Edwin Arlington Robinson – Richard Cory and Miniver Cheevy

I thought the first poem, Richard Cory was actually a pretty good poem overall. I was interested the whole time and even though it ended in a very shocking and crazy way, I still thought that it was a great poem. I really do not like suicide, and it is not a subject that I like to talk about because it almost makes me uncomfortable. I always think that it is crazy that the people that usually commit suicide are the ones that have everything going for them and they have everything they want, just like it was in Richard Cory. Richard Cory had everything that he wanted or could ever have, and all of the people in the town looked to him and adored him. I think that he was the "hero' in this town at the beginning, because everyone looked to him and adored him. "Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentlemen from the sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim" (Robinson 575). You can see that everyone here looked up to him and just knew he was great.

I think that I see realism the most in Richard Cory. I think that the man in this story had a great life, and just like other people was willing to give it all up because he was selfish. "And he was rich- yes, richer than a king- And admirably schooled in every grace" (Robinson 575) I think that this statement right there shows us realism, because his life depicted was really a great life, and he had everything that he could ever want.

The Miniver Cheevy was another interesting poem, and one that was also very depressing. I thought it was depressing because Cheevy, instead of enjoying life, was always wishing that he had never been born, because he wanted to be born in the medieval times. "Miniver loved the days of old, When swords were bright and steeds were prancing" (Robinson 576). I think that this was kind of weird, but at the same time he was using a good imagination. I just do no think I would want to be born during that ttime.

Miniver Cheevy and Richard Cory were both over all okay, but they were both depressing kind of. I think they both shared realism, and in both stories the main character was not happy with the life that they were living. In Richard Cory, he had everything in the world and everyone looked up to him, but he was still unhappy enough about something to commit suicide. We never found out why he committed suicide, but he did for some reason. In Miniver Cheevy, he was just being weird and wishing that he was not alive, because if he was alive he wanted to be alive during the medieval times. I thought that in Miniver Cheevy, the main character really seemed childish, because he wanted a life with swords, and I mean that is just really not realistic.

Robinson, Edwin Arlington. "Miniver Cheevy" American Literature Textbook. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 576. Print.

Robinson, Edwin Arlington. "Richard Cory" American Literature Textbook. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 575. Print.