I chose the poem "Richard Cory," by Edwin Arlington Robinson. Edwin Arlington Robinson was an American poet, born on December 22, 1869. From several sources that I've read, Robinson describes his childhood as an unhappy one. His brother Herman died from a drug overdose. There are speculations that "Richard Cory" relates to the death of his brother. He wrote his poems in the late 1800's to the early 1900's. This period was around the time of the great depression. The lines, "So on we worked, and waited for the light, And went without the meat and cursed the bread;" relates to the people struggling and starving to survive through the depression. These poor people who cant even find something to eat, and are struggling to survive, watch Richard walking down the street as if he didn’t have a care in the world. They even used the word "glittered" to describe his carefree strut. At the end of the poem, I was shocked when he committed suicide. Throughout the poem he seemed that he was happy because of his money and his carefree act. Little did we know, he wasn’t. The poem didn’t say why he did it, but I think of it as one of the movies that end with "to be continued." Then there would be a sequel to the poem where we would find out why he killed himself.
In this poem, I think Robinson's use of rhyme scheme is an important element. The last word of every other sentence rhymes with each other. For example, in the first stanza “town” and “crown,” and “him” and “slim.” He seems to do that for the other three stanzas also.
Another poem from Robinson is “Cliff Klingenhagen.” In this poem, cliff and his guest are having dinner, when cliff pours a glass of wine and a glass of wormwood. Cliff could have easily taken the glass of wine over the bitter wormwood, but instead he gives the wine to his guest. It seems like he is a pessimistic person. He seems to accept the negative things and deal with them. He doesn’t seem to try to be happy or find happiness in his life. He could have easily poured himself a glass of wine. The link below has both of the poems that I've wrote about, as well as another poem called "Luke Havergal." http://www.serve.com/Lucius/Robinson.index.html.
As for the question, besides the poet being American and the structure of the poem, I don’t think there is anything that made the poems distinctly American. The poems that I've read are about things such as negativity and suicide. These problems don’t occur only in America, they’re happening everywhere, all over the world.
All in all, I actually enjoyed reading Robinson's poems. I really liked how I fully understood all the poems that I've read. It made me think more into the poem and get into the characters shoes. Also, I enjoyed the shocking twists and mysteries of each of Robinson’s poem.
In this poem, I think Robinson's use of rhyme scheme is an important element. The last word of every other sentence rhymes with each other. For example, in the first stanza “town” and “crown,” and “him” and “slim.” He seems to do that for the other three stanzas also.
Another poem from Robinson is “Cliff Klingenhagen.” In this poem, cliff and his guest are having dinner, when cliff pours a glass of wine and a glass of wormwood. Cliff could have easily taken the glass of wine over the bitter wormwood, but instead he gives the wine to his guest. It seems like he is a pessimistic person. He seems to accept the negative things and deal with them. He doesn’t seem to try to be happy or find happiness in his life. He could have easily poured himself a glass of wine. The link below has both of the poems that I've wrote about, as well as another poem called "Luke Havergal." http://www.serve.com/Lucius/Robinson.index.html.
As for the question, besides the poet being American and the structure of the poem, I don’t think there is anything that made the poems distinctly American. The poems that I've read are about things such as negativity and suicide. These problems don’t occur only in America, they’re happening everywhere, all over the world.
All in all, I actually enjoyed reading Robinson's poems. I really liked how I fully understood all the poems that I've read. It made me think more into the poem and get into the characters shoes. Also, I enjoyed the shocking twists and mysteries of each of Robinson’s poem.
The website that I used to find information was http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/391.
I liked the way you focused on each part of the assignment. Your paper is very orginized and easy to follow. I can tell you really researched and read your poems. You made me wanna read them!...Great job lann =]
ReplyDeletei liked the way you described all the different figurative language in the stories you read. i also liked how you explained vividly what each story was about.
ReplyDeleteI have always really loved this poem and i was happy you chose to analyse it. You did a great job explaining the meaning of the poem and I liked the other poem you chose.
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