Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
Lines 5-8
And he was always quietly arrayed,
And he was always human when he talked;
But still he fluttered pulses when he said,
"Good-morning," and he glittered when he walked.
- Up next: well, we get more deets on Richard Cory. What else do you have to tell us about this guy, people of the pavement?
- Well, he was always "quietly arrayed," or, in other words, he was a low-key, but classy dresser.
- Also, he was "always human when he talked." So Richard wasn't obnoxious, or a braggart. He didn't look down on the townspeople, despite their obvious differences.
- Do you notice the repetition of "And he was always" at the beginning of lines 5 and 6? That kind of repetition is called anaphora. Anaphora gives this poem a sort of repetitive feel. There's just so much good stuff about Richard Cory that the speaker of the poem has to present it to us in a list.
- Despite his chill, friendly, and low-key manner, however, the poem tells us that Richard still "fluttered pulses" when saying hi to the downtown folk. Also, it tells us that he "glittered" when he walked. (We're going to go ahead and assume that the glittering here is a metaphor. We don't think that Mr. Cory is actually shining like some kind of Twilight vampire; he's just so attractive that he might as well be.)
- It sounds to us like everyone's got a crush on this dude. Pulses are fluttering and it seems like he's glittering.
- Guys want to be like Richard Cory, and girls want to be with him. He must be the luckiest guy in the world, right? Well, let's read on…