“Richard Cory” by Edwin Arlington Robinson
Highlight first stanza:
Quatrain: four-line stanzas
Rhyme scheme: pattern of rhyming lines with same letter indicating same
sound
Abab cdcd efef ghgh
The rhyming draws attention to key ideas in each line: the town, him
(Richard), crown, slim, etc. These ideas are important because they create
the story of Richard Cory as a “celebrity” who suffers a downfall.
Highlight line 8:
“He glittered” means people look at him in awe; they put him on a
pedestal.
Highlight the last stanza:
The people of the town continue to work in hopes they can become as rich
and well-mannered as Richard Cory. They look on in awe.
Surprise ending! Richard kills himself at the end, showing that sometimes
what’s outside isn’t all that accurate.
“Miniver Cheevy”
Highlight the first stanza:
This is a quatrain.
Rhyme scheme here is abab. The point is to emphasize key words (the
words that rhyme).
For example, scorn is emphasized by the rhyme: Miniver is looked down
upon.
Season is emphasized: he grows skinnier as the seasons pass.
Highlight the second stanza:
Rhyme scheme is cdcd
Meaning: Miniver seems to long for a brighter, distant past.
Highlight the third stanza:
Miniver dreams of what he cannot have—adventure and glory.
Highlight the fourth stanza:
Miniver longs for fame.
Highlight the fifth stanza:
He would do ANYTHING to be what he is not.
Highlight the sixth stanza:
He feels that the time in which he lives is disgustingly commonplace.
Highlight the seventh stanza:
He obsesses about his longing, especially for riches.
Highlight the eighth stanza:
This poem ends with him sitting in a bar dwelling on what he cannot have.
The meter (rhythm) changes in each stanza in the last line. This
causes emphasis on the last line in each stanza, especially the last line of
the poem.