Contents: Introduction Author Biography Poem Text Poem Summary Themes Historical Context Critical Overview Criticism Sources For Further Study

Style

“Richard Cory” is a dramatic monologue, meaning that the speaker is assumed to be speaking to an audience. It is divided into four verses of four lines apiece. Each line is in iambic pentameter, meaning that it can be divided into five pairs of accented and unaccented syllables, with the unaccented syllable first. The first line may thus be read in a singsong fashion, as if someone were skipping while reciting:

When e / ver Rich / ard Cor / y went / downtown 

The correct way to read poetry is to downplay these accents and to speak as naturally as possible, but the poet creates effects by varying this expected rhythm pattern to mimic the more complex patterns of human speech. Since it is impractical for a poet to write down every change in tone and voice he wants the reader to intone, the poet plays the reader’s tendency to read in a singsong pattern against the reader’s wish to read the poem as prose. The conflict between the two readings encourages the reader to find a compromise, and by varying the degree to which the reader is able to read singsong or prosy, the poet guides the reader to use the desired tone.

Other devices modify the accent pattern. For example, words with alliteration tend to be accented. In “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,” for example, the syllables that start with “p” are read with more emphasis than the other syllables. In line two of “Richard Cory,” the singsong reading puts the emphasis on the word “on,” but the alliteration with “people” and “pavement” gives more emphasis to the accents on the first syllables of those words and reduces the relative importance of the accent on “on.”

The rhyme scheme for “Richard Cory” is abab cdcd efef ghgh. This scheme with the last two lines repeating the rhythmical and rhyme pattern of the first two lines creates balance between these pairs of lines, which Robinson uses effectively to give a sense of control to the poem’s tone. Robinson ends sentences at the end of each pair of lines, and he slows the reading of the poem by ending clauses and phrases at the end of lines and putting commas, colons, and periods there. This technique is called end-stopping because it forces the reader to stop briefly at the end of each line.

Topics for Further Study

• Write a dialogue between Richard Cory and a Tilbury citizen. Let Cory explain his feelings at the time of his suicide and anticipate the response of the listener. Do they find common ground?
• Write Richard Cory’s suicide letter. In it, explain what he was upset about. Did he feel that the world had treated him unjustly, or was he suffering some sort of guilt about the way he had behaved? Be sure to address specific details to the relatives and friends that you think he left behind.
• Why did the people curse the bread? What does that tell you about their feelings about and opinion of Richard Cory?