Richard Cory

(Edwin Arlington Robinson)

Study

        Origin

Edwin Arlington Robinson described his childhood as “stark and unhappy,” which are reflected in his poems having pessimism and his stories dealt with “an American dream gone awry.” His common inspirations in his poems were the people he encountered while growing up in New England.

          Form and Structure

Richard Cory is simple and classic. Simple in the sense that the language used had a very common diction that is to portray the thoughts and beliefs of the person narrated the character of Richard Cory. It is also classic because it is written in iambic pentameter with an ABAB rhyme pattern per stanza.

          Genre

Richard Cory is a 16 line poem, portraying a man who appears to have everything, thus envied by many including the narrator. It ironically revealed a tragic ending which stirs the readers’ mind to think of its reason why he did commit suicide.

          Theory

Basically, the content of the poem is purely description of Richard Cory. First stanza serves as introduction to the character of Richard Cory describing his attributes. Second stanza describes of hoe he thinks and talks. Third stanza is a description of how he is admired by the townspeople. Yet, on the fourth stanza, it is neatly described how the “perfect” personality of Richard Cory twisted ironically.

Analyze

        The speaker of the poem is one of those who envied the character of Richard Cory. In reference to the author of this poem, his inspiration in his writings were the people he encountered, by that, Richard Cory could be associated with the life of the author’s brother, “Herman, a handsome and charismatic man, married the woman whom Edwin himself loved, but Herman suffered from business failures, became an alcoholic and ended up estranged from his wife and children dying impoverished in a charity hospital.”

          The life story of his brother was put into the poem Richard Cory. He envied his brother for they were opposite, also, for the reason that the one he loved was taken by his brother. “Put a bullet in his head” means he decided to take away his own life because of the consecutive sufferings he experienced. Depression and despair, this led him to death.

Interpret

        The narrator viewed between appearance and reality. You should not admire person base on the appearance alone, worst, envy a person because of his attributes. For in reality, you are unique and distinct, special in your own way.