A. Title: The title of this poem suggests that it is about a man, possibly a man
people like and possibly a man they do not like. From the vagueness of the title
the man could be an outcast.
B. Paraphrase: When Richard Cory goes downtown, people look at him. He was
dressed nice from head to toe, clean and very thin. He was alway quietly well-ordered and human when he talked. But he fluttered when he said, "Good morning," and glittered when he walked. He was richer than a king and very well mannered and graceful. We thought he was everything, and wanted to be him. So he worked and waited for light, didn't eat meat and hated the bread, one summer night he went home and shot himself in the head.
C: Connotations:The poem is written in quatrains ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GHGH and has an irregular rhythm to it. There is imagery in the poem when it says, "he glittered when he walked." Everyone liked Richard Cory and wanted to be him because he was so perfect, however Richard Cory was still unhappy which caused his untimely demise.
D. Attitude: The speaker in this poem is most likely a person from the town that
represents the town as a whole, a synecdoche. "We," being everyone who had
ever seen Richard Cory. The attitude of the speaker is one of possibly reverence.
The townspeople liked Richard Cory because of how he was and they were sad
to hear that he had killed himself. The attitude of the poet is that what happened
had happened and it couldn't be changed. Even though Richard Cory had
everything a man could ask for, he was still unhappy.
E. Shifts: There are no shifts in speaker throughout the poem but the attitude of
the poem takes a turn towards morbid at the end of the final quatrain when he
kills himself. The shift is important because it gets to the main point of the story.
Just because someone has everything and appears happy, does not mean that
is truly how they are.
F. Title: The title for this poem after reading it could be seen as his epitaph on his
gravestone; his name posted at the top and then a small story about his life and
My initial response to the poem was a deep sense of empathy. This indicated to me the way the man’s body was treated after he had passed. I felt sorry for him as the poet created the strong feeling that he had a lonely life. It told us how his body became a part of the land and how he added something to the land around him after he died.
There is probably no one, among people, who has not considered death as a subject to think about or the events, people, and spirits that they would face after death. Also, since we were little kids, we were asking our parents what death is and what is going to happen after we die. People have always linked death with fear, darkness, depression, and other negative feelings, but not with Emily Dickinson, a reclusive poet from Massachusetts who was obsessed with death and dying in her tons of writings. She writes “Because I could not stop for Death” and in this particular poem she delivers a really different idea of death and the life after death. In the purpose of doing that, the speaker encounters death, which was personalized to be in the form of a gentleman suitor who comes to pick her up with his horse-drawn carriage for a unique death date that will last forever.
Overall, dwell on this process of changing throughout the poem, it can be understood that the poet is demonstrating a particular attitude towards life. Everyone declines and dies eventually, but it would be better to embrace an optimistic, opened mind than a pessimistic, giving-up attitude; face the approach of death unflinchingly, calmly.
story, first impressions, what he thinks of himself, what others think of him, and what
This change in tone echoes the emotions and mental state of the narrator. At the beginning of the poem, the narrator starts somewhat nervous. However, at the end, he is left insane and delusional. When he hears a knocking at the door, he logically pieces that it is most likely a visitor at the door.
"The boundaries which divide Life and Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where one ends, and where the other begins?" Edgar Allan Poe, The Premature Burial (Bartlett, 642). To venture into the world of Edgar Allan Poe is to embark on a journey to a land filled with perversities of the mind, soul, and body. The joyless existence carved out by his writings is one of lost love, mental anguish, and the premature withering of his subjects. Poe wrote in a style that characterized the sufferings he endured throughout in his pitiful life. From the death of his parents while he was still a child, to the repeated frailty of his love life, to the neuroses of his later years, his life was a ceaseless continuum of one mind-warping tragedy after another.
In the end of the narrator’s consciousness, the tone of the poem shifted from a hopeless bleak
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.
Death is one of the only true constants in the universe and is the only guarantee in life. Everyone knows of death and everyone will experience it, but to the living death is still one of life's greatest mysteries. In some cultures death is celebrated and embraced, while in others it is feared. However it is perceived, death holds different meanings for different people. Through the art of poetry a writer can give a reader many different outlooks and maybe a better understanding of life and death.
Death is a reality that can be interpreted in many ways. Some people fear the possibility of no longer living and others welcome the opportunity for a new life in the afterlife. Many poets have been inspired by death, be it by the approaching death of loved ones or a battle for immortality. Just as each poet is inspired differently, each poem casts a different hue of light on the topic of death giving readers a unique way to look at death.
Richard Cory was a rich man seen as bigger than life person living among them. Their admiration for him was clearly seen when it was said that “He was a gentleman from sole to crown” and “he glittered when he walked. ”(Richard Cory, 3, 8) This did not allowed them to connect with him and accept him as one of them.
Poems reveal many inside thoughts of the speaker that can be interpreted by the reader. Death is expressed quite often in poetic work because of the simplicity to be able to express feelings. Suicide, for an example, is a form of death that may be used in poetry and is usually portrayed in a negative fashion. Surprisingly, some poems that involve death have a positive outcome. There are views found in poetry relating to suicide as a form of death that are both positive and negative. Suicide as a negative perspective is a common form of death displayed in poetry. A very good example of death brought upon by suicide is “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson. In the passage, “And he was rich-yes, richer than a king,” Robinson describes the wealth and riches in which he lived. Richard seemed to be a person without problems. Later at the end of the poem in line fifteen the speaker says, “And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head.” In one’s opinion, it may appear that money, wealth, and power is not everything. Perhaps Richard Cory was miserable because of the way people gazed at him which describes his suicide. Theoretically, the reader has to try to interpret the poem because of the lack of evidence explaining the reason of Cory’s suicide. This poem is an example of death in a negative perspective. Another poem that explains suicide as a form of death, but in a somewhat positive fashion, is “Résumé” by Dorothy Parker.
The irony of this poem is what happens to him when he dies "Not one false note was struck-until he died…The obit writers, ringing crude clumsy changes on a clumsy phrase: "One of the most distinguished members of his race.
people want to continue to read the poem a few more times. His was of
In the last line of the second stanza, the subject enters dramatically, accompanied by an abrupt change in the rhythm of the poem: