Edwin Arlington - "Richard Cory"

I thought that this poem was pretty sad, but I kind of expected it to go the way it went. "Richard Cory" had a lot of meaning behind it and even though it was short I still feel like I can write quite a bit about it. It is about this guy by the name of Richard Cory who everyone loved and admired. He was rich and smart. Then one day he decides to kill himself with a gun: "And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet in his head" (Robinson).
Most people probably would think "why would he do them to himself?" or "he had so much going in his life." Things like this happen now and will probably continue to happen, which quite frankly sucks but it's the truth. What seems to be a cool person with a lot going for them is actually very depressed and not happy with their life.
I think that Richard Cory got too into material things. As it said in the poem: "And he was rich, yes, richer than a king". He probably got too caught up in everything and too stressed about being the perfect guy with all of the riches. He was probably focusing more on what other people expected out of him and all the material things he could get out of it than his own happiness along the way.
This shows Thoreau's belief in rejecting materialism ("Thoreau"). It kind of shows just because you have all the riches, it doesn't mean you're happy and that material things aren't the most important things in life. You should do things because they make you happy. This story also shows how Richard is kind of distant from himself which is the opposite of what Emerson believed. Emerson believes in individualism and keeping in touch with yourself ("Emerson"). Richard even lost touch with himself (and more in touch with material items) so much so that he killed himself (Robinson).

Robinson, Edwin Arlington. "Richard Cory." Poemhunter.com. Web. 06 Mar. 2012. .


"Henry David Thoreau." (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Web. 23 Feb. 2012. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/thoreau/.

"Ralph Waldo Emerson." (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Web. 23 Feb. 2012. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/emerson/.