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Similarities Between Acquainted With The Night And Richard Cory

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In the poems, “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost and “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson, the narrators are facing their own demons. While the narrator of, “Acquainted with the Night”, is acquainted with the night, he is distant to his surroundings. His sense of desolation and loneliness echoes as he walks the empty city streets. Likewise, in “Richard Cory”, Richard's luxurious lifestyle solitudes him from the townspeople and rejects him from pursuing genuine relationships. Rather than being lavishly rich, he instead wishes to be rich in another's company. Furthermore, Frost and Robinson mirror the theme of isolation in their poems. In “Acquainted with the Night”, Frost metaphorically starts and ends his poem with, “I have …show more content…

Thus, Robinson introduces the theme of isolation.“He was a gentleman from sole to crown, clean favored, and imperially slim” (3-4). “And he was rich - yes, richer than a king - and admirably schooled in every grace” (9-10). The people of the pavement were biased; they perceived Cory as a king because he was wealthy, refined, and courteous. They idolized him with envy. However, Cory was discontent of his social status. He ventured into town and politely greeted his bystanders, but the townspeople admired him for his wealth and social standing, not for companionship or friendship. This isolation is revealed in the last line of the poem when Cory “Went home and put a bullet through his head” (16). He appeared to be happy, but appearance can be deceiving. It is concluded that Richard Cory was a lonely man; he was financially rich, but socially deprived, thus directing him to commit suicide. The townspeople's judgment of Cory was primarily based on his exterior personality and the wealth he acquired. However, it is suggested that material possessions did not satisfy his psychological needs. Perhaps Richard Cory killed himself because he lacked happiness; material wealth did not make him happy. To end with, the narrators presented in the poems, “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost and “Richard

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Through these poems, the reader can also see that Richard is smiling and positive, showing his kind heart. Though portrayed as a cruel kid through the media’s eyes, Richard has many traits that show that he’s actually a very sweet kid. The media views him one way, but through the poems we are able to see the real Richard. During Slater’s interview with Richard’s school friends, everyone shares their experiences with Richard, which proves that he isn’t the bad kid the news makes him out to be. At the school, many of Richard’s friends came together to share their experiences they had with Richard.

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In the second stanza of the poem, Cory is contrasted between his “regal self-image and Cory as the restrained communicator who patronizingly bestows favors upon his lowly brethren, the townspeople” (Kavka 152). The difference is expressed by the lines “ And he was always quietly arrayed, / And he was always human when he talked” (5-6). These lines are used to ensure us, the observer, that Richard Cory is still human in a rather remorseful way (Kavka 152).

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However, it is difficult to define what the “night” means to the speaker at the beginning. In this stanza, the narrator walks in the rain and see the city light. The narrator wanders in the night, feeling that he is isolated from the world, despite the fact that he is in the city. The rhyme in the first stanza is obvious because the narrator starts five lines with the same pattern “I have”. Frost uses the first person perspective in order to emphasize the narrator’s loneliness.

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Equally, Richard Cory’s problems lead to his death in ways not presented in the poem, however, a large portion of people do not commit suicide unless they have problems that become too much for them to deal with. Richard Cory also had been educated and had a large amount of wealth so an untold problem would seem to be the only probable reason for him to commit

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Many poems, like the essayist’s Richard Harrison’s work, deeply explore universal ideas about death, love, grief, and the mystery of life. Many readers, like myself, can find connections with Harrison’s poems on such topics of life and loss and deeper meaning hidden in the poem. Not only could I make connections with some of Harrison’s poems, but I also made new understandings and realizations

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Robert Frost’s poems explored the nature in a rather deep and dark way. For example, his poem, “After-Apple Picking” is hidden under a mask that looks like a harvester is just tired and wants to go to sleep after a day of picking apple from tree. However, we learned that this poem has deeper meaning than what is being shown on the surface. This poem is about actually talking about death as a deeper meaning. I think it is really interesting how Robert Frost, as a poet, was able to connect two themes that are completely different and make it into a single poem.

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Lack of apathy in both poems is a shared trait of the townspeople as well as the shipmen. Which then lead to terrible outcomes. In “Richard Cory”, the speaker says “So on we waited for the light,” using a collective “we” to talk about the townspeople’s neglect to the situation (Robinson 13). The townspeople continued their days, looking up to Richard Cory, unwilling to act upon what was wrong. Instead of praising Richard Cory for being the “perfect” subject created by society, the townspeople should have acted upon his struggles, showing apathy and not ignoring their shunning of the situation, which was created by the environment around them.

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This poem is a representation of the front that some people stage up to hid their inner selves receivable to embarrassment and shame or many other feelings of despair. Richard Cory teaches its audience that one’s happiness in life cannot be determined by wealth because wealth does not inevitably bring happiness, rather than enjoying life with loved ones, Cory, regardless of his wealth, is living a false life that conceals his depression and loneliness. The audience must learn that wealth and luxuries do not guarantee happiness.

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This creates in the former a sense of community and in the latter a sense of isolation. Isolation is a prevalent theme in Acquainted With The Night. Much of the imagery in that poem - the speaker walking past the watchman with his head down, the moon all alone in the sky- serves to reinforce this sense of isolation. To Frost, the night symbolizes loneliness. Conversely, Dickinson’s poem, through diction such as “we,” and “our,” gives the impression that all of humanity is in the darkness together.

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Ziad K. Abdelnour states, “There’s a story behind every person. There’s a reason why they’re the way they are.” Authors Bret Harte and Edwin Arlington Robinson both wrote about different types of judgment that relate to this quote. Harte uses characterization to manipulate roles of people who are judged within the story of “The Outcasts of Poker Flat”; the use of characterization allows readers to comprehend that people shouldn’t be judged for what they do but rather for who they are. On the other hand, Edwin Arlington Robinson used rhyme scheme and irony in the poem “Richard Cory” to show that what people see isn’t always as it seems.

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Robinson included Richard Cory’s suicide at the end of the poem not only for the symbolism of the light and darkness of the story, but also for the irony of the story as well. When Richard commits suicide, it also has the great effect of making the reader have to think more deeply in what happened during and after the poem. A great quote from the poem to show how the irony works in this way would be from when the townspeople were wish that they were Richard Cory. “In fine, we thought that he was everything / To make us wish that we were in his place.”

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Moreover, both authors shield the identity of the main character. Furthermore, the poems “Richard Cory” and “Glass Ceiling,” both share a common theme: shielding your true emotions from society. The authors convey this theme in ways that are similar and also differ from each

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In “Acquainted with the Night”, poet Robert Frost examines the inner workings of a lonely, depressed mentality. Through his extensive use of symbolism, Frost demonstrates exactly how confined and flustered someone in that conditions feels. There are two specific symbols that, if analyzed, unravel the meaning behind the poem: the symbol of darkness, the symbol of walking, and the symbol of large distances. Darkness is a perpetually popular symbol, and in this poem, it is certainly prominent/ Historically, darkness has been used to symbolize malice, evil, sadness — generally, anything adverse.

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