Hill 1

Rachel Hill
Mrs. Burr
English 1010
January 5, 2017
The Use of Foreshadowing, Symbolism, and Imagery for Death In
Edward Arlington Robinsons poem The Mill
In the poem The Mill, written in 1920, the poet Edwin Arlington Robinson uses
foreshadowing, symbolism, and imagery to achieve the idea that man can die both physically and
mentally. The Robinson uses the concept of suicide to argue that things come to end and that life
is not always lived. This poem addresses life at a different angle and the possibility that one can
die before dying.
In the first stanza Robinson uses past tense words to foreshadow the end of things and the
end of life. The poet uses words like dead any more and lingered to foreshadow the
suicide of the miller. The word dead specifically means not living. The words any more
specifically mean that you once did something, but you are not now. Also to word lingered
means to die or be slow. He also uses line 5 which says There are no millers any more, to
show that the miller does not think of himself as living and will soon be no longer living. It is an
untrue statement that is made true later on in the poem.
The second stanza shows how she feels about the past and ultimately finds something
hanging on a beam. In lines 11 and 12, Robinson describes a feeling of warmth and happiness
that once was in that meal. This shows that they once had a happy life, but it is in the past and
what their life is now is solemn and sorrowful. Line 15 and 16 play an important role in the
theme of this poem. Line 15 which states And what was hanging from a beam implies that the

Hill 2

miller has hung himself. I think what is more important is line 16 which says Would not have
heeded where she went. This line seems to imply that she came to the mill not just to find her
husband, but that she had a different purpose that would not change because of his hanging.
In the third stanza the millers wife is able to complete what she has actually come to do.
She ultimately commits suicide by drowning herself. Line 23 and 24 show that ultimately the
water is ruffled because she drowns herself and that it will stop afterward and appear normal to
everyone else. Line 20 is very powerful saying Would hide her and leave no mark meaning
that she wants to slip away without being found. She also wants nothing to scar her because she
has been scarred enough living her life.
There is an idea that these suicides do not actually occur, but are a figure of imagination
in the wifes mind to show how she feels about her life and how she feels like they are dead. The
wife feels like her husband has killed himself mentally with his work and that she has killed
herself mentally because of his lack of interest in her. When Robinson uses line 5, it could imply
that not only the miller, but also the millers wife are no longer mentally alive. They are both
mentally dead.