Richard Cory Summary & Analysis
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"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. Yet the poem's final line reveals that, despite seeming to have everything he could want, Cory kills himself. The poem's thematic interests in wealth, poverty, and the elusive nature of happiness are deeply tied to its historical context: a series of economic depressions that struck the U. S. in the 1890s.
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The Full Text of “Richard Cory”
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.
5 And he was always quietly arrayed,
6 And he was always human when he talked;
7 But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
8 "Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
9 And he was rich—yes, richer than a king—
10 And admirably schooled in every grace:
11 In fine, we thought that he was everything
12 To make us wish that we were in his place.
13 So on we worked, and waited for the light,
14 And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
15 And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
16 Went home and put a bullet through his head.
The Full Text of “Richard Cory”
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.
5 And he was always quietly arrayed,
6 And he was always human when he talked;
7 But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
8 "Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
9 And he was rich—yes, richer than a king—
10 And admirably schooled in every grace:
11 In fine, we thought that he was everything
12 To make us wish that we were in his place.
13 So on we worked, and waited for the light,
14 And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
15 And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
16 Went home and put a bullet through his head.
“Richard Cory” Summary
“Richard Cory” Themes
Appearances Can Be Deceiving
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Wealth and Happiness
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Envy vs. Admiration
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Richard Cory”
Lines 1-2
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
Lines 3-4
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
Lines 5-6
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
Lines 7-8
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
Lines 9-10
And he was rich—yes, richer than a king—
And admirably schooled in every grace:
Lines 11-12
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
Lines 13-14
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
Lines 15-16
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.
“Richard Cory” Symbols
Meat and Bread
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“Richard Cory” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
Alliteration
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Anaphora
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Assonance
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Caesura
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Consonance
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Diacope
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End-Stopped Line
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Enjambment
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Hyperbole
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Irony
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Metaphor
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Polysyndeton
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“Richard Cory” Vocabulary
- Crown
- Clean favored
- Imperially slim
- Arrayed
- Grace
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Richard Cory”
Form
Meter
Rhyme Scheme
“Richard Cory” Speaker
“Richard Cory” Setting
Literary and Historical Context of “Richard Cory”
More “Richard Cory” Resources
External Resources
- "Richard Cory" by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel — Watch a video of Simon and Garfunkel performing their 1966 song based on the poem. While the song closely follows the structure of the poem, including the last line, the lyrics also imagine more information about Cory's wealth (the son of a banker, Cory "owns one half of this town") and a backstory for the narrator (a worker in Cory's factory). Following Cory's suicide, the narrating worker, despondent in his own way, still expresses a desire to be like Richard Cory.
- The Children of the Night — Check out The Children of the Night, Edwin Arlington Robinson's 1897 book of poetry in which "Richard Cory" first appeared.
- Edwin Arlington Robinson's Life Story — Learn more about the life of the poet Edwin Arlington Robinson from the Poetry Foundation.
- "Richard Cory," a Song by the 3D's — Check out folk group The Three D's 1964 setting of the poem. Unlike Simon and Garfunkel, this treatment of the song simply sets the complete text of the poem to music (although there is a creative interjection in the middle of the final line).
- Dramatic Reading of "Richard Cory" — Watch this dramatic reading of "Richard Cory," presented by student Michelle Cheng.
LitCharts on Other Poems by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Cite This Page
Definition
Richard Cory
Full Text
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.
5 And he was always quietly arrayed,
6 And he was always human when he talked;
7 But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
8 "Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
9 And he was rich—yes, richer than a king—
10 And admirably schooled in every grace:
11 In fine, we thought that he was everything
12 To make us wish that we were in his place.
13 So on we worked, and waited for the light,
14 And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
15 And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
16 Went home and put a bullet through his head.
Lines 3-4
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil Crushed
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