Richard Cory [poem analysis]

Richard Cory
by Edwin Arlington Robinson

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean-favoured 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 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,
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet in his head.

Words definition:

Pavement: (n) Sidewalk.

Sole: (n) The underside of the foot.

Arrayed: array (v) To dress in finery; adorn.

Fluttered: flutter (v) To vibrate or beat rapidly or erratically.

Glittered: glitter (v) To be brilliantly, often deceptively, attractive.

In fine: in conclusion.

Explanation:
Richard Cory is a rich dud and a "gentleman from [head] to [toe]". He's like a God for the people that look at his on the sidewalk. However, an irony (or paradox) has been shown at the end: "the tale of a rich man with a hollow center, or as a comment on the gulf between appearance and reality" (source: http://www.enotes.com/poetry-criticism/richard-cory-edwin-arlington-robinson - yeah, read the critic and you'll get everything. XD)

Spirit wrote:Explanation:
Richard Cory is a rich dud and a "gentleman from [head] to [toe]". He's like a God for the people that look at his on the sidewalk. However, an irony (or paradox) has been shown at the end: "the tale of a rich man with a hollow center, or as a comment on the gulf between appearance and reality" (source: http://www.enotes.com/poetry-criticism/richard-cory-edwin-arlington-robinson - yeah, read the critic and you'll get everything. XD)

That's all you got? We should ask someone else for deeper explanation... -________-lll