When He Went Down Town By Richard Cory Analysis Essay

“Richard Cory” written by Edwin Arlington Robinson is about a man who appears to be admirable on the exterior but no one is familiar with his interior, which is suffering badly. The narrator talks Richard Cory up by stating, he was "richer than a king,"(line 9) "admirably schooled,"(line 10) "we thought that he was everything to make us wish that we were in his place."(lines 11-12) Until an abrupt ending to the poem, "one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head."(lines 15-16) This poem makes one think about true happiness and what it entails. From the outside one may appear to have everything but happiness does not come from wealth, it comes from within ones self and the narrator didn't take the time to really get to

While reading the poems “Richard Cory” and “Ezra Farmer”, it is almost immediately evident which poem is an original and which is a parody. Both poems are clearly about men that are popular among those he meets, but once the reader looks beneath the surface, they notice how the diction plays an important role in relaying the theme to the audience it is presented to. In the poem “Richard Cory” written by Edwin Arlington Robinson, the theme being portrayed is that people are not always as how they seem.

In 1897, Edwin Arlington Robinson composed the poem Richard Cory. The important message of the poem was beneficial to readers centuries ago and is equally as valuable today. Robinson does a great job of utilizing various literary devices to convey this knowledge and enhance the pleasure of the reading. The superficial appearance of an individual does not define their reality.

Richard Cory poems are a traditional type of poetry found all throughout different time periods. The poems range from the original to song variations, all contributing their own perspectives on what Richard Cory symbolized, and each takes their own distinct form. Richard Cory poetry usual contains the distinct ending of Richard Cory taking his own life, but each poem adds its own variations to this repetitive theme. Throughout the poems, there are also many similar themes, which portray a consistent theme of the American Dream and how it transforms. Many symbolic issues that deal with this dream are related to wealth, which is the most prominent reoccurring theme in the two poems. Whereas Robinson's "Richard Cory" focuses on symbolic

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

The poem “Richard Cory” is a description and story of a man named Richard Cory, of course. The speaker of the poem is an impoverished, blue-collar

It begins with describing Richard Cory’s physicality. Robinson uses phrases such as “he was a gentleman from sole to crown” to illustrate Richard Cory’s status by the clothes he wore when seen by others around the town (3). In the second stanza, Robinson goes on to describe how the townspeople felt about his presence among them. He used phrases such as “fluttered pulses when he said” to describe how he spoke (7). Then he used the phrase “glittered when he walked” to further define his unique mannerisms (8).

Robinson starts the first stanza with a description of Richard Cory’s appearance and a clear distinction between the two sides, Richard Cory and “we people”. The speaker mentions Richard Cory in the first line without any introduction, which means that everyone should know who Richard Cory was, so the introduction is not needed. Furthermore, whenever Richard would come to downtown, “we people of the pavement” admired him. The people of the pavement or people from the streets of the downtown, including the speaker, were obviously of a lower socioeconomic class in comparison to Richard Cory. What is more, the speaker uses “we people” as he wants to include the reader as well. In other words, the speaker is confident that a reader would have also admired Richard Cory if they had seen him. In the next two lines, the speaker uses a metaphor and implicitly compares Richard to a king: “He was a gentleman from sole to crown” as well as “imperially slim”. Instead of saying a gentleman from the feet to the head, the author uses a phrase “sole to crown” to put Richard Cory on a king’s pedestal. In addition, Richard is “imperially” thin, which is another characteristic of kings. So, was Richard Cory really a king

The fact that Cory commits suicide, just so happens to be the most captivating part of this poem; why did Richard Cory shot himself when he had everything anyone could ever ask for? Through their own mental prejudices and amplifications of reality, the people, by putting Cory on a high pedestal also create a barrier that later pushed Richard to commit suicide. Even though Richard Cory was perceived to be

Poetry can take many forms and shapes based on the authors personal experiences. These different styles can also be interpreted in many different ways based on the reader’s view of the poem. This possible change in views can give the poem many different meanings to each individual person. “Richard Cory” by Edwin Robinson, Edwin imbeds many of his past and personal experiences into the poem while still leaving the poem up to other peoples imagination and analysis’s.

In the poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, he had portrayed his main character, Richard Cory, as a very fine gentleman who was perfect in every way possible. The speaker of the poem is only known to be of lower social and economic status when the speaker had mentioned Cory going "down" town, the speaker mentioned that "We people on the pavement looked at him," indicating that the speaker is a part of a subordinate community and when the speaker says "So on we worked, and waited for the light, And went without the meat, and cursed the bread," the speaker reveals that the community that s/he lives in is struggling and is desperate for help. Although, the only reason the speaker and his/her community is important

which is comparing Richard Cory to royalty serves to create more of a divide between the town people and Richard Cory, and the attitude of the town people isolates Richard in loneliness. This isolation is revealed in the last line of the poem

Edwin Robinson uses a rhyme scheme to emphasize how envious and shocked the townspeople were when Richard Cory killed himself. Edwin Robinson uses a rhyme scheme so that he can make it feel like it is a happy story and that Robert Cory has everything that he could want in life. In the rhyme scene he uses words like crown, king, grace everything, and light to make the poem flow like an easy and steady path. At the end though he uses the word night which sends of a dark and sorriness feeling. Edwin does this so he can make the reader feel like Richard Cory has everything, but at the end shifts to dark

In the poem “Richard Cory,” by Edwin Arlington Robinson, the speaker, who is a collective group of impoverished townspeople, recounts the ironic tale of a sophisticated yet secretly unhappy gentleman named Richard Cory. As they describe Richard Cory through simple yet dignified imagery supported with repetitive diction, the townspeople learn that appearances can be deceiving when the wealthy socialite commits suicide. While the speaker observes Richard Cory with a tone of admiration through extensive detail, the tone shifts at the last line into a tone of irony that forces both the speaker and the reader to assert their own perception of individuals in terms of reality. Throughout the poem, the speaker, comprised of observing townspeople,

When comparing the two writings, we see how similar, yet how different they are. The first couple of lines in "Richard Cory" suggest his distinction, his separation from ordinary people. The second two tell the reader about his natural appearance is like. The writer than gives us the impression that Cory is a rich man who seems to be envied by everyone. The first fourteen lines of the poem are setting the reader up for the final two, the part about suicide. People on the street only knew Cory on the outside, they did not know the real man himself. Cory appears to be a man who has everything. What private sense of failure drove him to this?