May 17, 2015
“Unknown Citizen” & “Richard Cory”
Many people in today’s society fantasize over their appearance and if they’ll be remembered. “Richard Cory” and “The Unknown Citizen” are both powerful and distinctive condemnations of the importance of appearance before and after death. Robinson’s narrative poem speaks of a man who appeared to be well with his health and riches but then had a tragic turn for the worse. Auden’s poem focuses on a man who was a normal by the peoples’ means and had not much effect, such as creating an awe when he walks or talks like Richard Cory, during his time. Robinson’s poem follows Auden’s because based on the diction, Robinson’s poem is more moderate in language than Auden’s, a fact which accounts to both differences and similarities. The importance of appearance may be compared on the basis of the characters’ point of views, inability of self-assertion, and their social rank among their peers.
Both poems, even though having the same basis, have very different point of views. Robinson’s second statement, “We people on the pavement looked at him:” suggests that the speaker of the poem, or point of view, was a common, or townsman, who envied Cory for his wealth and riches. This point of view shows how Richard Cory did well in life through his riches, public appearance, and ability to deceive the appearance of his health which was overrun with depression and sickness. On the other hand, Auden’s point of view came from a government official who “sits behind a desk all day” just like the citizen did before passing. To show the normality of the unknown citizen, a government official with facts and stats was used as the speaker to put emphasis on the uncertainty of who the man was because he was not important and had not much effect throughout his life. Both “Richard Cory” and “The Unknown Citizen” use first person plural points of view, a fellow citizen and a federal bureaucrat, to show the standing of the characters among their peers.
A similarity between Auden’s and Robinson’s poems is the character’s disability of self-assertion. For example, Richard Cory, even though “admirably schooled in every grace” and “richer than a king,” he was “always quietly arrayed.” Never being boastful or bragging about his lavish lifestyle, Richard Cory never let anyone else into his personal life to activities unseen. Similarly, the citizen was the exact same way. A “saint” to the government, always being obedient like a dog, doing what he was told with “no complaints,” the citizen lived normal, average life as a man with a job and family. His lack of self-assertion however, lead to his unknown personality by the Greater Community or State because he was well-liked and favored by his fellow citizens, according to the poem. All that he would be considered as now is a statistic “found by the Bureau of Statistics.” Together, both Cory and the citizen lacked the ability of self-assertion causing their deaths to not have much affect on their peers except to leave a question of how or why.
Likewise, both poems explore a sense of social rank for each character through their social standards. For example, Richard Cory, well with riches, was well admired by the townsmen who “looked at him” when he “glittered while walking and fluttering pulses when he spoke.” The townsmen envied him because they thought “he was everything” with a life full of riches, wealth, and happiness. The citizen, a normal man who “was named and had five children” was not as bountiful in money nor admired as much as Richard Cory. Just a simple man full of love and happiness for his family, had no greater effect. Even though expressed differently, both poems showed a social rank that affected the reaction of people towards the deaths of Richard Cory and the citizen.
Similarly, the poems share a major theme: that no matter the social or physical appearance of a person, people are imperfect and everyone has something eating them from the inside out. Both characters played a role in society representing that whether someone is full of life and family or full of riches, everyone is equal and can suffer from “attributes” that can either speed up or stall the circle of life.
Even though sharing the same “bottom line,” both poems are very individual and distinct. From a man who had everything going for him to a man who lived an average life with a wife and children occupied with a desk job, the poems express their point of appearance before and after death based on social and physical rank and appearance.