The first two lines of the last stanza once more demonstrate the differences between the two socio-economic classes appearing the poem: the common working-class folk who admired the wealth and style of Richard Cory struggled on and on, striving for the day when they too could be like him. Not only did they work hard, but they also sacrificed because they could not buy everything they wanted, and they complained about the low quality of the things they could afford.
And then we come to the last two lines that shock and startle so: Richard Cory, the man who has everything, the man who was everything that these hard working folk wanted to be—this icon of success and happiness—kills himself.
We can certainly take from this poem the old adage that appearances are deceiving, but we get much more than that, if we look closely. The poet, Edwin Arlington Robinson, has composed nearly perfect poem in its truth about life, its sense of the nature of human personalities, its rhythm, its rime scheme, and it does all this while remaining quite literal without one metaphor or simile