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Rhetorical Devices In Richard Cory

Decent Essays

Poet, Edwin Arlington Robinson, created an impressive poem which was written in 1897. Robison wrote the poem “Richard Cory” as a narrative about a gentleman who is wealthy, well educated and admired by many people in his town. Although Robinson begins the poem positive, describing the admiration for the gentleman, he ends the poem with his death. This poem is one of Robinson’s most famous poems that he had created. Robinson was an American poet who attended Harvard and now is remembered for his dramatic short poems. Robinson’s attitude in “Richard Cory” was seen through his diction, imagery, ethos, etc. Robinson incorporates many details that contribute to the tragic irony at the end. Edwin Robinson creates his poem with an impressive diction that allows us to truly understand the importance of the gentleman “Richard Cory”. Robinson includes “We people on the pavement looked at him, he was a gentleman from sole to crown, clean favored, and imperially slim…” (Robinson, Lines 2-4). He includes words such as pavement instead of stating sidewalk, clean favored instead of good looking, and slim instead of thin. He creates these changes because he wants to seem genuinely intelligent and add elegance to the admiration of the man. He also states, “And admirably schooled in every grace” (Robinson, Line 10). Robinson states how the gentleman is extremely educated and has manners, which makes sense why he is so admired. Robinson includes this diction because in a way he was portraying himself into that man. Due to Robinson’s diction the audience is able to analyze the real reasoning behind it all. He incorporates this diction because the gentleman is admirable and possibly Robinson wants to be admired as well. Imagery was seen throughout the poem due to the way words were placed by Robinson. Edwin Robinson includes the statement, “Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him” (Robinson, Line 1-2). As the audience reads those lines, it is as if they imagine a celebrity walking the streets and people admiring the celebrity. Robinson includes this perspective because he wants us to imagine the altitude of the effects as the man was walking being admired. In addition, he also states that

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