Edwin Arlington Robinson "Richard Cory" and "Miniver Cheevy"

"Miniver Cheevy" and "Richard Cory" are two effective poems composed by Edwin Arlington Robinson. Robinson's two pieces can adequately formulate a strong relation to the famous literary genre, Realism. Realism, being a genre composed of factual material and ideals, often found prominence in literature within this period. Realism was not just subjected to writing, though. Realism often found itself in music and art. Because of this, the genre cannot be narrowed to a specific theme or idea solely determined by literature. Putting this aside, though, Robinson's piece used much evidence from this evident genre. Also correlating with Realism, Robinson's characters in each of these poems seem to relate to a more average or common person, as opposed to the "hero" defined in other genres of literature. Due to this quality, readers of these two poems can connect or relate to these characters much more than opposing characters in contrasting genres of literature. Because Robinson retains the use of simplicity, yet structure through these two pieces, an audience is much easier to define. With these aspects of the poems, a reader may continue to relate to Robinson's literary work and its intentions.

Throughout the literary piece, it is evident that it heavily correlates with the genre of Realism. The poems are set with average characters, using common aspects of society and simplicity. Characters such as these can heavily relate to the everyday readers who enjoy these pieces (Robinson). Because of this aspect, Robinson obtains the support and audience deserved due to his ability to compose factual characters and story-lines. One of the most common characteristics among literature in the genre of Realism would be the composition of factual characters, using average and simplistic ideals to represent the story. Most often, the character is an average, middle-class person instead of an extraordinary hero. Fortunately Robinson retains these characters in his literary pieces (Robinson). This is relative to the idea of Realism and all of its subgenres. Besides the obvious point of the character, Richard Cory, and his undeniable wealth (Robinson). Besides this difference in the characteristics of the protagonist, both are common characters, using their simplicity and originality to define Realism and all of its intentions.

There are many characteristics of Realism literature used in Edwin Arlington Robinson’s two poems, “Richard Cory” and “Miniver Cheevy.” The major aspects of Realism consist of simplistic writing and a psychological focus on the protagonist, who is most commonly an average, middle-class character. The common similarities between each character is that there is a lack of religion and that it may be what caused the demise of each character. These characteristics can be seen in both of these poems, which are adequate examples of Realism in the literary community.

Robinson, Edwin Arlington. "Richard Cory." Glencoe American Literature. comp. Wilhelm, Jeffery. McGraw Hill. Columbus, OH. 2009. pg. 575.

Robinson, Edwin Arlington. "Miniver Cheevy." Glencoe American Literature. comp. Wilhelm, Jeffery. McGraw Hill. Columbus, OH. 2009. pg. 576.