Richard Cory

In class today, we read the poem "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson.  I had only heard the name Richard Cory in the Simon & Garfunkel song of that same name; I did not know that it was also a poem.  I thought that was very cool and interesting.  Robinson’s poem portrays Cory as a wealthy, fit, and, and seemingly happy man.  However, at the end of the poem, it is revealed that Cory, “one calm summer night/Went home and put a bullet through his head.”
The Simon & Garfunkel song “Richard Cory” doesn’t use any of the exact lines from the poem, but it is clearly a direct reference to it.  The chorus is sang from the point of view of someone who works in Cory’s factory:

                                    But I work in his factory

                                    And I curse the life I’m living

And I curse my poverty

                                    And I wish that I could be

Oh, I wish that I could be

Oh, I wish that I could be Richard Cory

Even though the words to the song are very different from the words to the poem, both of them are similar in one way; the suicide of Richard Cory is very unexpected.  They just go on about his money and how happy he must be, but then it is suddenly revealed that he killed himself.  The last lines of the song are the only ones that are very similar to lines in the poem.

                                    So, my mind was filled with wonder

                                    When the evening headlines read

                                    Richard Cory went home last night

                                    And put a bullet through his head