by Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869 - 1935)
Richard Cory
Language: English
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 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.
Authorship:
- by Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869 - 1935), "Richard Cory", appears in The Children of the Night, first published 1897 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by John Woods Duke (1899 - 1984), "Richard Cory", 1945, published 1948 [voice and piano], from Four Poems by Edwin Arlington Robinson, no. 1, Carl Fischer [ sung text checked 1 time]
- by Philip Frederick Wright James (1890 - 1975), "Richard Cory" [narrator and piano or orchestra] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
- by Charles Naginski (1909 - 1940), "Richard Cory", published 1940. [ sung text checked 1 time]
- by Paul Reif (1910 - 1978), "Richard Cory", published 1971. [voice and piano] [ sung text not yet checked against a primary source]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 16
Word count: 123