Richard Cory (Edwin Arlington Robinson)

Okay, so this is another cannon poem of Edwin Arlington Robinson (before I had talked about his Miniver Cheevy).

What I love about this poem is how I am reminded of the age I was when I first read it. I was in middle school and I was skimming along and was really stopped short by the last line which I had not foreseen. This poem is almost cliche by now it's so entrenched in common thought. It was even the source material for the same-named Simon and Garfunkel song. When I read this poem I am reminded of how dramatic reversals would always shock me, before I had read countless examples of this kind of twist.

So yeah, this poem is about how every single person on earth has troubles, but for me it's very reminiscent of the innocence of childhood.

Favorite line: "And he was always quietly arrayed,/And he was always human when he talked"