Review of "The House on the Hill" by Edwin Arlington Robinson

"The House on the Hill" by Edwin Arlington Robinson was offered by Poets.org's Poem-A-Day on December 22, 2013, the 144th anniversary of the poet's birth.  A link to the poem may be found here:

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16153

Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869 - 1935) was a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner.  He worked as a New York City subway inspector until his poetry received praise from President Theodore Roosevelt in a magazine article.  He never married and led a solitary lifestyle, spending the summers of the last twenty-five years of his life in a colony of artists and musicians in New Hampshire.  Additional biographical information about this poet may be found here:

http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/391?utm_source=PAD%3A+The+House+on+the+Hill+by+Edwin+Arlington+Robinson&utm_campaign=poemaday_122213&utm_medium=email


"The House on the Hill" is a strict villanelle.  A description of the villanelle form may be found here:

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5796

The poem contains some nice alliteration in addition to the rhyme and refrains of a villanelle.  The image created is somber, lonely, and a little nostalgic.