American Literature / Unit 12 AML 1131 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"Richard Cory"
Captions available
The idea
The townspeople describe a rich, courteous, admirably schooled gentleman they envy, in the vocabulary of royalty, and the last line reports that on a calm summer night he went home and put a bullet through his head. The poem stops there, explaining nothing.
In practice
Four stanzas of envy, and one line of fact.
Where people slip
The speakers report the death without accounting for it.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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