"Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson
The poem begins by describing Richard Cory, "Clean favored,/ and imperially slim" followed by, "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--." A very interesting verse is the following, "And he was always human when he talked." In other words, he looked so awe-inspiring that people doubted he was of this world. Moreover, the poem also expresses how everyone felt around him, "We people looked at him:/ He was a gentleman from sole to crown," and, "In fine, we thought 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." They all feel jealousy towards his fortune and status and wish to be in his shoes. However, they find out Richard Cory shoots himself and are faced with the reality that even he, with his fortune and kingly manner, felt misery and despair. The poem leaves the reader hanging because there is still an untold story about Richard Cory; his truly personal story, not what everyone saw in the exterior.
I agree with your analysis of Richard Cory; the townspeople didn't really know who he was so it is hard to fathom why he would kill himself from their perspective. I feel that when he killed himself it was a statement that not only are people not always what they seem, but what people think they know about someone and who they really are, are totally different matters. Had any of the towns people gotten to know Richard Cory perhaps we'd have a motive behind his suicide or a different outcome entirely. It gives me the feeling of being on the outside looking in, only seeing part of who he truly was.
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