Edwin Arlington Robinson’s career spanned the late 19th century into the 1930s. Although the literary movement known as Modernism rose in popularity during this period, Robinson’s allegiance to form and his strict adherence to rhyme kept his work far from the free verse and experimental forms characteristic of Modernist poetry. Instead, Robinson’s work falls within the canon of Naturalism, a literary genre that is extreme Realism, emphasizing the importance of familial, social, and environmental conditions on shaping the human character. The movement known as Naturalism began in the late 19th century in literature, film, theater, and art. It emerged as a direct result of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, published in the mid-1800s. We can see Darwin’s theories as an influence in the genre of Naturalism through its notions about life as the survival of the fittest. Based on Darwinian theory, only the savviest, strongest, and most adaptable species can survive—a belief that takes place in Robinson’s poem, “Richard Cory.”

An offshoot of Realism, Naturalism was the precursor to the formation of the genre known as Modernism. Naturalism often examines the darker sides of life like prejudice, racism, poverty, and disease.