What is the poem "Richard Cory" about, and what is the theme of the poem? Can you personally relate to the poem, and why or why not?

The poem
"" by Edward Arlington Robinson is about two types of isolation:  isolation from
others, and isolation from physical comfort.  Written in 1897, Robinson's poem recalls the
economic depression when the citizens of America had to subsist on bread, often day-old bread.
These are the people "on the pavement" who work and "curse the bread" in
their miserable lives.  They view Richard Cory, who is above them socially, as almost
royalty:

He was a gentleman from sole to crown,

Clean favored, and imperially slim.

But, he,
too, is discontented, for he ventures into town and speaks to people--"Good
morning"--but no one talks with him; instead, he is perceived as glittering like a king and
watched with envy:

In fine, we thought that he was
everything

To make us wish that we were in his place.

Sadly, the people's envy is unjustified as Richard Cory is
desperately lonely, so lonely that he kills himself.  It seems that social isolation is the
greater burden.

Sarah Margaret Ferguson, the Duchess of York, wrote how
lonely it was when she was married to Prince Andrew.  She was confined to one floor of Windsor
castle with little lighting, and could only come to other rooms at certain times.  Much like
Richard Cory, she was isolated from the communion of others, one of the basic needs of all
humans beings.  Hers is not an unusual situation for those who are wealthy and
famous.