Compare and Contrast of Richard Cory and Not Waving but Drowning - Essay Example

Compare and Contrast "Richard Cory" and "Not Waving but Drowning" Richard Cory is a poem that was published in 1897 by Edwin Robinson, an American poet as a narrative. It describes a well-educated, wealthy, admired and mannerly person. However, in spite of this, he commits suicide. Robinson, throughout this story, expands the theme that we should not judge people solely on their appearance. Rather, a man is made up in a way more than what we see on the surface. The poet also suggests that happiness cannot be bought by money. Richard Cory’s admirers, the townspeople, are the speakers in this poem. Stevie Smith, a British poet, published not Waving but drowning in 1957. The poem is descriptive of a man in distress in the sea thrashing around. This makes onlookers believe the man is waving his arms at them. A drawing by the poet accompanies the poem showing a girl with her face framed by wet hair drawn up to her waist. This paper compares and contrasts these poems while analyzing them and to reflect on the historical context of the poet. Richard Cory’s suicide ought not to be a surprise (Harvey 6). It is inevitable and predetermined by selfhood subjugation. The self that subjugates itself, via the act of suicide, reclaims itself. Despite this, the poem does not recommend asserting ones individuality by suicide. Rather, it is observant of the extreme gestures that characterise extreme cases. Seeing the poem in this way makes it neither negative nor bitter. It would be wrong not to read the poem as granting Richard Cory, at the end, an oblique triumph. He has turned his back on supposing himself to be content by the suppositions of the towns-people. Richard Cory emerges from the poem, perhaps neurotically, triumphant over success’ imposed role. Not Waving but Drowning is a poem with many emotions that conflict (Harvey 4). The second stanza’s last line is akin to treating the dead man with mock-pity that is lackadaisical. His death is stated in a factual manner, without any emotions. The poet presents this intense subject matter in a somewhat dry manner. The misery is briefly told in the opening lines of the poem. The story is left to tell, together with the man who is drowning. The dying man, who is the poem’s subject, uses the poet’s pen to scream his pain. The devastating hopelessness of man is overwhelming to the point of overriding the narrators seeming indifference. Both poems have a similar theme in the fact that appearances at times can be deceiving (Harvey 5). Persons are not what they seem on the surface. Both poems attempt to convey that those around them can misinterpret a person’s actions since these actions may be misleading. Both subjects in the poems give audience them the wrong impression by making them believe that their lives are satisfactory while, in reality, both are miserable and in desperate need for help. In Richard Cory, the subject is commented on by a towns-person. He brings him out as an educated, wealthy and amicable person. He makes an impression that Cory was not arrogant, but friendly and gracious. “And he was always human when he talked”, (Harvey 5-6). There is no any indicator that this character misses something in his life until he commits suicide as the poems fades way. Not Waving but Drowning deals with a man that was mistaken to be waving while all the while he was drowning. This imagery has the purpose of showing that even as the man died, the audience thought that his frantic waving was a sign of happiness and contentment. They understood his intentions, and this led to his frantic appeals of help being mistaken for something else. “I was much further out than you thought/ And not waving but drowning” (Harvey 6). Another shared theme in the two poems has to do with the fact that people should be judged, not on what they possess in life but on who they personally are. In Richard Cory, the towns-people were blinded by what he possessed but not what he was. “And he was rich-yes, richer than a king, and admirably schooled in every grace:” (Parini 69). In fact, they wished they were in his place. They did this without caring to know what type of person Cory was. The only part where we are told of his personality is, “And he was quietly arrayed” (Parini 68). Had the town’s people cared to find out more about Richard Cory, they would have found the hole, in his soul, and tried to help him before he died. In Not Waving but Drowning, the poet tells us that the subject loved larking. He narrates, “Poor chap, he always loved larking” (Parini 69). His observers judged him by this, taking the trait that made him extremely sociable to heart. Thus, they mistook his covert appeals for help for more of his larking. Had they attempted to look past his facade, they would have heard his soul crying out for help, “Oh no no no it was too cold always” (Parini 72). The key difference between these poems is that while “Not Waving but drowning” gives the subject a voice, Richard Cory leaves the narrative solely to the town people. In “Not waving but drowning”, we hear the thoughts of the subject. The Poet narrates, “I was much further out than you thought/ And not waving but drowning” (LaBlanc 64). In Richard Cory, the narrative is fully told by the towns-people who reveal what they thought about the eventually deceased Richard Cory. Another difference is that in “Not Waving but Drowning”, the poem deals with the subjects call for help. This is something that Richard Cory does not explicitly do. The audience does not know the subject’s final act until his last actions are discovered. He says, “And Richard Cory, one calm summer night/Went home and put a bullet through his head” (LaBlanc 78). However, in “Not Waving but Drowning,” a sense of doom permeates the poem from the first line, “Nobody heard him, the dead man” (LaBlanc 81). The personal significance of “Not Waving but Drowning” has over-time become a topic of literary criticism, especially as concerns the life of Stevie Smith. The poet, during her lifestyle, has been treated for problems of a psychological nature. She contemplated taking her own life when she was eight. She also had a difficult and challenged childhood, while also struggling with the bitter thoughts of their father’s abandonment of his family. The image attached to the poem by Smith in the form of waist up girl with her face framed by wet hair has been suggested to be her (Rosenberg et al 56). To conclude that this poem is reflective of her life is not far off the mark. Edwin Robinson had numerous difficulties as a child in Maine (Rosenberg et al 56). His life was unhappy and stark. His parents wanted a girl thus did not christen him until he got to six months. These early problems led his works, Richard Cory included, possessing dark themes, which often deal with the dissolution f the American dream that had seemed, achieved. His brother Herman died from overdosing on drugs. He married Edwin’s love target and was charismatic and handsome. However, his business failed, he suffered from alcoholism and separated from his family. This was when he later died, poor, in a charity hospital (Rosenberg et al 56). Richard Cory is suspected to have been about his brother. To conclude, the similarity between the two poems is striking. Individuals suffering on the inside but having an “all is well” facade characterize both. They undergo the same anguish and end. The fact that both poets have had to suffer from difficult childhoods explains the dark and fatalist nature of their works. Works Cited Harvey R. G. The Wascana poetry anthology. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 1996. Print LaBlanc M. L. Poetry for students. Volume 10 : presenting analysis, context and criticism on commonly studied poetryAuthor: . Detroit: Gale Group, 2001. Print Parini J. The Wadsworth anthology of poetry. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006. Print Rosenberg, Liz and Deena November. I just hope it's lethal : poems of sadness, madness, and joy. Boston: Graphia/Houghton Mifflin, 2005. Print Read More