Edwin Arlington Robinson – Richard Cory and Miniver Cheevy

Well, I liked Richard Cory to begin with, as I thought it was a good poem. But then, in the last line I find out that Richard Cory has shot himself in the head, for whatever reason. What this poem raises is the continuously puzzling question any suicide causes, which is WHY? I mean, Richard Cory had it all, he was rich and adored by everyone. They all thought he was everything, but then for whatever reason he decided to end his own life. The writing style was somewhat difficult to interpret about whether it was realism, naturalism, or regionalism. However, because it was dealing with life in general and ultimately death, I think that it is probably more of realism and naturalism combined. However, that would make sense given that naturalism is a sub category of realism. But, I found the poem good until the guy shot himself, and then it just became depressing and got me to think. Because, I think that under no circumstance should a person feel that their life is so miserable that they have to end it to make it better. And the thing is, Cory had it all, and yet he chose for whatever reason to commit suicide. I did like the lines however that said, "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" (Robinson 575). That explanation right there shows that there should be no reason for Richard Cory to be miserable, however there must have been something going on that Robinson does not go into, which makes me think as the reader that there was something else going on in his life that the rest of society did not know. Because of the way he was in being in the upper class and so well thought of, he could not lead on that he was leading a bad life, cause who would believe him? He had it all, so there should not be anything in the world that would come hard to him (Robinson 575).

Miniver Cheevy was another somewhat depressing poem. Because, it is talking about how unhappy Cheevy is that he was not born in medieval times. Cheevy is going on and on about how he wishes that he had not been born in the time that he was, because he is totally miserable and wants to be in another time. Unfortunately, he has no control over when he was born, so it is not like he can really do anything about it. I think that regionalism was probably the writing style used in this poem because, Cheevy wants to be somewhere else instead of living in the now. He is not happy with what he has, and thinks that in order to be happy he needs to be living in medieval times (Robinson 576).

Both poems illustrate being unhappy and miserable, which would give the readers something to relate to, because most of them were unhappy with their lives because of the war. Therefore, by being able to relate to the poems, it gave them something to blame their troubles onto instead of just themselves.

Works Cited:

Robinson, Edwin Arlington. "Miniver Cheevy" American Literature Textbook. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 576. Print.

Robinson, Edwin Arlington. "Richard Cory" American Literature Textbook. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 575. Print.