Richard Cory

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. 

Edwin Arlington Robinson

Activities

1. Ask a student to read the first stanza and the rest of the group not to look at the poem but to just listen to that part. In this way, students need to pay attention to the one who is reading and the reader needs to focus on his reading aloud clearly :) 

2. Who is described? What does he look like? Which person comes to your head who may be similar to Richard Cory? Why? By comparing Richard Cory with another person, students can see how minds and imagination work differently in each human being as they will probably provide different names. They can even discuss which aspects have made them think of that person. 

3. Let's read all together the second stanza. Would you like to meet him? If students do not know the meaning of some words just provide it by means of examples or mimics so as not to translate. 

4. Read the third stanza: Would you like to be in his place? Provide an argument for your answer. What are the pros and cons of being very rich? Draw a chart on the board to write the pros and cons students come up with. They will have an image of their ideas in an ORGANIZED way :) and will probably want THEIR idea to appear on the board ;) 

5. Read the last stanza. What is your reaction? What do you feel for him? What could have happened to him? By discussing possible motives, students may reach different conclusions about the human soul, the power of the mind, what money represents, etc !!! :) 

6. FINAL TASK! In pair, choose a dead famous person and write a poem about him/her. Follow this structure: 
1. physical description
2. personality
3. how people look at him/her; what people think about him/her. 
4. how he/she died. How people reacted. 
My students have produced INCREDIBLE poems with deep understanding of that person's soul and a lot of respect towards him/her. 

HOPE YOU HAVE ENJOYED THIS WONDERFUL POEM !! 
LET ME KNOW HOW IT WORKS FOR YOUR STUDENTS ;)