting because the reason for this is because of something he loves. "Miniver loved the days of old When swords were bright and steeds were prancing," and wished his life could be full of excitement like that. He wanted something sweeter than the life he had and he believed that he was born too late. So with all the things he wanted, why did he wish he were never born? He is a man full of regret and anger about things that were out of his control, and Robinson is making an example of him to make a point about how we should live our lives. According to this point we should be happy about what we do have and not live in the past or else we would end up like Miniver.       
        The visual in the last stanza is striking: "Miniver Cheevy, born too late, Scratched his head and kept on thinking; Miniver coughed, and called it fate, And kept on drinking." This shows that although he wished his life were different, he would not do anything about it, because he had already given up on trying. I believe that this stanza shows that he has already tried and is not just a drunken coward who hates his life. I think that he was actually imaginative enough to go through his life constantly thinking about his fantasy world and in his mind molding his current life into some variety of his fantasy. This poem just depicts the point where he breaks and realizes it can't happen.