Poem Summary

Lines 1-4

In the first stanza, the speaker of the poem, one of the “people on the pavement,” implies by contrast that Richard Cory is not on the pavement with him and his lower-class peers. The speaker calls Cory a “gentleman,” suggesting his upper-class status, and he makes puns on “sole,” meaning both the bottoms of shoes and a person’s spiritual essence, and “crown,” meaning both the top of one’s head and a symbol of royalty worn on the head. The word “imperially” also suggests royalty. And the expression “clean favored” may imply both that Cory is well groomed and that he is clearly a man of privilege.

Line 5

The description of Cory as “quietly arrayed” is an oxymoron because it seems to contradict itself. The word “quietly” implies that Cory is dressed conservatively rather than in loud clothing, but the word “arrayed” means that he is dressed in fancy clothing. “Arrayed” also implies orderliness, and may mean dressed or ordered for battle, suggesting — like the word “crown” earlier — Cory’s kingliness. The whole expression may literally refer to a fine, well-pressed, dark-colored suit, but the conflict between the definitions of the two words, when they are applied to clothing, also reflects the speaker’s perception of Cory as both normal and superior.

Lines 6-8

The speaker comments that Cory was “human,” or normal, in conversation, yet that he created abnormal excitement (“fluttered pulses”) with such regular expressions as “Good-morning.” The line break and the comma after “he said” in line 3 allow for an abnormal pause before “Good-morning.” This pause dramatizes the second of anticipation one of the people on the pavement might feel in awaiting the simplest of pronouncements from the kingly Cory. Literally, “glittered” may refer to some watch chain or jewelry or tie-pin that Cory wears catching the sunlight, but figuratively it may refer to the armor of a king ready for battle or to the unusual spiritual aura that seems to surround the man.

Lines 9-10

The speaker compares Cory to a king, at least in wealth, and he remarks that Cory has a good education “in every grace,” suggesting both that Cory is well read and may speak several foreign languages, and that he has excellent manners, can make small talk easily, and knows which fork to use at a fancy dinner. The word “grace” also has religious significance; in Christian belief, people are saved from eternal damnation by the grace of God. The speaker’s use of the word may imply that he looks upon Cory as blessed.

Lines 11-12

These lines explain that the speaker and his class (“us”) wish that they could be Richard Cory. But the phrasing may indicate rather that they want his kinglike “place” in society. The apparently throwaway phrase “In fine” in line 11 is loaded with possible significance. “Fine” can mean “finery,” referring to Cory’s clothes, wealth, manners, and education. Or it can mean “the end” (in music), foreshadowing Cory’s tragic death. Or it can mean “a monetary penalty”; Cory loses everything when he commits suicide. When these three definitions are read in the poem, they suggest that Cory is everything in finery, in death, and in monetary punishment that could make the speaker wish to be dressed in fine clothes, dead, and with his money taken from him.

Lines 13-16

At the time he addresses the reader, the speaker already knows that Richard Cory has shot himself in the head. For maximum irony, and to achieve as much shock effect as possible on his audience, the speaker saves this revelation until the end, but he may feel that his behavior and attitude previous to Cory’s suicide were inappropriate. He and his working-class peers worked and expected “the light” to come. Meanwhile, they could not afford meat because it was too expensive, and they were unsatisfied with the bread they could afford. “The light” is a vague expression, traditionally suggesting a mental, spiritual, or religious revelation. “The meat” and “the bread” are more concrete physical images, but in sequence with “the light,” they may take on more symbolic significance as synecdoches, or examples used to represent what they are examples of. “The meat” may represent and be an example of everything they could not afford to have but wanted badly and valued highly, and “the bread” may represent and be an example of everything they could have but did not enjoy or appreciate. Given that Richard Cory kills himself at night, “the light” may suggest a dawn of some sort, one which Richard Cory does not live to see. What seemed a “calm summer night” to the speaker was apparently not so calm for Richard Cory, even if it had the ultimate calming effect on him. And the dawn or revelation that the narrator seems to expect — how to be in Richard Cory’s place — ironically come like a bullet in the speaker’s head. Richard Cory’s place during his life was to be a kingly, upper-class, wealthy gentleman in fine clothes, but after the suicide, Richard Cory’s place is a grave. Since the speaker’s aim in life seems to have been to be like Richard Cory, Cory’s death brings his goals into question, if it does not outright kill them.

Media Adaptations

• An audio cassette, Edwin Arlington Robinson, from the Cross-Cultural Review Chapbook is available from Imperial International Learning.
• Part of the Sound Seminars series, Robert Pack: On Edwin Arlington Robinson was released by Jeffrey Norton Co. in 1962.