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
The first four lines of the poem help establish both the central figure of the poem (Richard Cory) and the perspective of the speaker. The speaker represents a collective "we" who perceive Cory to be someone special and incomparable. The beginning of the poem therefore places the point of view firmly outside of Cory's perspective, keeping readers distant from the central character. This underscores the lack of consideration for Cory's private life.
The phrase "We people on the pavement" creates a dynamic of Us versus Them, or rather, "Us versus Him." This hierarchy places Cory above the masses. The consonance of "people" and "pavement" implies that the townspeople belong on the pavement, and that they are destined to have to work on the street. Cory's wealth and status lift him above this world.
Though the townspeople later interact with Cory, here in this first stanza they just look at him. His outward appearance as a gentleman is described in terms of royalty: the words "crown," "favored," and "imperially" are used (Lines 3-4).
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
Here, the speaker notes that Cory takes care to behave with humility, grace, and general normalcy. This contrasts with the townspeople's perception of Cory's superiority. This suggests that it is the community, and not Cory himself, who perceive him as god-like. This tension between private desire and public expectation foreshadows what is otherwise a shocking conclusion in the poem's final stanza.
The anaphora of "And he was always" demonstrates the routine that occurs: Cory goes downtown, and the townspeople observe him. The repetition, aided by the use of iambic pentameter, helps create a sense of time marching onward in the poem. This repeated phrase "And he was always" also somewhat understates the second description "And he was always human when he talked" (Line 6). This may seem to be a strange thing for the speaker to recount, but in fact it is quite telling. For the speaker to feel the need to state the fact that Cory is a human being means that is it a surprising fact to the townspeople because they have reduced Cory to a god-like figure.
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
The third stanza expresses the townspeople's reverence for Cory; they envy him and desire to trade places with him. The community interprets Cory's wealth as a respite from their own financial struggles. While this may be true, they do not know of the suffering taking place beneath Cory's surface-level "grace."
The phrase "we thought that he was everything" is an interesting choice of words (Line 11). One might expect it to read, "we thought that he had everything," as it is his riches and education that inspire envy. However, this phrasing contributes to the image that the townspeople have of Cory. He represents everything they might aspire to have or be; his only relevance is as a symbol, rather than as an individual person.
