Realism in "Miniver Cheevy" and "Richard Cory"

"Richard Cory" and "Miniver Cheevy" were two poems that fit very well into the genre of Realism. Realism is all about a common, everyday hero who has big dreams and has to work hard in order to achieve them (Werlock). In literature days of old, the character was always some kind of great hero who went off to daring places and had great adventures in exotic locales. However, once Realism came along it allowed people to write stories or poems about real, everyday people like you and me. This was an important step in the advancement of literature because it allowed people to experience characters much like themselves in the works that they were reading. In this way, the works made people think about the world surrounding them and enabled the authors to introduce new points of view to common circumstances, and they could also teach lessons from these circumstances (Werlock).

In "Richard Cory" the subject of the poem is a rich man who seems to have everything, while the narrator seems to be an everyday man who wished he could be exactly like this glamorous man (Robinson). However, in the end the truth comes out. The important man, Richard Cory, shot himself in the head (Robinson). This shows the real idea that money and material items cannot buy happiness. Though the world was practically laid at Richard Cory's feet, for some reason he still was not happy. Yet those common people who desired his life and toiled for everything they had were somehow able to go through their life and find happiness somewhere else. This real idea that the author brought out with his poem was inspirational, because it made common people feel as though they were actually better off than or at least equal to the people who had everything they wanted.

In "Miniver Cheevy" the poem is about a man who feels as though he was born into the wrong time (Robinson). While he is stuck in his generation, he wishes he would have been born in the ages of medieval knights and lords (Robinson). This concept is also familiar to the idea of Realism. As previously stated, Realism discusses concepts that are familiar and relatable to the common problems of the time (Werlock). I believe that this idea of Miniver Cheevy wishing he was born in a different generation is familiar to the generation it was written in as well as our generation today. Generally speaking people always want what they do not have. Sometimes I wish I had been born in the 70's because I believe that this would have been a cool era to exist during. Many people feel this desire at some point in time to exist in a place that they were not born into. Because this is such a familiar concept for people, it functions well as a part of the Realism movement.

These two poems are very good examples of Realism because they talk about real concepts that apply to people in personal ways that they can relate to well.

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.

Werlock, Abby H. P. "realism." The Facts On File Companion to the American Short Story, Second Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. Feb 13, 2011.