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Barbie Doll And Richard Cory Analysis

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Considered very significant to numerous people, happiness and external appearances plays a part in themes of various works. Therefore, these themes of people’s happiness and outward looks are usually ones that many people want to experience. Reading works with these themes can allow the reader to view the subject within the author’s point of view. Poems with these themes lets the readers understand the topic through new eyes, and they may even inspire the reader think about what is truly valuable in life. Two poems that share the themes of happiness and external appearances are Marge Percy’s “Barbie Doll” and Edwin Robinson’s “Richard Cory”. Through these themes of the poems, they show what the minds and lives of those whose lives revolve around…show more content…
It starts off telling the audience about the man and how his life usually is like. As the poem begins, Richard Cory seems well respected in the town as the Robinson wrote, “Whenever Richard Cory went down town, /We people on the pavement looked at him” (lines 1-2). Another example of the people admiring Cory, can be seen when Robinson wrote “But still he fluttered pulses when he said, / ‘Good-morning’, and he glittered when he walked” (7-8). This can be regarded that the other people in town held Cory in high esteem as he traveled through and greeted them, making their hearts flutter. In the second stanza of the poem, Cory is contrasted between his “regal self-image and Cory as the restrained communicator who patronizingly bestows favors upon his lowly brethren, the townspeople” (Kavka 152). The difference is expressed by the lines “And he was always quietly arrayed, / And he was always human when he talked” (5-6). These lines are used to ensure us, the observer, that Richard Cory is still human in a rather remorseful way (Kavka 152). The poem “Richard Cory” written by Edwin Robinson carries an identifiable theme within the work. The theme of this poem is that since a person may have riches and are living in luxury does not guarantee that they are content with the life they…show more content…
"Richard Cory's Suicide: A Psychoanalyst's View." Colby Library Quarterly, series 11, no.3, September 1975, p.150-159 https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cq/vol11/iss3/5. Accessed 1 Mar 2018. Mays, Kelly J. ed. “Theme and Tone.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Shorter 12th ed. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2016, pp. 794-800. "Overview: 'Barbie Doll'." Poetry for Students, edited by Ira Mark Milne, vol. 9, Gale, 2000. Literature Resource Center, http://www.northeaststate.edu:2061/apps/doc/H1430005138/GLS?u=tel_a_nestcc&sid=GLS&xid=d074d68c. Accessed 1 Mar. 2018. Piercy, Marge. “Barbie Doll.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. Shorter 12th ed. New York: Norton 2016, p. 1124. "Richard Cory." Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature, Merriam-Webster, 1995. Academic OneFile, http://www.northeaststate.edu:2061/apps/doc/A148922837/AONE?u=tel_a_nestcc&sid=AONE&xid=c9ee743f. Accessed 15 Mar. 2018. Robinson, Edwin A. “Richard Cory.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. Shorter 12th ed. New York: Norton 2016, p.
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