“Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson Review Essay

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The poem “Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson is one that is claimed to demonstrate that people cannot resolve another person’s matters of happiness just appearing in somebody’s life. The author uses the location, metaphors, and imagery to reveal this. The plot narrates the story about a rich man that commits suicide, and the feelings and considerations of the people in town that watch him in his everyday life. Author clearly shows us in his poem “Richard Cory” that someone else’s life may not be that is cracked up to be. The townspeople envied Richard Cory and his lifestyle. Though, if they have looked a bit deeper, but not judged by appearance, they would change their minds.

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The imagery of Downtown is used as a place where Richard Cory seemed someone grate, and highly admired, as all the other citizens are comparatively poor, and occupied with everyday problems, but in real life, more than money is usually needed to make a someone happy. Also, the phrase “went without the meat and cursed the bread” shows that people are inclined to curse that minimum that they have in order to become something more, like workers and peasants wanted to be like Richard Cory. Everything seems to be calm and smooth, but in reality Richard Cory just was killing himself.

The author also uses imagery to illustrate the theme of the poem. Robinson wrote cunningly and without portending to the termination of the culmination. The storyteller described not only Richard Cory’s appearance but he also shows the level of his wealth. The symbols are use for the thorough description of the main character.

The brilliancy of Edward Arlington Robinson’s poem, “Richard Cory” is that it summarizes one man’s sparkling yet catastrophic life into four brief cantos, culminating in this memorable two-line culmination: “And Richard Cory one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head.”

Imagery is one of the means that is used to explain the main theme of the poem. The fact is that Richard Cory was regarded as silently ranged makes the reader considers that he has absolutely no problems and that is why everybody desires to be like him. Also, the poem states that he is “richer than a king” so the viewers get the sensing that this is a content man who is happy with his achievements in life. But on the other hand he wants to kill himself. Furthermore, the workers on the pavement say that he is “schooled in every grace” which leads the reader to believe that he is polite and would not think about doing something so drastic.

Robinson uses imagery throughout the course of his poem. “And he was always quietly arrayed…and he glittered when he walked,” Robinson uses visually stimulating words and phrases to show the magnitude of a man that was Richard Cory. Robinson also makes use of irony in ” Richard Cory,” enabling us to understand the truth of Cory’s existence, that of a sad man, no better than any of those “on the pavement.” “And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head,” after all that reverence, Richard Cory was in all respects unhappy. This use of poetic language in ” Richard Cory ” provokes feelings of grandness and jealousy. When Richard Cory ‘s fellows looked at him, they saw him as of royalty, of pertaining to that which heavenly or divine; howbeit, they were looking through eyes full of envy. Richard was held in high regards. “And he was rich – yes, richer than a king – and admirably schooled in every grace,” his ranking alongside Kings gives a sense of how grand a man the t ownspeople made Richard Cory out to be. People on the street admired Cory from afar; they wished to be him, to walk in his shoes, they coveted his very essence. “In fine, we thought that he was everything to make us wish that we were in his place. So on we worked, and waited for the light, and went without meat, and cursed the bread…” the extent of their jealousy runs far.

Robinson paints a portrait of a person, be it man or woman, who wants terribly to reach the true level of success and happiness. His use of symbolism and imagery lends meat that the reader can chew on while contemplating his own relationship to this moralizing poem. But he also poses a question that most people will never even consider: Will we know it when we get there?

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IvyPanda. (2022, April 30). "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson Review. https://ivypanda.com/essays/richard-cory-by-edwin-arlington-robinson-review/

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""Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson Review." IvyPanda, 30 Apr. 2022, ivypanda.com/essays/richard-cory-by-edwin-arlington-robinson-review/.

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IvyPanda. (2022) '"Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson Review'. 30 April.

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IvyPanda. 2022. ""Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson Review." April 30, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/richard-cory-by-edwin-arlington-robinson-review/.

1. IvyPanda. ""Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson Review." April 30, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/richard-cory-by-edwin-arlington-robinson-review/.


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IvyPanda. ""Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson Review." April 30, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/richard-cory-by-edwin-arlington-robinson-review/.

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