Richard Cory Activity

Pre-Reading

Please answer the following questions individually.

1. What do you notice about a person when you meet them for the first time?

2. What makes the greatest impression on you? Explain.

3. Have you ever formed a first impression about an individual that was correct? Incorrect?
Explain.

Read and annotate the poem. Next to each stanza write what it means or what is trying to be
conveyed. Look for the literary devices that the author uses.

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.
Post Reading Questions

Please answer the following questions with your assigned table groups. Everyone in the group
must have their own worksheet filled out.

1. Describe Richard Cory’s physical appearance. Support with evidence from the text.

2. Describe his characteristics. What does he look like? How does he act? What is distinct
about him? Support with evidence from text.

3. Compare and contrast the townspeople and Richard Cory. Need at least three things in
each. Support with evidence from the text.

Richard Cory Townspeople

4. How do the townspeople view Richard Cory? Support with evidence from the text.

5. Explain the situational irony that occurs in the poem. Support with evidence from the
text.

6. What other literary devices does the author use in the poem. What is the effect? Support
with evidence from the text.