to read what pain it might have caused others. Robert Frost however, approaches the theme of death in his poem Home Burial, in a totally different matter. Instead of leaving the death for the last line, he focuses on the aftermath left behind after death has occurred. In Frosts poem, the reader actually gets to see the pain death can sometimes cause, instead of being left with questions as Robinson did in Richard Cory. In Home Burial, it is a new-born baby who has died rather than a grown man. This fact, in itself makes the death more important because children are not suppose to die. You always hear the same comments and questions following a childs death: Why?; They were so young!; etc. Frost does an excellent job of using imagery to give his reader the feeling of losing a child. You can definitely see the parents of the dead child grieving their loss and cope with them. You feel as if you are suffering with them and this child was actually as close to you as it was to them. This allows the reader to take on a whole new meaning of death after reading Richard Cory. Frost also approaches death differently by choosing to make the childs death an accident. The reader gets a different feeling from each poem because these situations, while both tragic, are totally different. One is suicide and done on purpose, while the other is uncontrollable. One is selfishness, while the other is unawareness. People always feel more sympathetic towards the uncontrollable rather than the caused. Frost seems to realize this and he concentrates more on the readers emotions than Robinson. Frost really shows how painful death can be while Robinson leaves the reader asking questions. The couples fighting expresses the anger and confusion the death of their child has brought about. Even the structures of the two poems help to express meaning. Richard Cory is short and to the point. Robinson gives you a mental image then blows it to pieces....
