The Three Taverns

In “The Three Tav­erns,” a poem from his col­lec­tion, Edwin Arling­ton Robin­son explores themes of faith, des­tiny, per­se­ver­ance, and the human con­di­tion through the mono­logue of a deter­mined and intro­spec­tive speak­er, pre­sumed to be Paul the Apos­tle, who reflects on his jour­ney and impend­ing tri­als as he approach­es Rome. As he con­fronts the real­i­ty of his fate and the pos­si­bil­i­ty of mar­tyr­dom, Paul con­tem­plates the nature of faith, the chal­lenge of shar­ing the trans­for­ma­tive mes­sage of Chris­tian­i­ty amidst skep­ti­cism, the eter­nal strug­gle between the let­ter and the spir­it of the law, and the pro­found lone­li­ness yet uni­ver­sal bond of human­i­ty.

Paul, hav­ing embraced his mis­sion despite know­ing the risks, includ­ing impris­on­ment and death, offers wis­dom on the endur­ing pow­er of faith to tran­scend tem­po­ral strug­gles. He asserts that true insight and free­dom come from an unshake­able belief in a high­er pur­pose and in the trans­for­ma­tive poten­tial of love and sac­ri­fice. Paul chal­lenges the dichoto­my of law ver­sus faith, argu­ing that ful­fill­ment and sal­va­tion lie not with­in rigid adher­ence to doc­trine but through the grace and love that the law seeks to approx­i­mate.

Amidst his reflec­tions, Paul speaks direct­ly to the con­cerns of his audience—both imme­di­ate and future gen­er­a­tions of believers—encouraging them to per­se­vere in the face of per­se­cu­tion and doubt. He acknowl­edges the diver­si­ty of chal­lenges they face, includ­ing inter­nal con­flicts with­in the Chris­t­ian com­mu­ni­ty and exter­nal threats from those who mis­un­der­stand or oppose their mes­sage. Paul empha­sizes that the true essence of Chris­tian­i­ty, the liv­ing Word, goes beyond mere words or dog­ma and resides in the trans­for­ma­tive pow­er of faith and action.

Despite the per­son­al costs of his mis­sion, Paul’s ded­i­ca­tion to spread­ing his mes­sage is unwa­ver­ing. He finds solace in the knowl­edge that his strug­gles serve a high­er pur­pose, con­tribut­ing to a lega­cy that will out­live him. As he pre­pares to face Cae­sar and, poten­tial­ly, his own mor­tal­i­ty, Paul remains hope­ful and stead­fast, com­fort­ed by the belief that his jour­ney is part of a divine plan that tran­scends indi­vid­ual suf­fer­ing and serves the greater good of human­i­ty.

“The Three Tav­erns” serves as a con­tem­pla­tive nar­ra­tive, weav­ing togeth­er themes of faith, sac­ri­fice, and the human search for mean­ing. It reflects Robin­son’s skill in cap­tur­ing the com­plex­i­ty of spir­i­tu­al and exis­ten­tial dilem­mas through the lens of his­tor­i­cal and bib­li­cal nar­ra­tives, invit­ing the read­er to reflect on the nature of faith, the virtues of per­sis­tence against adver­si­ty, and the uni­ver­sal human quest for under­stand­ing and redemp­tion.