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Analysis Of Richard Cory

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Poetry is a sense of imagination that has the goal to describe someone’s mood, feelings, or life events. We read poetry to get the experience that the author is trying to give us. In “Richard Cory”, the author gives us the experience on how it feels to be poor, while watching someone be elegant through his desirable traits. The poor meat worker in the poem seems to be distraught with his life since he is with the lower income townspeople, besides being a rich, tasteful man. The poet, Edwin Arlington Robinson in “Richard Cory” uses social grace, physicality, and fortune as a form of symbolism to convey the idea that the poor townsmen admired Richard Cory and would describe him as a sense of jealousy. In the beginning of the poem, Richard …show more content…

The lower income men did not know how to compare a higher income man; therefore, they went to the highest point in the social class, which is a king. “The expression ‘clean favored’ may imply both that Cory is well groomed and that he is clearly a man of privilege” (Ruby, 1999). This goes back to a sense of a kingly bearing appearance towards the people. The speaker describes Cory as though, “He was always quietly arrayed ” (5). This symbolizes that he is a classy, fashionable dresser. The final form of symbolism that is used is his great fortune. The speaker compares Richard Cory to being, “…richer than a king” (9). This is another form of comparing him to royalty by symbolizing that he has a lot of money within his life. Although fortune can be a good thing, it is not always because Cory’s life ended with a tragedy due to the reason that he, “ Went home and put a billet through his head” (16). This symbolizes that being wealthy and elegant does not always mean happiness. The poor townsmen kept going with their lives, even though they were not compared to royalty. “They failed to appreciate the value of their mutual support of one another, their nurturing communal togetherness” (Scheick, 2017). Richard Cory did not have

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