[In the following essay, Turner argues against Charles R. Morris' thesis that Robinson's word choices in “Richard Cory” are intended to associate Cory with British royalty.]

In his discussion of Edward Arlington Robinson's “Richard Cory,” Charles R. Morris (explicator, March, 1965, xxiii, 7) seems to go to extreme lengths to justify the poet's use of “anglicisms” in describing Cory. Although the terms noted—“pavement,” “sole to crown,” “clean favored,” “imperially slim,” “schooled,” and “in fine”—may indeed have British overtones, I would suggest that several of the expressions, as well as Cory's name itself, have a more rewarding technical purpose.

Americans might, in fact, normally refer to themselves as people “on the sidewalk” rather than “on the pavement”; nevertheless, “on the pavement” in American slang usually means that one is down and out, figuratively—sometimes literally—scraping the asphalt. Surely this description fits those people who “went without the meat, and cursed the bread.”

As for “sole to crown” and “in fine” rather than “head to toe” and “in short,” rather than establishing Cory's English background the puns seem to justify themselves. From sole (soul) to crown (head), from heart to mind, “in fine” (in his finery, “arrayed” like Solomon in all his glory) Cory seemed the equal of a king. But those people on the pavement could not see beneath the surface of the man: Richard Cory—another pun, the core of Richard—was sick enough that he had to escape by putting “a bullet through his head.”