Oh my!

Oh, my, I forgot to do one last week. Well, I shall endeavor to make up for it now with a discussion on my favorite poem of all time: Richard Cory.


For those of you not familiar with it, here it is:

Richard Cory
By Edward Arlington Robinson

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich – yes, richer than a king –
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.

Now this is obviously a distressing poem but I love what it says about happiness and depression. There's a wrong belief that people with depression are clearly depressed. This is not so. In fact, this is rarely so. Often you can't even tell when someone is depressed just as the citizens in this poem could not tell that Richard Cory was suicidal.

The poem gives no reason for Cory's suicide which I rather like because I hate being spoon-fed and when it comes to suicide more often than not the reason isn't clear cut. Did you know very few people leave suicide notes? How rude, if you ask me. The least you can do is leave a note.

But I digress.

I've actually used this poem in tutoring that I've done when I student needs help in comparing and contrasting works of literature. I will usually use another Robinson poem, like The Garden, and have them analyze the similarities and differences. Plus, the ending of Richard Cory forces even the most jaded of students to say, "Well, okay, I didn't see that one coming."

I remember I first read this poem in the 7th grade with Mr. Schwab who sadly passed away after that year. That's what having me as a student does to people. Anyhow, I really liked him and think of him whenever I read this poem. It's appropriate that it's a damn good one.