A "Correspondence of Eyes with Eyes": Edwin Arlington Robinson, Empathy, and Literary Naturalism

Abstract

EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON ’S POPULAR POEM “RICHARD CORY” () examines the world-warping pitfalls involved in knowing other minds. The poem records a series of assumptions made on the part of a tragic chorus peopled by the poor inhabitants of a small town, perceiving and speaking in aggregate. Seeing Cory’s wealth, gentlemanly deportment, and “human” affability, the townspeople express envy of his station and implicitly project stability and contentment onto someone who, much to their surprise, goes home “one calm summer night” to “put a bullet through his head” (Robinson , ). Indeed, before Cory committed suicide, the speakers admit: “We thought that he was everything/To make us wish that we were in his place” (Robinson , ). The poem’s flatly delivered, skull-