Stanza 1 Summary

Lines 1-4

Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

• The poem begins by introducing us to Richard Cory—and what an introduction it is. 
• The poem is spoken in the voice of "we people on the pavement." This "we" encompasses the people who live "down town." Now, we can interpret this "we" in two ways: 
• First, we can see the speaker—the "we"—as kind of a Greek chorus, or a whole bunch of people joining together and speaking as one voice. Or, we can interpret the speaker as a solitary voice, speaking for the rest of his-her community. Either way, the speaker is all about voicing the shared point of view of an entire community. (Check out "Speaker" for more on that.)
• And it's important to note that our man Richard Cory is not part of this community. He is someone who goes downtown, but he is not one of the downtown's regular inhabitants. Richard Cory is most definitely not a man of the pavement. 
• The poem begins, then by drawing a distinction between the speaker of the poem—the collective "we"—the "people on the pavement"—and Mr. Cory himself. Richard Cory is not some common man of the street, the poem tells us. He's a "gentleman" from "sole to crown"—in other words, from his feet to his head.
• But "sole" and "crown" have other connotations too. "Sole" is a homonym of "soul." (Homonyms are words that sound the same, but are spelled different and with a different meaning.) And "crown" reminds us of what a king wears on his head.
• So the speaker of the poem is really serious about this gentleman thing. He's a gentleman from head to toe, sure. But he's also a gentleman in his soul. He's almost kingly.
• This kingly metaphor continues in the next line. Not only is he "clean favored"—he's a clean-cut dude—he's "imperially slim." "Imperially" means kingly. Everything about Richard Cory, then, is top notch. To the people of the pavement, Mr. C. might as well be a king.