Saint Michael College of Caraga

College of Teacher Education

A Stylistic Analysis

Of the poem

Richard Cory

By

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Submitted by:

Joseph Earven C. Valdesimo

Submitted to:
Ms. Charmene Q. Bedayo
 Authors Biography

Edwin Arlington Robinson1

On December 22, 1869, Edwin Arlington Robinson was born in Head Tide, Maine
(the same year as W. B. Yeats). His family moved to Gardiner, Maine, in 1870,
which renamed Tilbury Town," became the backdrop for many of Robinsons
poems. Robinson described his childhood as stark and unhappy; he once wrote in
a letter to Amy Lowell that he remembered wondering why he had been born at the
age of six. After high school, Robinson spent two years studying at Harvard
University as a special student and his first poems were published in the Harvard
Advocate.

Robinson privately printed and released his first volume of poetry, The Torrent and
the Night Before, in 1896 at his own expense; this collection was extensively
revised and published in 1897 as The Children of the Night. Unable to make a
living by writing, he got a job as an inspector for the New York City subway system.
In 1902 he published Captain Craig and Other Poems. This work received little
attention until President Theodore Roosevelt wrote a magazine article praising it
and Robinson. Roosevelt also offered Robinson a sinecure in a U.S. Customs
House, a job he held from 1905 to 1910. Robinson dedicated his next work, The
Town Down the River (1910), to Roosevelt.

Robinsons first major success was The Man Against the Sky(1916). He also
composed a trilogy based on Arthurian legends: Merlin (1917), Lancelot (1920),
and Tristram (1927), which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1928. Robinson was also
awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his Collected Poems (1921) in 1922 and The Man
Who Died Twice (1924) in 1925. For the last twenty-five years of his life, Robinson
spent his summers at the MacDowell Colony of artists and musicians in
Peterborough, New Hampshire. Robinson never married and led a notoriously
solitary lifestyle. He died in New York City on April 6, 1935.

1
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/edwin-arlington-robinson
 Richard Cory2
By: Edwin Arlington Robinson

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,

We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,

And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
'Good-morning,' and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich - yes, richer than a king -

And admirably schooled in every grace:
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 the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

2
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/richard-cory/
 Analysis
Rhyme scheme
Stanza 1- town-a Stanza 3- king-e

him-b grace-f

crown- a everything-e

slim- b place-f

Stanza 2- arrayed-c Stanza 4- light-g

talked-d bread-c

said-c night-g

walked-d head-c

Poetic Device
Alliteration

Stanza 1, Line 2- people-pavement Stanza 3, Line 4- wish-we-were

Stanza 2, Line 3- still-said Stanza 4, Line 1-we-worked-waited

Stanza 2, Line 4-Good- glittered

Stanza 4, Line 2-went-without

Assonance

Stanza 2, Line 1-And-arrayed

Stanza 3, Line 2-And-admirably

 Rhyme
Half rhyme
Stanza 1 Stanza 3
town- crown king- everything
him- slim grace-place
Stanza 2 Stanza 4
arrayed- said light- night
talked- walked bread-head

Diction and Syntax

In terms of the diction and arrangements of words used by the

author, the whole poem is easy to conceptualize in every readers
mind. Since, the choice of words and its arrangements are very clear.

Deviation
Internal

Stanza 2, Line 3
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
From that line, it is deviated because we cannot describe or measure
how or to what extent a person is said to be a gentleman.
 Cohesion
Substitution
We can see that the author uses many pronouns to substitute the nouns in the
poem. For example:

Stanza 1:
1
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
2
We people on the pavement looked at him:
3
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
4
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
It is mention in the 1st line the name Richard Cory, and then you can see in
the 3rd line the pronoun He. The He there refers to the name Richard
Cory who is being describe as gentleman, clean favored and imperially slim.

Symbolism
Stanza 1, Line 3&4
3
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
4
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
In this statement, we can understand that Richard Cory is highly
respected by the people. From that meaning, we can infer that he has a
high position in the society.

Stanza 2, Line 3:
3
And he was always human when he talked;
In the line 3, it describes the humility of Richard Cory when he talked to
his neighbors.
 Defamiliarization
As we can read the poem, it creates a concept that the Richard Cory has a
fulfilling life, he has everything. But as we go on reading, we cant expect
that he has unbearable problems also. It is stated in the last two lines of
the poem.
Stanza 4:
1
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
2
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
3
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
4
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

Theme
The whole poem taught us that each of us has its own burden to bear in
life. We cannot conclude that a person is contented with his life just by
looking at him. Sometimes, persons hide their burden just to elude the
pain they feel. But like Richard Cory, some cannot hid it for a long time
and end everything by committing suicide.
 CONCLUSION
The whole poem is easy to read since the author uses simple
words that can be easily understand by its readers.
The structure of the poem, the diction, arrangements of
words, and rhyming, gives the poem the life to its content.
The physical structure of the poem helps to creates the
internal meaning of the poem
 Reference
Stylistics
http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/edwin-arlington-robinson

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/richard-cory/