Analysis Of The Poem Richard Cory By Edwin A. Robinson

The Secret of Happiness
When talking about happiness, a vast majority of people will think of wealth, a good reputation, high social status. In Edwin A. Robinson’s poem “Richard Cory”, the author depicted a gentleman who was well-educated, polite, and “rich – yes, richer than a king”. In the people’s view, Richard Cory was a happy person. They admired him, and they “thought that he was everything, to make us wish that we were in his place.” However, Mr. Cory, “one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head” (Robinson). Nobody can image that this “happiest man on the earth” would commit a suicide. Nevertheless, was Richard Cory really happy? His happiness was concluded by bystanders, not himself. All he used to possess just
People with stronger abilities to realize their dreams are easier to feel happy when other conditions are equal. Steve Maraboli said “Happiness is not the absence of problems but the ability to deal with them.” Truly, there are numerous obstacles on the way of fulfilling expectations and getting happiness. If one has the ability to solve these problems, removing theses barriers, he or she will reach the goal more quickly compared with those who are stopped by the obstacles. Considering another reasonable assumption that these abilities can be reflected on individual income or work achievement, there are some statistic evidences supporting this correlation. In 2005, Robert Frank argued that when we plot average happiness versus income for clusters of people in a given country at a given time, we see that rich people are in fact much happier than poor people. Justin Wolfers, author of “Are Rich People Happier than Poor People?”, verified this argument using the data from the 2006 survey. By comparing rich and poor people, he estimated a happiness-income gradient that has a slope that is similar to what has been seen when comparing rich and poor countries (Wolfers). Just like individual, rich countries have advantageous competitiveness and high productivities, which can be regarded as stronger abilities. For the aspect of work achievement, Brooks claims that the secret to happiness through work is earned success. Americans who feel they are successful at work are twice as likely to say they are very happy overall as people who don’t feel that way. And these differences persist after controlling for income and other demographics. Furthermore, Brooks illustrates this kind of success with his