Fantasies of the past
Cheevy's main grievance in life is that he feels he was born in the wrong era. Unable to assimilate to the khaki suit-wearing times in which he lives, he loves "the days of old / When swords were bright and steeds were prancing" (Lines 5-6). His longing for the past does not focus on one time period or place; he "[dreams] of Thebes and Camelot, / And Priam's neighbors" (Lines 11-12), referencing myths of Ancient Greece and the England of the Dark Ages. Whether classical or medieval, the times do not matter so long as they are bygone. Cheevy's fantasies of the past only include glory, excluding the harsh realities of those times, such as the bubonic plague.
What Cheevy really longs for is the perception of greatness, a perception that is constructed and passed down through generations by the works of art from a given period. These works include myth and legend, as evidenced by the poet's reference to Greek myths. The "ripe renown" that "made so many a name so fragrant" seems to have deserted the times in which Cheevy lives (Lines 13-14). This is made more apparent when Cheevy mourns Romance and Art, which are personified as outcasts (Lines 15-16).
Personal Dissatisfaction
From the beginning of the poem, Cheevy is painted as an extremely dissatisfied person. He is described as a "child of scorn," meaning that, as a child, he could have been treated with contempt, have come from despicable circumstances, or have treated others scornfully. Cheevy "grew lean while he assailed the seasons" (Line 2). In other words, his struggle with life took a lot out of him as he grew up. As he fantasizes about the past, he "[sighs] for what was not," unable to assimilate to the world around him (Line 9). The reason for his dissatisfaction has to do with what he feels is missing in his era: the opportunity for greatness. The "ripe renown / That made so many a name so fragrant" has deserted modernity (Lines 13-14).
The descriptions of Cheevy's dissatisfaction contribute to the satirization of his character. Stuck in his visions of knights, warriors, and splendors of the past, he dismisses the technological progress, increased wealth, and social and political stability that defined American culture in the early twentieth century. The final image of the poem reveals Cheevy lost in his thoughts and drowning his sorrows in alcohol.
Man vs. Society
"Miniver Cheevy" is a poem that satirizes not only the titular character, but the times in which the character lives. Though the setting is not explicitly specified in the poem, many scholars have placed this poem in the realm of Tilbury Town (the pseudonym that Robinson gave to the place where he grew up). Many poems in the Tilbury Town cycle portray a culture that is rather repressive and materialistic. That Cheevy "[rests] from his labors" in the poem shows that he is at odds with the action-oriented culture surrounding him (Line 10). He also "[scorns] the gold he [seeks]" (Line 25). His alcoholism revealed at the end reveals both his dreaming and his seeking of gold to be delusions.
Cheevy's obsession with chivalric knights is a gesture towards the romance literature that was widely available and popular during Robinson's time. American historian T.J. Jackson Lears, in his book Antimodernism and the Transformation of American Culture between 1880 and 1920, writes about the consumption of these medieval-style romance books as a relief from the difficulties of modern life. In the poem, Miniver's real life causes him to weep, and chivalric romance causes him to dance (Lines 3 and 8). Robinson, whose poems often featured the ordinary people of his times, spent years as an outcast before the public began to appreciate his poetry. Because Art is personified as a "vagrant" in the poem, this can be taken as a criticism of the literary tastes of the period (Line 16).
