Richard Cory

In his poem "Richard Cory," Edwin Arlington Robinson suggests that happiness is

mistakenly associated with wealth and prestige. He does this by depicting the admired

Richard Cory who to the ordinary townspeople, "we people on the pavement" (line2),

seems to have everything. In fact, to the townsfolk, Cory is like a god of sorts because the speaker says that Cory "was always human when he talked" (line 4), as if he were some

immortal. The first two stanzas of the poem show how special Cory seems: he is "a

gentleman from sole to crown" (line3), he is "imperially slim" (line4), and he excites the

ordinary people, "flutter[ing] pulses" (line7) when he talked to them. We also learn that

he was "richer than a king"(line9) and that he was educated and classy, "schooled in

every grace"(line 1 0). Most importantly, we learn that the ordinary people wished to be

just like him and their envy made them unhappy with their seemingly hum-drum lives:

they "cursed the bread"(line