Is
Being Rich Really All That
“Richard
Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson
"Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich—yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head."
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
And he was rich—yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.
So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head."
A lot of people read this poem and are either astonished or laughs
at it, but it also makes you think. You never think about rich people being suicidal
or even depressed. Most think just because someone has money that they are
happy. In the poem, everyone wishes they
where him, yet they choose not to get to know him. The town’s people cursed the
fact that they had no meat, yet they have friends and he had none. They wish
they where him, but he wishes he was one of them. Most people would never think
of the rich as being depress, I thought that once, but then I read this and I
will never think the same. The poem has a good lesson. A song has even been written
about it with the same name. Simon and Garfunkel wrote it in the late sixties.
Looks can be very deceiving, the poorest people can be the happiest while the
richest are so depress that they kill themselves, like Richard Cory. Don’t
people ever remember that old saying, “Sometimes the poor are richer than the richest
man alive.” The saying means that happiness is more important than money. We
all wish we had more money, but is there such thing as too much money? Some may
agree with me, while others may not. But
a man like Richard would probably agree with me, that being rich isn’t
everything. So next time you walk by a person you think is better off than you,
stop and talk to them. They may not be
as happy as you think. Maybe all they
really need to be happy is to be your friend.
Don’t be like the people in this poem.
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