Analysis of Richard Corey
In his poem "Richard Corey," Edward Arlington Robinson responds to the "grass is always greener on the other side" presumption with an ironic perspective. Robinson's speaker in the poem presupposes Richard Corey is everything the he and other people could want to be since Corey obviously possesses, materialistic wise, all that can make one happy in life. The speaker takes for granted the idea that wealth brings happiness and his language initially shows no perception that it might bring emptiness rather than happiness. Through describing the townspeople's view of an upstanding citizen, Robinson's speaker reveals that wealth does not always bring the inner peace that one desires: it merely creates an illusion of such happiness. Through the language and prosaic effects he uses in "Richard Corey," E.A. Robinson is able to effectively create a poem whose structure coincides with the ironic tale of its subject. "Richard Corey" is written in four stanzas of regular alternating rhyme scheme in which the structure is abab cdcd efef ghgh; the overall form is similar to that of the elegiac quatrain which rhymes abab. However, it is the substitutions to the base regular iambic meter in "Richard Corey" whi
Robinson successfully structures an ironic work which comments upon the fact that despite the "Glittering" illusion which wealth and fame project in appearance, these do not always bring eternal bliss and at times; instead they lead to isolation and emptiness. " The regular iambi pentameter is present again in these lines, yet the "we" is unstressed while "he" is stressed in line 11, which places emphasis once more on the isolation of Richard Corey as he is apart from the "we. Richard is a word which suggests the idea of being rich or wealthy; in addition, "Corey" is an extension of the root "Core" which suggest the center of one's inner being. This glittering is stressed by the caesura in the medial position following "Good morning" preceding the comment how Corey dazzles the eye when walking by. Key words such as "we" separate the poem's speaker and townspeople from Richard Corey, who is an isolated "he" while the meter and use of caesuras emphasize these key words. " In the second stanza, the speaker initially describes Corey as a regular guy. "And he was always quietly arrayed / And he was always human when he talked" (5-6). ch best creates the foundation for the story of the wealthy Richard Corey. The separation between the speaker (townspeople) and Corey is again stressed in lines 11 and 12 as he states "In fine, we thought that he was everything / To make us wish that we were in his place. "And he was rich-- yes, richer than a king-- / And admirably schooled in every grace" (9-10). The concluding lines once more are standard iambic pentameter, yet "calm" is unstressed, which suggests that Richard Corey's suicide was not a spur of the moment decision, but rather that his death is something he has reached a decision about rationally; likewise, a caesura at the end of line 15 places importance on that pause of "One calm summer night" in order to set up the reader for an ironic ending. This separation of Corey from "We" is also evident in the words the speaker uses as it shows that the other people and he are "down" below on the pavement, looking up at Richard Corey, who stands above them. While the meter does not deviate from its base iambic pentameter, the speaker's word choice is significant as he once more speaks of "we" to shows the perceived darkness and poverty they live in, which is void of "light"; likewise, harsh words such as "meat" and "cursed the bread" suggest the common status of the speaker and others as he does not list foods such as caviar or filet magnon, foods of the wealthy. Along with this emphasized language, the title of the poem further illustrates the wealth and isolation of a character that lacks a "core" or central motivation to exist.
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