Richard Cory, The Growth Of Lorraine, And Miniver Cheevy
Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poems all tend to show light on topics that society tries to remain hidden. One such topic is the idea that the fate we are given isn’t always the fate we want. Three poems with this idea were Richard Cory, The Growth of Lorraine, and Miniver Cheevy. By analyzing these poems and how they are written, one can see that they cover the same idea and all depict a protagonist stuck in a world they do not want to be in. All three poems show the reader that our fate is not always the way we would like it to be. In Richard Cory, his life seemed great considering he had money, education, and was loved by the town but in the end it turns out there was something missing. Richard may have had everything that others wanted
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Within each poem, there is a shift in tone that adds to the overall mood of the poem. In Richard Cory the shift occurs in between the third and fourth stanza. The first 3 stanzas talk about how great everyone thinks his life is and how everyone would like to be him. But in the fourth it shifts as the speaker goes to back to work and Richard Cory suddenly shoots himself. The poem went from a light and happily toned poem to a darker tone that makes the reader question Richards reasoning behind his suicide. The shift in Miniver Cheevy happens right before the last stanza as the speaker begins to reveal that Miniver never really experienced any of the things he thought about. Before the last stanza it had seemed as though Miniver was in the same era he dreamt about just not as a knight or warrior. The author hints at the fact that Miniver is not of the time by mentioning a khaki suit which would have not been around during the Renaissance time. It isn’t until the end that the reader learns that Miniver is just a man born too late and doomed to live a life he is not fond of. The last poem, The Growth of Lorraine, has a shift from part I to part II. The speaker of the poem, presumably a friend of Lorraine, listens as she tells him her thoughts on life and how some people are born fortunate while others aren’t. She continues to talk about her being the type of person who isn’t born fortunate
Within each poem, there is a shift in tone that adds to the overall mood of the poem. In Richard Cory the shift occurs in between the third and fourth stanza. The first 3 stanzas talk about how great everyone thinks his life is and how everyone would like to be him. But in the fourth it shifts as the speaker goes to back to work and Richard Cory suddenly shoots himself. The poem went from a light and happily toned poem to a darker tone that makes the reader question Richards reasoning behind his suicide. The shift in Miniver Cheevy happens right before the last stanza as the speaker begins to reveal that Miniver never really experienced any of the things he thought about. Before the last stanza it had seemed as though Miniver was in the same era he dreamt about just not as a knight or warrior. The author hints at the fact that Miniver is not of the time by mentioning a khaki suit which would have not been around during the Renaissance time. It isn’t until the end that the reader learns that Miniver is just a man born too late and doomed to live a life he is not fond of. The last poem, The Growth of Lorraine, has a shift from part I to part II. The speaker of the poem, presumably a friend of Lorraine, listens as she tells him her thoughts on life and how some people are born fortunate while others aren’t. She continues to talk about her being the type of person who isn’t born fortunate