The feelings of loss that pervade "Mr. Flood's Party" are common in modernist poetry, which is often tinged with diminished expectations. Written by American author Edwin Arlington Robinson and first published in 1921, the poem tells the story of a friendless man who has seen many people change and who now feels he has outlived his time. The whole poem is characterized by the feelings of loss and diminished expectations that pervade the main character, that are also associated with modernist poetry. Mr Flood represents the modern man and how he is alienated from society as he finds human interactions meaningless and dissatisfying.
