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. Purpose: The purpose of this poem is to show that people are not always who they appear to be. Moreover, the people that seem to have it all may still be emotionally unstable and act irrationally such as committing suicide. Structure: There are 4 stanzas, each serves to reveal a different piece of information (1st stanza: town’s consensus about Richard Cory, 2nd stanza: personality, 3rd stanza: social status, 4th status: the abrupt, unforeseen ending of his life). Speaker: There is one speaker and the POV is third person. Shift: The shift in this poem occurs at the second to last line. Before this, the poem revolves around the, what seems to be, ideal life of Richard Cory. But at this line the poem ends abruptly with an unexpected suicide, stated as an understatement. Syntax/Grammar/Diction: There is repetition of “always” in relation to how the townspeople describe him. This means that Richard Cory’s public appearances were routine and unchanging maybe even a false facade. The use of the colon to connect two full sentences serves to associate ideas. The diction of “imperially slim” (4), “glittered” (8), “fluttered” (7) and “admirably schooled” (11) all indicate Richard Cory’s apparent superiority over the rest of the townspeople. Tone: The tone before the shift is admiring with a small hint of envy. The tone after the shift is rather indifferent, there is no diction indicating remorse or any other emotion over his death.
In the end of the narrator’s consciousness, the tone of the poem shifted from a hopeless bleak
The speaker’s rocky encounter with her ex-lover is captured through personification, diction, and tone. Overall, the poem recaps the inner conflicts that the speak endures while speaking to her ex-lover. She ponders through stages of the past and present. Memories of how they were together and the present and how she feels about him. Never once did she broadcast her emotions towards him, demonstrating the strong facade on the outside, but the crumbling structure on the inside.
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
Both "Richard Cory" poems by Paul Simon and Edwin Robinson reflect the idea of the American Dream, but both in distinct ways. The two poems are different in the ways that societal views have changed through time based on wealth. The image society portrays the American Dream is depicted in the poems by the conversion from royalty to fame. This change of the American Dream is shown through many symbols, but wealth best illustrates how times have changed from the Cory of Robinson's poem, to that of the poem by Paul Simon.
“Richard Cory,” a poem written by Edwin Arlington Robinson, quietly exposes the irony of a rich gentleman’s life. It relates the story of a wealthy man who is admired by many of his workers and the people in town. He seems to have a perfect life; he is nice to people, well educated, just, humble, and wealthy. Despite all of this, Richard Cory shot and killed himself without an apparent reason.
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 worker living in a place called Tilbury Town. Tilbury Town is a small, industrial town created by Robinson that is filled with manual labor workers. The first stanza begins by describing this amazing man, Richard Cory. The speaker of the poem is describing Richard Cory as he is figuratively watching him. You will notice from the beginning that Robinson uses a lot of diction comparing Richard Cory to a king. The speaker says that Richard Cory, “was a gentleman from sole to crown / Clean favored, and imperially slim” (3-4). Although Cory already seems like this superior figure, the speaker allows him to seem more humble at the beginning of the second stanza. The speaker says that, “he was always quietly arrayed / And he was always human when he talked” (5-6). The speaker is saying that Cory presents himself in a very professional manner, yet not too overpowering. Also, by saying that Cory is human when he talked shows that he tried to make people feel as if he was equal to them. The end of the seco...
The speaker’s language towards the woman’s death in “The Last Night that she lived” portrays a yearning attitude that leads to disappointment; which reiterates human discontent with the imperfections of life. The description of woman’s death creates an image of tranquility that causes the speaker to aspire towards death. Her death compares to a reed floating in water without any struggle. The simile paradoxically juxtaposes nature and death because nature’s connotation living things, while death refers to dead things, but death becomes a part of nature. She consents to death, so she quietly dies while those around her refuse to accept her imminent death. The speaker’s description of death sounds like a peaceful experience, like going to sleep, but for eternity. These lines describe her tranquil death, “We waited while She passed—It was a narrow time—Too jostled were Our Souls to speak. At length the notice came. She mentioned, and forgot—Then lightly as a Reed Bent to the water, struggled scarce- Consented, and was dead-“ .Alliteration in “We waited”, emphasizes their impatience of the arrival of her death because of their curiosity about death. The woman’s suffering will be over soon. This is exhibited through the employment of dashes figuratively that form a narrow sentence to show the narrowing time remaining in her life, which creates suspense for the speaker, and also foreshadows that she dies quickly. The line also includes a pun because “notice” refers to the information of her death, and also announcement, which parallels to the soul’s inability to speak. “She mentioned, and forgot—“, refers to her attempt to announce her farewell to everyone, which connects to the previous line’s announcement. The dashes fig...
The Poet begins with the Rocky Mountain Newspaper reporter Jack McEvoy being informed of his twin brother’s suicide. As two of the detectives from the Denver police department who also worked with Sean McEvoy in the Crimes Against Persons unit inform McEvoy of the incident, he immediately has doubts about his twin’s alleged suicide. Seeking to better understand what his brother did and what the Denver PD says his brother did, Jack McEvoy decides to write a story for the paper about his brother. From this point on McEvoy began to learn about evil in a new way.
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
This poem reflects on how when you lose someone you truly care about it affects you mentally. When we lose someone who we're really close to, we tend to hold a grudge and start questioning our love for the world. We lose ourselves when we
Richard Cory was written in 1897 by Edwin Arlington Robinson. This sixteen line poem tells a lot about human irony. Richard Cory, a very wealthy man, admired and envied by those who consider themselves less fortunate than he, unexpectedly commits suicide. The most fascinating part of this poem is the reason why he shot himself when he had everything? Through their own mental prejudices and exaggerations of reality, the people, by putting Cory on a higher level than them, also created a communication barrier that later pushed Richard to commit suicide.
”Richard Cory” is told from an outsider’s point of view, so that the reader does not gain any more insight into Cory’s mind then the people on the pavement. This also adds to the surprise when Cory, seemingly happy, puts a bullet in his head. Richard Cory had no friends the people of the town never really saw him as a person, in fact they never saw him at all, the “people on the pavement looked at him”, never spoke to him, he was only something to admire. He was a god in their eyes, almost holier than thou, “and he was rich-yes, richer than a king” yet He rarely spoke but when h...
In the last line of the second stanza, the subject enters dramatically, accompanied by an abrupt change in the rhythm of the poem:
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
He gives the luster effect like a beacon of richness to all. “And he was rich, yes richer than a king. And admirably schooled in every grace.” This guy really had it all. An amazing education, meaning he probably had access to the top universities in the country. “Richer than a king.” His wealth was possibly gained by an inheritance or perhaps he was quite successful in his career. Thus far Richard Cory’s life looks to be simply paradise. He has money, education, good living conditions, looks, and popularity. Now, why would someone who appears to have everything end his or her life? As to the reasoning of Richard Cory’s decision to take his own life here are a few conclusions. The first being his wealth. There is a common knowledge that states money cannot buy happiness. He has so much yet he is bored with it and wants something to take its place. Second, he is obviously a depressed individual who does not share his emotions or thoughts with anyone. It’s interesting that he never makes an attempt to start a relationship or even a conversation with one of the town persons except for that refined “Good Morning”. Third, he might be suffering from a physical illness. Something, perhaps too embarrassing to