Richard Cory
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,We people on the pavement looked at him:He was a gentleman from sole to crown,Clean favored, and imperially slim.
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.
And he was rich, -- yes, richer than a king, --And admirably schooled in every grace:In fine, we thought that he was everythingTo 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;And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,Went home and put a bullet through his head.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- imperially adv.
- In an imperial manner.
- admirably adv.
- In an admirable manner.
- cursed a.
- Deserving a curse; execrable; hateful; detestable; abominable.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Richard Cory is in the public domain. This text is taken from Children of the Night, Project Gutenberg ebook #313; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Edwin Arlington Robinson, Richard Cory, in The Children of the Night (1897), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #313, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/robinson-children-of-night/richard-cory.html, id L07987.
Form and metre
Richard Cory is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 6% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABAB townA · himB · crownA · slimB
- 2 -A-A arrayed · talkedA · said · walkedA
- 3 ABAB kingA · graceB · everythingA · placeB
- 4 ABAB lightA · breadB · nightA · headB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Whenever Richard Cory went down town, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘/˘··· |
| We people on the pavement looked at him: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| He was a gentleman from sole to crown, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Clean favored, and imperially slim. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘˘· |
| And he was always quietly arrayed, | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘/ |
| And he was always human when he talked; | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| But still he fluttered pulses when he said, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| "Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And he was rich, -- yes, richer than a king, -- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And admirably schooled in every grace: | 10 | ·/˘˘˘··/˘· |
| In fine, we thought that he was everything | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To make us wish that we were in his place. | 10 | ·········· |
| So on we worked, and waited for the light, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And went without the meat, and cursed the bread; | 10 | ·········· |
| And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Went home and put a bullet through his head. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.