Literary Analysis "Richard Cory"

Lance LaMotte

Mr. McElveen

American Literature

17 January 2011

Literary Analysis of “Richard Cory”

            “Richard Cory” by E.A. Robinson is a very concise poem that focuses on the main character, Richard Corey. This is more of a characterization of Richard than a poem. Nonetheless, Richard is still perceived as this perfect, slim young man that has everything- including money, looks, and educated. The true Richard is not the Richard that E.A. Robinson presents us, but it is the Richard inside where the ideas and emotions lie.

            Mr. Cory also is presented as being cool and collected. His life is apparently going perfectly with no dramas. “Clean favored, and imperially slim” and “he was always quietly arrayed” support the perception that Robinson provides us of Richard having everything under control in his life and that everything is going fine and smooth (Lines 4 and 5). A normal reader, resistant to the idea of looking beyond the surface and searching for what the true Richard is, would just read the poem and walk away satisfied that he is a collected individual. Picking up on the fact that E.A. Robinson only gave us the Richard on the surface is key in discovering the real Richard. He is perceived as perfect, but reality may be much different. The truth of a person comes mostly from their inner satisfaction and stability, and we get no clue of that strictly from the reading of this poem. The mention of Richard being “quiet” may suggest that he does not have many friends, and especially because he still “flutters pulses” when he talks to people. A friend does not feel honored and flattered when you talk to them, but in strangers this would be the case.

            Richard Cory is presented in one of those “too good to be true” situations. Living in Tilbury town, where everyone is depressed, hopeless, and lifeless, Richard does not fit in. Where in this depressed town would there be a model man with good looks and money? It has to be too good to be true. If he is living in Tilbury Town, where everyone is depressed, then Richard certainly must have some element of disorder about him. But where are these imperfections? E.A. Robinson gives no hint of this, and this is exactly how the reader can tell. Only surface descriptions and no internal descriptions lead to the supported statement that the trouble may be on the inside of Mr. Cory.

            “And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet in his head” brings out the truth in Richard (Lines 15 and 16). Here lies the connection between perception and reality. Perception is outside appearance and how you portray yourself to the public. Reality is the emotions, thoughts, and ideas of an individual. Perceived as perfect, yet reality was imperfection and possible depression in Richard. The drastic ending to this story was not easily predictable without acknowledging the difference between perception and reality.

            E.A. Robinson presented Richard Cory as this young, rich, well-known, and collected individual. However, the last stanza threw away all of the sugarcoating that Robinson had presented. This poem presented the ideas of perception vs. reality, and the debatable topic of where true stability of a person reigns.