Poems About Depressed People lol

Edwin Arlington Robinson is a poet known for his profound poems such as Richard Cory, Luke Havergal and Mr. Flood's Party. We read these three poems in class, and I'm here to tell you which one of the poems is the best because of the literary elements. The best poem of the three is Richard Cory, because of the symbolism and characterization.

In the poem, you can visualize Richard Cory in your mind based on the way he is described. Phrases such as, "Clean favored, and imperially slim," and "he fluttered pulses" help the reader understand who Richard Cory is, how he looks, how he acts, interacts with people, etc. Where Richard Cory excels in describing the character of Richard Cory, the poems of Luke Havergal and Mr. Flood's Party leave a lot of the character up to your imagination. This is a big flaw in those poems because 1. they're not as memorable and 2. you can imagine the setting the poem takes place in but it's difficult to follow the main character. For example, in Mr. Flood's Party, the poem hardly touches on Mr. Flood's actual appearance rather than the surrounding setting and the actions he takes. This lacks a likeable character that the audience can empathize with, and so the intention of the poem, (which is to understand what Mr. Flood is going through) is lost. The poem Luke Havergal uses lots of descriptive words and imagery to emphasize the color and darkness of the setting, but there isn't one line describing the appearance/features of Luke Havergal. To enjoy a story or a poem, it is important to have a character people may be able to relate to or at least try and understand. That's where Richard Cory succeeds and the other poems fail.

When it comes to symbolism, all three poems are worthy contenders, but Richard Cory stands out to me. Throughout the poem, if you dig deep enough, you'll notice symbolic innuendos about the character of Richard Cory. There's the underlying theme of royalty, evident in lines such as "sole to crown," "imperially slim," and "he glittered when he walked."  More obviously in the poem, it says "he was rich-yes, richer than a king-" but the less obvious lines reinforce the idea that Richard Cory appears as royalty to the regular people. This makes the last line of the poem where he commits suicide come as more of a surprise to the reader. Another example of symbolism in Richard Cory is found when using a compass as a reference. Lines like "went downtown" suggest Richard Cory going down a path to the south/the dark/hell/sadness. Direction suggesting good or bad is also used in Luke Havergal, in saying "Go to the western gate." However, I find that this literary device is not as useful in Luke Havergal because there is no shocking ending like there is in Richard Cory, so the hidden direction metaphors don't seem to go anywhere. In Mr. Flood's Party, symbolism can be seen in the theme of loneliness apparent throughout the poem, but it's more like a story than a poem that is leading somewhere like Richard Cory is. 

In conclusion, Richard Cory is the best poem of the three because of its effective use of symbolism and characterization. The other two poems are great poems as well but don't use literary devices as effectively as Richard Cory does to get its point across.