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Research Paul Laurence Dunbar
Research Paul Laurence Dunbar
Research Paul Laurence Dunbar
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“We Wear the Mask” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson are two poems that depict how many people hide their feelings from others. The two poems are similar in theme, but are told from different points of view and differ in plot.
In “Richard Cory”, the main character, Richard Cory, is a man who comes across as perfect to others: a gentleman, clean, slim, educated. Richard Cory was admired by all and was the man whom everyone desired to be. Those who had admired him came from a lower class than him and looked up to him as being superior. However, despite Cory’s perfectness that was displayed to others, one night Cory did the unpredictable and shot himself in the head. Paul Laurence Dunbar was one of the first
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The irony in the poem portrays the theme that looks can be very deceiving. Richard Cory was the perfect man, or so it seemed. No one saw what was going on underneath his perfect disguise. In the beginning of the poem we learn that Richard Cory is perfect and rich. Through his suicide, we learn that even Cory, a perfect man, was not as content as he seemed to others. The common people had a distorted view of Cory. They thought Cory was happy because he was wealthy and came across as perfect when in reality, he had faults and suffered. His appearance was deceiving as he hid his suffering with a mask- his looks, his riches, and the way he kept himself. Since he appeared to be of a higher class and richer than the common people, it would seem as though he would have no problems. Arlington emphasized how Corey had everything with his use of repetitiveness using “And” at the beginning of each line describing Cory’s characteristics. The common people judged Richard Cory based on what they saw, assuming he had the perfect life with everything he had, rather than who he was as a person. In “Cory”, there is no mention of Cory’s life on a personal level. The moral of this is not to judge a person by their looks, but rather who they really are because who they really are can be
In contrast, Richard Cory was viewed as the gem of the neighborhood, unlike The Barbie doll. Richard Cory was a man loved by all. He was a man that society had put up on a pedestal. He had the looks, wealth and the manner that everyone wanted. Even though people did not really know him they wanted to live like him an...
Nobody was better looking than anybody else,” (627). This quote shows that in Harrison Bergeron’s society, everyone is identical to everyone else. People are not allowed to be unique or different in any way, shape, or form. This is due to the immense pressure of society that forces people to conform. In this case, it is the Handicapper General, one of the most influential powers, that is oppressing the individuals to become similar as well as the common person who is going along with it. When the Handicapper General suppresses George, he is forcing him to conform to be “normal,” and when the majority of the population goes along with it, they are reinforcing the conformism. This idea is also reinforced in the poem, “Richard Cory.” When describing how society views the “perfect” protagonist, the writer explains “In fine, we thought he was everything / To make us wish that we were in his place, (Robinson Lines 11-12). This quote shows how society has forced Richard Cory to be this perfect image of a man. Richard Cory was not allowed to be individualistic due to society’s standards. A good man was supposed to be rich, a gentleman, and happy. These qualities of a good person pressed in on Cory and made him become something that he was not. In the end, Richard Cory’s downfall is
Robinson, Edward Arlington. "Richard Cory." The Pocket Book of Modern Verse. New York: Washington Square Press, 1954. 153.
Dunbar, Paul Laurence. “We Wear the Mask.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2007. Print
This time was full of sudden poverty and economic depression. In this poem, Richard Cory is a man that is admired by all the citizens that lived in his town because of his wealth. The narrator of this poem seems to be a part of those effected by the Panic, because of how exceedingly well they thought of Cory. The narrator gives the impression that Cory is the only wealthy person in the town, which would be common in this time. He had an outward appearance of being happy that all the citizens in the town aspired to achieve. The towns people place being rich and educated in the same category as what will make them happy. One hundred and fifty-eight national banks, one hundred and seventy-two state banks, and one hundred and seventy-seven private banks, along with countless businesses, failed because of this depression. Not many places had the funding to pay people, and there were few that were still considered wealthy at this point in
In the second stanza, it says ‘but still he fluttered pulses when he said good morning, and glittered when he walked (pg 456).’ This reinforces the fact that they were nervous around him when it says that there were fluttered pulses with just a simple good morning. Richard Cory also seems like a nice person since high class people normally have an arrogance around lower class people in that time period, acting as if they are better than them but since he greeted them it shows his true character. We can also assume that Richard is wealthy due to the fact that it says he glittered when he walked and in the first line of the poem, it says that, ‘whenever Richard Cory went down town (pg 456).’ Showing that there is an upper and lower part of the town that is for the high and low class and that he may go to the lower part of the town frequently since it indicated that it was not his first visit to the lower part of the town. Although it doesn’t say why he went down more than once we can assume that there nervous around him may have been due to the way he acts around them and his wealth. This also shows that they may shun him unintentionally even when he tries to talk to them in some form like a greeting but nothing seems to make them really comfortable around him. But it isn’t all of their fault since Richard doesn’t seem to try very hard to make them like him more except
The poetical works of both Maya Angelou and Paul Lawrence Dunbar, "The Mask" and "We Wear the Mask", respectively, both convey agreeing and disagreeing views of personal identity through their voices of emotion. Both speakers mention the necessity of hiding their true identity. Dunbar speaks more to the unity of the mask, hiding a group, whereas Angelou speaks more to her own personal struggle. Both speakers mention outward expression in the face of adversity. Angelou speaks of laughter, whereas Dunbar speaks of smiling. Both speakers cry inwardly when they are suffering.
Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” is a lyric poem in which the point of attraction, the mask, represents the oppression and sadness held by African Americans in the late 19th century, around the time of slavery. As the poem progresses, Dunbar reveals the façade of the mask, portrayed in the third stanza where the speaker states, “But let the dream be otherwise” (13). The unreal character of the mask has played a significant role in the lives of African Americans, who pretend to put on a smile when they feel sad internally. This occasion, according to Dunbar, is the “debt we pay to human guile," meaning that their sadness is related to them deceiving others. Unlike his other poems, with its prevalent use of black dialect, Dunbar’s “We Wear the Mask” acts as “an apologia (or justification) for the minstrel quality of some of his dialect poems” (Desmet, Hart, and Miller 466).
Paraphrase: A man named Richard Cory appeared to have it all: looks, a suave persona and a respectable social status. These qualities were respected and admired by the townspeople, even envied to a small degree. Despite his apparent perfect life, Richard Cory shot and killed himself.
Edwin Arlington Robinson was a Pulitzer Prize winning poet born in 1800’s. In Edwin Robinson’s poem, “Richard Cory,” we learn of a man who appears to have the perfect life, and is envied by everyone of the community. All of the people see Richard’s seemingly perfect life, and that makes them think he has a great life, just by viewing his appearance. This all changes when one night, Cory lets his demons get to him, and commits suicide. With the use of literary devices such as irony, juxtaposition, and diction, readers are able further understand the theme of the poem, being, you never know someone’s personal struggle that they may be facing just by observing their appearance.
We Wear the Mask “We Wear the Mask” is a short poem written by Paul Laurence Dunbar in 1895. It is written in iambic tetrameter and has many symbols throughout its stanzas. These symbols show the struggle that black Americans have to live with in society, and the hardships they face on a daily basis. The symbols that are portrayed throughout this poem can be identified as the mask, the smile, the word we. This paper will be discussing how the use of these symbols makes this poem a relatable piece, even in this modern day, as the struggle for black Americans to live happily continues to exist.
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 issues of wealth during an early time period, Paul Simon creates a contemporary "Richard Cory", showing the transformation of the American Dream coinciding with the passage of time.
"We Wear the Mask" by Paul Dunbar was published in the late 1800’s, a time when African-Americans, like Paul Dunbar, were treated very poorly and had access to very few rights. Many changes were occurring during this time, and individuals were having a difficult time coming to terms with them. African Americans in particular found themselves caught in a culture that was not suitable for them. Dunbar expresses these feelings in the tone, which is shown by misery, anger and unhappiness. He uses the metaphor of wearing a mask to express the overall oppression of African Americans in this time period. Dunbar uses a lot of figurative language throughout this poem. He uses the word "we" to speak for the entire African American population as well as his self. He does this because he is painfully aware of the status his own race is living in. Throughout this poem, Paul Dunbar illustrates the horrific injustices they had to undergo while "wearing the mask" to hide their true emotions behind a smile. I have chosen a few lines in the poem “We Wear the Mask” to break down and show what each line really means through this figurative language Dunbar uses. I chose to examine lines 1 through 11, and 14 and 15.
We are able to gather the image of an extremely polished male who is not only a man but a gentleman. Richard is wealthy beyond measure and the people clearly lust for his riches. The metaphor throughout the poem which compares Richard to wealth teaches a strong lesson to the townspeople. The author closes this poem with the lines “And Richard Cory, one calm summer night / went home and put a bullet through his head. (15-16)” If we once again compare Richard to wealth, this phrase indicates that although the townspeople believe they will gain happiness from obtaining wealth, they may actually find that their calm is destroyed by wealth. Without the use of imagery and metaphor acting together throughout this piece of literature, it is my opinion that the reader may not have gained a clear picture of Richard Cory and his relationship of superiority with the people of the
Edwin Arlington Robinson, the author of the world renown poem “Richard Cory”, was born in Head Tide, Maine on December 22, 1969. Robinson’s early difficulties led many of his poems to have a dark suspicion and his stories to deal with an American life gone bad. At the age of 21, Edwin entered Harvard University as a special student. He took classes in English, French, and Shakespeare, as well as one on Anglo-Saxon that he later dropped. Robinson’s desire while studying was to be published in the Harvard literary journals. Within the first 14 days, the Harvard Advocate published Robinson’s “Ballade of a Ship”. This was the beginning of Robinson’s writing career.