Edwin Arlington Robinson, the author of the world renown poem “Richard Cory”, was born in Head Tide, Maine on December 22, 1969. Robinson’s early difficulties led many of his poems to have a dark suspicion and his stories to deal with an American life gone bad. At the age of 21, Edwin entered Harvard University as a special student. He took classes in English, French, and Shakespeare, as well as one on Anglo-Saxon that he later dropped. Robinson’s desire while studying was to be published in the Harvard literary journals. Within the first 14 days, the Harvard Advocate published Robinson’s “Ballade of a Ship”. This was the beginning of Robinson’s writing career.
After the death of Edwin’s father, he moved to New York where he would pursue his writing career. Living in the big apple, Edwin met and worked with many different writers and artists who inspired his work. In 1896, he self-published his first book, The Torrent and the Night Before, paying 100 dollars for 500 copies. His second volume, Children of the Night, had a somewhat wider circulation. The volume brought president The...
Everett, Nicholas From The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-century Poetry in English. Ed. Ian Hamiltong. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. Copyright 1994 by Oxford University Press.
Robinson, Edward Arlington. "Richard Cory." The Pocket Book of Modern Verse. New York: Washington Square Press, 1954. 153.
Throughout Marilynne Robinson’s works, readers are often reminded of themes that defy the status quo of popular ideas at the time. She explores transience and loneliness, amongst other ideas as a way of expressing that being individual, and going against what is deemed normal in society is acceptable. Robinson utilizes traditional literary devices in order to highlight these concepts.
Both "Richard Cory" poems by Paul Simon and Edwin Robinson reflect the idea of the American Dream, but both in distinct ways. The two poems are different in the ways that societal views have changed through time based on wealth. The image society portrays the American Dream is depicted in the poems by the conversion from royalty to fame. This change of the American Dream is shown through many symbols, but wealth best illustrates how times have changed from the Cory of Robinson's poem, to that of the poem by Paul Simon.
Waggoner, Hyatt H. "A Writer of Poems: The Life and Work of Robert Frost," The Times Literary Supplement. April 16, 1971, 433-34.
Poet, journalist, essayist, and novelist Richard Wright developed from an uneducated Southerner to one of the most cosmopolitan, politically active writers in American literature. In many of Richard Wright's works, he exemplifies his own life and proves to “white” America that African American literature should be taken seriously. Before Wright, “white” America failed to acknowledge the role African American writing played in shaping American culture. It was shocking in itself that an African American could write at all. Thus, Richard Wright is well known as the father of African American literature mainly because of his ability to challenge the literary stereotypes given to African Americans.
Jackie Robinson Jackie Robinson is a major cultural hero who has affected our society in a major way. He was the first African-American in Major League Baseball, breaking the color barrier and paving the way for many other African-Americans in baseball and other sports all over. Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born on January 31, 1919, in Cairo, Georgia to a family of sharecroppers. He was the youngest child, he had 4 siblings. In 1920 his father left the family, leaving his mother to take care of all 5 children.
Poems, Poets, Poetry: An Introduction and Anthology. 3rd ed. Ed. Helen Vendler. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s,
Charters, Ann & Samuel. Literature and its Writers. 6th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013. 137-147. Print.
We are able to gather the image of an extremely polished male who is not only a man but a gentleman. Richard is wealthy beyond measure and the people clearly lust for his riches. The metaphor throughout the poem which compares Richard to wealth teaches a strong lesson to the townspeople. The author closes this poem with the lines “And Richard Cory, one calm summer night / went home and put a bullet through his head. (15-16)” If we once again compare Richard to wealth, this phrase indicates that although the townspeople believe they will gain happiness from obtaining wealth, they may actually find that their calm is destroyed by wealth. Without the use of imagery and metaphor acting together throughout this piece of literature, it is my opinion that the reader may not have gained a clear picture of Richard Cory and his relationship of superiority with the people of the
Lentricchia, Frank. Robert Frost: Modern Poetics and the Landscape of Self. Durham: Duke University Press. 1975. 103-107.
Greiner, Donald J. Robert Frost: The Poet and His Critics. Chicago: American Library Association, 1974.
Oglivie, John T. “From Woods to Stars: A Pattern of Imagery in Robert Frost’s Poetry.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jean Stine. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983. Print.
Frost, Robert. New Enlarged Anthology of Robert Frost's Poems. New York: Washington Square Press, 1971.
Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. 10th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2013. Print.