What type of ballad is "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson?

The type of ballad that the poem "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson is can be defined as a narrative ballad as opposed to a simple song ballad. This poem tells a story that is ultimately heart-breaking. The reader invests time in reading a compact narrative story in formal poem form that shocks at the end.

The structure of a ballad consists of stanzas that are of four lines each. The rhyme scheme of the ballad is typically abcb, whereby line two rhymes with line four. However, in this poem, the rhyme scheme is abab. Line one rhymes with line three; line two rhymes with line four.

The type of ending (a tragic one) that occurs in “Richard Cory” is quite common in a narrative ballad. The poet is telling a story in this poem. He conveys to the reader aspects of Richard Cory’s life and how it affects him and the people he comes into contact with in society. The story seems relatively benign for the most part – in fact, every line, up until the last line of stanza four is quite innocuous. Line four of the last stanza is when the reader is walloped with the closing line that Richard Cory:

“Went home and put a bullet through his head.”

This is the heart of many a dramatic ballad - its terrible ending. Not all dramatic narrative ballads are like this. However, many are and the power of these types of ballads are in the often unexpected and powerful endings that turn the poem on its head, revealing and delivering to the reader something different than what the reader expected.

These types of endings in narrative ballads cause a reader to ponder the poem long after putting the book down. This is the forceful strength of well-written narrative ballads. This separates poorly written narrative ballads from quality ones. Simple song ballads are often lighter in tone and subject matter, and some have a lilt and positivity to them. Their endings are not always tragic and heart-rending as the ending of Richard Cory is.