Richard Cory

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.

"Richard Cory" is a narrative poem written by Edwin Arlington Robinson. It was first published in 1897, as
part of The Children of the Night, having been completed in July of that year; and it remains one of
Robinson's most popular and anthologized poems. The poem describes a person who is wealthy, well
educated, mannerly, and admired by the people in his town. Despite all this, he takes his own life.

The composition of the poem occurred while the United States economy was still suffering from the severe
depression of the Panic of 1893, during which people often subsisted on day-old bread, alluded to in the
poem's focus on poverty and wealth, and foodstuffs.

Edwin Arlington Robinson, (1869-1935) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who was also nominated for
the Nobel prize for literature. He was born in Maine but had an unhappy childhood since his parents
seemed largely indifferent to him. His siblings went on to suffer great hardship through addiction to
alcohol and drugs, and Robinson’s poetry often dwelt on bleak themes, perhaps based on these first-hand
experiences. Many think that the poem ‘Richard Cory’ could have been based upon his brother who came
to an inauspicious end when his business collapsed.

Who is Richard Cory?

The poem begins by introducing us to Richard Cory. Richard Cory is a man who attracts
attention and who cannot help but give off an image of privilege. A "gentleman from sole to
crown", Cory is described as "clean-favored", which means clean-cut and reasonably good-
looking. He is not just slim, but "imperially" slim. He is a wealthy man who often strolls the
streets of a poverty-stricken town whose residents all envy his seeming glory.

He's a total gentleman; he's good-looking, slim, and admired by all of the people of the
nearby town. The poem then keeps on describing Mr. Cory. He's modestly dressed and friendly,
he practically glitters when he walks down the street, and—naturally—everyone is excited to
see him. 

Richard Cory was very rooted when he talked to others. His air of propriety allured
everyone. He never prided on his pomp and glitter. A level-headed persona that he was, he
did not have any shortage of wealth. The line ‘he was rich – much richer than a king’
vouches for that.

Lesson

Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poem Richard Cory teaches us a few lessons on how we
judge people and their lives and also our own mental health. A narrative poem, “Richard
Cory” is the story of a man who seems to have it all. The people of the town, who are clearly of
a lower financial class, place Richard Cory on a pedestal. They look up to him and want to be
just like him. In the end, though, they learn a valuable life lesson: Richard Cory kills himself,
showing the people of the town that some things can’t be purchased and that looks can be
deceiving. The central idea, or theme, of “Richard Cory” is that wealth and status don’t ensure
happiness.
Richard Cory is a poem which shows why we should not judge people on appearances
as it subverts our expectations in the final line. "Richard Cory" is not a painting of a gentleman,
but a portrait of the portraiteer. The poem serves as an indictment of those who study at a
distance, of those who fail to get a feel of their subject, and of those who let petty personal
emotions deprive themselves of human companionship.

All of us have been the victims of our own judgements. We wear a green spectacle
when we peep into other’s fence. This leads us to dwell on the famous cliché, ‘The grass is
greener on the other side of the fence.’ This poem, adequately rhymed and metered, is all
about our judgement - The fallacy of our judgment. We think that the life others lead is
supreme, highly ordered, impeccably designed and to make it worse, we glorify the
negatives of our own life. The word ‘Compare’ takes birth in our minds.
This poem is so relatable to our circumstances and the world we live in. Especially when
social media adds fuel to this turmoil. Richard Cory is everywhere. Be it in corporates, the
society where we live, the college corridors or the place where we travel during our vacations.
He is everywhere in the form of people we meet. But do not get carried away like the people in
the poem. Do not judge their state of mind from the attire they wear and the car they tour on.
They might be suffering too. We all do. In different ways.

Describe Richard Cory

Richard Cory is a man who attracts attention and who cannot help but give off an image of
privilege. A "gentleman from sole to crown", Cory is described as "clean-favored", which means
clean-cut and reasonably good-looking. He is not just slim, but "imperially" slim.

"Richard Cory" first appeared in the American poet Edwin Arlington Robinson's 1897
collection, The Children of the Night. In four brisk stanzas, "Richard Cory" tells the story of a
wealthy man who often strolls the streets of a poverty-stricken town whose residents all envy his
seeming glory. Richard Cory’s "soul is black with despair," that the people possess "the light," and
that finally the people ironically fail to see their wishing to he like Cory is ultimately ludicrous because
of their own intrinsic spiritual values.

What is the poem all about?

As "Richard Cory" is only sixteen lines, we scarce need be reminded at the beginning
that because of its compactness each word becomes infinitely important. While stanza one
introduces the narrator, more importantly it emphasizes his limited view of Richard Cory. Line
one introduces us to Cory while line two establishes that the narrator has only an external view
of Cory. From this viewpoint, then, the narrator proceeds to make an assortment of limited value
judgements. Richard Cory resembles a king ("crown," "imperially slim," and "richer than a
king") ; obviously the speaker’s imagery (as well as movement in "sole to crown") reveal his
concerns with Cory’s status and wealth (further emphasized by "glittered"). It was noted that the
speaker’s use of anglicisms ("pavement," "sole to crown," "schooled," and "in fine") pictures
Cory as "an English king;" thus, the narrator can be seen expressing prejudices in terms of
nationalistic pride.

Richard Cory’s suicide can thus be seen in a different light. Instead of suicide because of
"inner emptiness" or "an absolute commitment to despair," or because he was "sick," we are
presented with a case of regicide; the townspeople with some degree of consciousness have
extinguished the light. The irony of the ending, then, is not that the people were endowed with
greater values than Cory or that simply they failed to understand his message, or even that the
light they sought glowed in their midst all the time. The irony is that through their own mental
prejudices and unfounded exaggerations the people, like eagles, claw at Prometheus so that
the chains of inhumanity imprison him forever; it matters not that it is Cory who pulls the trigger
since the people have pointed a weapon at his temple.
 Robinson uses the elements described above to create an image of the human
condition. The townspeople are striving for the dream of having it all. Richard Cory is their role
model for this perfect life. In striving for what they interpret to be the top, everyone, except
Richard Cory, forgets that happiness is more important than money and status. With his suicide,
Richard Cory shows that having even the greatest financial wealth and status does not mean
that a person has everything needed for a fulfilling life.