Pre-AP English II: Poems for IWA 3.1 ("Richard Cory")

Use these two poems to address the prompt for IWA 3.1 ("Richard Cory").

Richard Cory
by Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869–1935)

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.

And he was rich—yes, richer than a king,
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head.



Richard Cory
by Paul Simon (1941- )

They say that Richard Cory owns one half of this whole town,
With political connections to spread his wealth around.
Born into society, a banker's only child,
He had everything a man could want: power, grace, and style.

[Chorus]
But I work in his factory
And I curse the life I'm living
And I curse my poverty
And I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be,
Oh, I wish that I could be
Richard Cory.

The papers print his picture almost everywhere he goes:
Richard Cory at the opera, Richard Cory at a show.
And the rumor of his parties and the orgies on his yacht!
Oh, he surely must be happy with everything he's got.

[Chorus]

He freely gave to charity, he had the common touch,
And they were grateful for his patronage and thanked him very much,
So my mind was filled with wonder when the evening headlines read:
"Richard Cory went home last night and put a bullet through his head."

[Chorus]

Pre-AP English II: IWA #3.1 ("Richard Cory")

The images and word choices an author chooses have a direct impact on their readers’ moods. In a well-developed essay analyze and explore how Edwin Arlington Robinson and Paul Simon use diction and imagery to build narrative tone and consequently evoke different responses from the reader.

Tips to success:

Focus on both of the poems. Focusing on only Robinson’s or Simon’s poem will immediately result in a REDO grade (no points). Your conclusion should reveal how the speakers’ different choices of words and images result in different reader responses.

Do not simply recount the plot or attributes of the characters (speaker, Richard Cory, etc.). You must specify what tone(s) the speakers reveal through their selections of images and words and what reaction(s)—mood(s)—they produce in a hypothetical, typical reader. Extensive lack of focus on diction and imagery will result in a REDO grade (no points), not a REWRITE (70 points).

The earlier you turn in a draft that you expect to earn an 70 (only revision is needed) the more likely you are to eventually receive an 70 (your idea of what is revision-only and my idea of what is revision-only may differ) or higher (because you’ve refined your essay on your own before you turned it in).

This will be the last time a70-point grade will be given on an IWA. Last year many students who had never bothered to rewrite an essay during the first semester had a very difficult time during the second semester when an 85 was required to avoid P.A. and/or IWA n.1.

This is also the last time IWAs may be turned in handwritten. Please see the note on the bonus in the next paragraph.

Paper should be about two-pages long, handwritten, or one-page long, typed, double spaced, 12-point Times New Roman or Garamond. Five bonus points will be awarded to properly typed essays.



Daily P.A. for all students writing IWA 3.1 begins Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Drop-Dead Deadline: Tuesday, January 24, 2012.

P.A. will be assigned every day (including ACP test days) until a grade of 70 is achieved.