Chelsea Czinke
09/12/2012
Tuesday Thursday 11-12:20 am
William Beckham
Outside, Inside
The Richard Cory in the poem Richard Cory is envied by the people of the town. The envy the people had for Richard, setting him to a higher standard made him an outcast. Richard is compared to living as a king. Richard Cory may have been the richest man known but money did not bring him true happiness. The people of the town seemed to struggle day to day. Richard Cory did not have the same struggles as everyone else but he did seem to have his own struggles. The town’s people thought Richard was a king and had everything. Richard did not seem to have the same feeling, because at the end of the poem he shoots and kills himself. This poem sends the message that the outside appearance of a person might not always reflect what is on the inside. The people of the town envied Richard and thought his life was more than perfect. They held him to a higher set of standards as if he was more than just a human being. This was made clear throughout the whole poem especially in the third stanza, quoted, “in fine, we thought the he was everything to make us wish that we were in his place” (11, 12). It seems that the envy of the people of the town made Richard more of an outcast of the town rather than a part of it. At the beginning of the poem when it talks about how the people stop and stare when Richard Cory went in town definitely creates the first part of imagery in the poem. The people stop and watch him as if he is something they have not seen before, almost as if he is a god. They seemed to be shocked that when Richard spoke he was in fact human. He seemed to make people nervous just Czinke 2 being in their presence. This was portrayed when the poem states how Richard Cory fluttered pulses when he would say good-morning. This shows just how awkward the town’s people must have made him felt if his pulse is fluttering just to say a