Original poem reprinted online here: "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson Originally read: February 18, 2013 More information about the Poet: Edwin Arlington Robinson So the "we" narrative has been done before and reinvented through stories like Kanthapura and A Rose for Emily (oddly, I cannot remember works that use the "we" narrative before this poem was written). So what does the "we" narrative contribute to a piece 1) I think isolation is the main point. That the "we" narrative is a collective thought (everyone is thinking this way) against the construction of the subject through the lens of the collective thought. For example, if the collective thought that subject was weird -- the style and the narrative adapts to the collective style. 2) In the "we" narratives that I've read, the collective doesn't know the "exact" nature of a person. Richard Cory, who seems to have everything he wants, ki...
Formerly the RetailMFA, This is the Poetry Blog of Darrell Dela Cruz