Richard Cory from a Nineteenth and 20th Century Perspective Essay

Richard Cory from a Nineteenth and 20th Century Perspective - Essay ExampleThe words buzz off evolved from a nineteenth century idyll on a mysterious and respected man of a class admired from afar, to a modern range of a function of privilege, greed, self aggrandizement and abuse of position at the expense, as it is seen, of the common work man. There is clearly a connection in the struggle of the working classes prominent in Ameri tin world both at the turn-of-the-century and in the 1960s when Simon and Garfunkel wrote their lyrics. However, we see from the reaction of the speakers a growing sense of hopelessness and pettishness over time from Robinsons character who, while going without meat, and cursing the bread, still await the swingy. (Robinson 13-14). For Simon and Garfunkels character there seems no hope, no light as they say, And I curse the life history Im living and I curse my poverty (Simon and Garfunkel 6-7). As an extension of the realism of the nineteenth centur y, Robinson can be placed at the beginning of the naturalist movement, which sought to write about the fringes of society, the criminal, the fallen, the down-and-out, earning as one definition of their work the phrase sordid realism (Penrose par. 18). ... 3). Simon and Garfunkel, from a more acerbic, less flattering perspective suggest Cory as a superficial product of being born into society, a bankers save child (Simon and Garfunkel 3), hardly a gentleman whom, it is rumored, hosts parties and orgies on his yacht (Simon and Garfunkel 14). While Robinsons rich man is almost ethereal, the other is portrayed as a negative product of wealth and poweran advantage despised by the narrator who complains I work in his factory And I curse the life Im living (Simon and Garfunkel 27-28) From an historical perspective this difference in viewpoints projects the naivete of earlier times when the rich were placed on pedestals, and by the sixties were viewed in a less positive social light. Inste ad of Robinsons main character as a man possessed by disgust and self sorrow (Kaplan 36), Simon and Garfunkels character is a self aggrandizing, morally bankrupt product of wealth and privilege. Neither man can assuage their consciences Simon and Garfunkels although he freely gave to charity (Simon and Garfunkel 23), nor Robinsons, though he condescended to greet his lesser beings with Good-morning (Robinson 8). The overriding sense in reading both the poem and Simon and Garfunkels lyrics is one of irony, though in Simon and Garfunkels the reader gets a better glimpse of the man. Yet according to P. Cohen, Robinsons Cory is the perfect parable set against the perfect irony that pervades the work. P. Cohen writes Richard Coryillustrates how we, as individuals, should treasure that which we have, because the truly important things in life can be lost if our attention strays to envy.