Richard Cory By Edward Arlington Robinson

Most people have a role model or someone they admire; usually the role model is good looking, wealthy, intelligent, well-mannered, generous, joyful, but very rarely does a person’s role model commit suicide. “Richard Cory” is a poem that illustrates this situation in an excellent manner with a well-written story. The poem, written by Edward Arlington Robinson in the late nineteenth century, not only demonstrates that money cannot buy someone happiness, but also shows why it is impossible for one to truly be aware of another person’s emotional and mental state. The poem does not feature many uses of the figures of speech, but rather entails a good narrative element readers can follow, understand, and relate to effortlessly. The purpose of

In these lines, Robinson make an important distinction in the poem between Richard Cory and the speaker and his peers who are “on the pavement”. This illustrates that Richard Cory is not is not a regular citizen, for when he goes into town he draws everyone’s attention. The poem continues, “He was a gentleman from sole to crown / Clean favored and imperially slim” (Robinson, line 3-4). Here, the story focuses on its description of Richard Cory, describing him as appearing kingly, like royalty. This early description of Richard Cory suggests his wealth and power in the town, but also seems to show Cory as being

This not only emphasizes how much wealth Richard Cory has, but also compliments his ability to converse with anyone in any given room. Contrary to the first two stanzas, the third stanza shifts the story’s focus to how the speaker and his peers feel toward Richard Cory in the last two lines. “In fine, we thought that he was everything / To make us wish that we were in his place” (Robinson, lines 11-12). In this part of the story, the narrator explains that he and his peers believed that Cory had everything a man could desire in life. Because of this, all the town’s citizens admired and wanted to be Richard