Poem Analysis Of Richard Cory By Edwin Arlington Robinson
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“Richard Cory” Poem Analysis
In American culture, many people view celebrities to having it all together. Having great looks and money are often associated with happiness. This illusion made by the public greatly overshadows a public figures true feelings not knowing that many feel unhappy with themselves. In Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poem “Richard Cory”, he uses diction, point of view and irony in order to convey the theme(s) of how things are not always what they appear to be. Diction is described as “the selection and arrangement of words in a literary work” (Keyes). Robinson carefully constructs the poem with the use of simple diction to describe the life of a man of the upper class. For example “He was a gentleman from sole to crown” (line 3) shows how the members of the community view Cory as royalty.…show more content… Point of view can be established in three categories: first, second, and third. Robinson, casts the point of view of the poem in third person. The pronoun “we”, is continually being used in the poem, which establishes that “we” could serve as one speaker that represents the whole lower class community. For example in line 2 of the poem “we people on the pavement looked at him” could mean that Cory was above the people, and the speaker, represents the people who are beneath. As the speaker notes: “we thought he was everything- to make us wish we were in his place” (line 11-12) the speaker of the lower class thinks that Cory had everything to make them wish that they were like him. Furthermore, when the speaker wishes that they had what Cory possesses, the reader gets a close view of the divide, juxtaposing between Cory and the lower class stating, “so on we worked and waited for the light-and went without the meat and cursed the bread” (line 13-14). The “light” could refer to a new day, and “bread” could allude to money or even the actual food that is associated to the