My consideration for reciting any poem is based on a rhythm that results in the musical beat of the poem. Richard Cory is a poem that has exemplified the use of rhythm and the creation of musical beat by the rhyme developed in the poem endears me to recite the poem. Arlington creates several instances of rhyme that include situations of assonance, consonance, alliteration, as well as, rhyme scheme developed in the poem. Therefore, recitation gives meaning because it creates entertaining value in the poem. When presenting the poem, the audience is also able to follow and get entertained by the rhythmic flow.
The assonance developed in sound ‘/o/’ is evident in the first line of the first stanza ‘whenever Richard Cory went downtown,’ and assonance ‘/a/’ exhibited in the second last line of the last stanza that goes ‘And Richard Cory, one calm summer night.’ Alliteration is also evident in several instances, an example being alliterated is sound ‘/p/’ in the second line of first paragraph ‘We people on the pavement looked at him:’ Rhyme scheme is also created in the poem with the first stanza having ‘abab’, a rhyme pattern that is exhibited in town, him, crown, slim. The second stanza has a pattern of ‘cdcd’ while the third stanza has a pattern which is denoted by ‘efef’, and the last stanza has the pattern that is presented as ‘ghgh’. Therefore, the general rhyme scheme can be presented as ‘ababcdcdefefeghgh’. The three forms of musical tone make me recite the poem so as to exploit the musical presentation and avoid the audience from being disinterested in the poem.
