“Richard Cory” is a poem written by American poet Edwin Arlington Robinson, first published in The Children of the Night in 1897. Robinson, who was born in 1869 in Head Tide, Maine, often explored themes of personal despair, human isolation, and the dissonance between public perception and private reality in his poetry.
His own life, marked by hardship and relative obscurity for many years, likely influenced the deep psychological portraits he drew of his characters, with “Richard Cory” standing as one of the most striking examples. The poem is a concise but powerful narrative, written in iambic pentameter 1and structured in four quatrains2 with an ABAB rhyme scheme. It describes a man named Richard Cory, who is admired and envied by the townspeople.
He is portrayed as wealthy, well-educated, and graceful—someone who “glittered when he walked.” The townspeople view him as the embodiment of success and happiness. However, the poem delivers a stunning twist in the final line, when Cory, despite all outward appearances, “one calm summer night, / Went home and put a bullet through his head.” This abrupt ending shocks readers and underscores the poem’s central theme: the profound disconnect between how people are perceived and how they feel inside. The story behind “Richard Cory” has long fascinated readers and scholars alike.
The character Ben Nicholson, played by Paul Lambert misquotes the poem in the episode “The Case of the Envious Editor” of the CBS television series Perry Mason (1957–66) starring Raymond Burr.
It’s often read as a commentary on the American dream, social class disparities, and the illusion of happiness tied to wealth. Robinson never explicitly confirmed the identity of any real-life inspiration for Richard Cory, but the character is often seen as a universal figure—someone who represents the tragic irony of human existence, particularly within a capitalist society that equates material success with emotional well-being. Robinson himself struggled with poverty and depression,
which perhaps gave him unique insight into the emptiness that can sometimes accompany prosperity. “Richard Cory” also found new life in popular music through a song adaptation by Paul Simon, recorded by Simon & Garfunkel and released in 1966 on their album Sounds of Silence. In Simon’s version, the song remains largely faithful to Robinson’s poem in theme and structure,
although it expands Cory’s character and adds modern touches. The narrator, a factory worker, expresses both envy and confusion over Cory’s suicide. The chorus—“I wish that I could be / Richard Cory”—repeats even after Cory has taken his own life, underscoring the song’s irony and highlighting how deeply entrenched the myth of success is in the public psyche.
Richard Cory - by Paul Simon
They say that Richard Cory owns one half of this whole town,
With political connections to spread his wealth around.
Born into society, a banker's only child,
He had everything a man could want: power, grace, and style.
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.
The papers print his picture almost everywhere he goes:
Richard Cory at the opera, Richard Cory at a show.
And the rumor of his parties and the orgies on his yacht!
Oh, he surely must be happy with everything he's got.
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.
He freely gave to charity, he had the common touch,
And they were grateful for his patronage and thanked him very much,
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."
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.
The band Them, featuring Van Morrison, covered Paul Simon’s “Richard Cory” in 1966 with a raw, blues-rock energy that added a gritty edge to the song’s ironic narrative. Interestingly, Paul McCartney also performed this song live with Wings in the 1970s, further cementing its place in popular culture. McCartney’s association, while not as well-known as Simon’s original,
demonstrates the poem’s broad cultural reach and enduring relevance. Robinson would go on to win three Pulitzer Prizes for his poetry later in life, and his work, including “Richard Cory,” is now recognized as foundational in the canon of American literature. The poem continues to be studied and interpreted in various contexts—literary, psychological, sociological—and its tragic punchline still resonates powerfully more than a century after its publication. It remains a chilling reminder that wealth and admiration do not guarantee inner peace.
The song was covered by Wings during their 1975–1976 Wings Over The World tour (available on the 1976 album Wings Over America). Denny Laine sang lead. In the version released on Wings Over America, during the first chorus line Laine (jokingly) substitutes John Denver’s name for Richard Cory’s, thus inciting a roar of laughter and applause from the audience. Bill King, reviewing the album in the Atlanta Constitution at the time of its release, interpreted this as “a little stage humour”.
Footnotes
- Iambic pentameter is a metrical pattern commonly used in English poetry, consisting of five feet per line, with each foot made up of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable (da-DUM). This rhythm mimics natural speech and has been a staple in English verse since the time of Geoffrey Chaucer, reaching its peak in the works of William Shakespeare and John Milton. In a line of iambic pentameter, the alternating syllables create a flowing, rhythmic cadence—for example, the line “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 demonstrates this structure. Though often associated with traditional or formal poetry, iambic pentameter can also be adapted for modern use, adding musicality and emphasis to language without sounding overly rigid or artificial. ↩︎
- A quatrain is a stanza or complete poem composed of four lines, typically with a specific rhyme scheme such as ABAB, AABB, or ABBA, though variations exist. Quatrains are one of the most versatile and common stanza forms in English-language poetry, used in everything from nursery rhymes to complex formal verse. They offer poets a concise structure within which to develop a theme, contrast ideas, or deliver a narrative turn, as seen in many of Emily Dickinson’s and William Blake’s works. Because of their compactness and rhythmic possibilities, quatrains often serve as building blocks for longer poems, and their symmetrical form contributes to memorability and musicality in verse. ↩︎
Further Reading
Sources
- Edwin Arlington Robinson https://www.earobinson.com/
- Penny’s Poetry Pages Wiki https://pennyspoetry.fandom.com/wiki/Richard_Cory_/_Edwin_Arlington_Robinson
- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Cory
- 45 Cat https://www.45cat.com/
- Wikipedia “Wings over America” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings_over_America
