Edwin Arlington Robinson and Alfred Tennyson: The Stories Behind the Poetry

Two of the greatest poems ever written that build enthusiasm and utter disbelief in their endings that leave room for thought. Robinson and Tennyson move their stories through explaining the characters, and virtually take them away from the direction they should have been heading, and instead into an enchanted world of depression, and feeling stagnate in life. While others have similar opinions of the poems, there are still questions that are left up for the readers to use their imaginations. Especially as you compare the two poems and how they were achieving the same purpose even though out of context.

Edwin Arlington Robinson's Richard Cory poem is the classic case of showing that how having everything can still leave you empty inside. Almost as it for someone who has everything in the world virtually has nothing left to strive for and becomes depressed knowing that there isn't anything else left to build on. Switching to the other side of the equation you have the mere peasant. The individual that although complains about the way their life has turned out and all the struggles that are endured, there is much more to be had. Which leaves them with a sense of hope and dreams that one day, they be able to enjoy their lives the way that people more fortunate then they are live theirs. I did pause momentarily however to think about the unforeseen. The biggest question my mind was trying to boggle was if this was truly the reason Richard Cory took his own life. I started to indulge on all the possibilities, then came to the conclusion that maybe, for an instant, there was something, or "someone" that Richard came across and just could not have. There is a part that says, "But still he fluttered pulses, when he said good morning" which could interpret that the women were always taken by his charm. Which would lead to a lot left up to the imagination of the readers to decide what he actually meant, especially if he is talking about the common people in general and that they become nervous, although the word "fluttered" would lead for many to believe that it was about women. Either way it's just room for thought, and a possible discussion.

Reading Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson I felt as though a man was coming to the end of his days, reflecting on the life he lived. Through great travels and triumphs in war, Ulysses became well known and respected by his peers and a hero to all experiencing a life that not few would ever endure. However, as his nobility flourished from country to country the world, Tennyson uses Ulysses's great accomplishments to portray that it came with great sacrifice. His family life was neglected and when he finally returned home to them it was almost as if he had found an area he had never traveled. realizing how so much had changed, his wife aged from how he remembered her, his son old enough to take over the responsibilities that he was never there to take care of those and comes to understand he is not that person. He understands that although he cared for them it was in the best interest of all involved for him to embark again on his travels and leave his previous life behind. He came to grips with the fact that it would be in his best interest to surround himself by those he had spent the majority of his life with hoping to find the salvation he was searching for, and join the great Achilles on the "Happy Isles".

The two poems while vastly different are still much in the same, and it is simply fascinating to stimulate the mind to dissect the two and merging their meanings together as one. You have two men, that fulfilled their life's dreams and although succeeding in every aspect they could possibly think of, there was still something missing. For Ulysses's it was that afterthought of not being with his family, and for Richard it appears that there is something missing, but Robinson leaves it up to the reader to decide what it could be. They both are adored by many which lets us understand that these two men are placed upon a high pedestal and would give everyone the sense of questioning why would either one of them ever be depressed about anything when envied by so many. Then two different paths are created in these poems that give you a sense of reckoning by one, and a complete mental breakdown of the other. While Richard Cory suddenly commits suicide, Ulysses, although in a state of depression, understands his place in the world, and all though his time is dwindling away he decides to make the most from the rest of his days and do what he loves and knows best. The ways that Cory is portrayed is that he is a younger fellow, handsome, collective, and age seems to make a huge difference and what each person has experienced as to the paths they wound up choosing. Although Ulysses realizes he is making his final voyages he at least wants to enjoy his surroundings, not be consumed by them as Richard Cory was.

Criticism on these two poems from others was more complicated then I expected. The first thing I wanted to find was why did Richard Cory commit suicide? Unfortunately, it was never to be as the closest evidence found was that Arlington seemingly wrote that the poem was based off an acquaintance of his from years past. As for the rest of the poem, I was surprised that as short as the poem itself was that it was dissected so many different ways by various people. Most believed that this was a man who had everything, but before his death realized he was empty on the inside. Everyone seemed to agree on the way the poem's character was revealed, but criticism in his structure of writing seemed to be what everyone was trying to contemplate. While some considered it to be a paradox and well put together, others revealed that the ending although a surprise, was nothing more than a complete sense of complacency.

Readers of Ulysses have nothing but high praise for Tennyson and the work he produced with this poem. The only instance where people try to saturate the ideals of the poem. Where many believe that leaving home for a second time is a contradiction of the earlier stories of Ulysses being motivated to return to his homeland yet he decides to leave again soon thereafter. This is based off the poem being from a bigger story and the fact that he seems to not care what his family has gone through is the only criticism I have found to this poem. Many love the sense of pride that Ulysses plays throughout reliving his life through his thoughts and being a adventurous styled character.

After viewing the thoughts of others and how they portrayed the stories themselves, although our results were much of the same as to what the poems were about I started to think about the comments about Ulysses and how the story contradicted due to his everlasting sorrow to return home, and once he did he just turned around and left again. So I went back and read the end of the poem and was enlightened to give another side of interpretation I had not scene during research. What if you Ulysses at his age could leave, and was empowered by the love to his family. Which would lead me to believe that his thoughts at the end were his dreams and that he was just thinking those aspirations and were not to be taken literally. If you could see a great man of wisdom and courage reflecting his life near the peer of his ship looking out to sea and taking that one last journey before he dies is only meant to mean that the journey he is comforting himself with is only in his mind.

Having an opinion is one of the fascinating things about reading a poem. Whether you are trying to contemplate a situation, or simply feel that the poems concept and meaning could go several different ways, it builds your imagination up that will lead to debate with others. Robinson and Tennyson both compile hurt, sorrow, and pain with their poems with the illusion that the two men have no worries and are living the lives that everyone else wishes to be a part of at some point in time. Regardless intertwining them together lets you understand as a person that not everyone is happen even though in your eyes they should, or the fact that you might be in their shoes, but everyone endures loss, or emptiness at some point in time during their lives and how they choose to deal with it, provides everyone else with the knowledge of who we are as individuals in society.