Stanza 4 Summary

Lines 13-16

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;
And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home and put a bullet through his head

• In this final stanza, the poem turns attention away from Richard Cory himself and toward the community of down-towners. And what do these people do? Well, they work—and work and work. Note that we never see Richard Cory working. It seems to us that Richard Cory has some family moolah, not that he's a hardworking businessman. 
• The poem then draws further distinctions between Ol' Richie Rich and the "we" of the poem. The downtown folk are poor. They survive without meat, and they curse the bread that makes up most of their daily diet. 
• What's more, these townspeople are "wait[ing] for the light." There are a couple of ways we can interpret this phrase. Are they waiting for daylight because they are working at night? Possibly. Or are they waiting for the light in a more metaphorical sense—perhaps waiting for the loads to be lightened? Or perhaps they're waiting for their lives to get easier? Or are they waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel—that ultimate light that signifies escape, or even death (and then maybe heaven)?
• We think that this small moment is drawing upon all those meanings of light, actually. 
• And while the townsfolk are tired and hungry and waiting for their lives to improve, the poem shifts back to Richard Cory, who we now see has lived a pretty darn privileged life in comparison to the people on the pavement. 
• So whatever happens to ol' Richie Rich? Well, the poem tells us that "one calm summer night," Richard Cory "went home and put a bullet through his head."
• Whoa—we did not see this coming. Richard Cory had everything: money, fashion sense, good looks, social graces—you name it. Plus, everybody loved him. Why would he kill himself? 
• Well, we're sorry to have to break to it you Shmoopers, but we never will find out why Cory kills himself.
• Nothing in particular seems to have gone wrong—it was a calm summer night, after all—and the poem doesn't provide us with any answers. The poem ends with a kind of bang (literally). Richard Cory commits suicide.
• The end. 
• But of course, this ending raises more questions than it answers. What was wrong with Richard Cory? Was he depressed? Isolated from the townsfolk? Was he heartbroken? We just don't know.
• What we do know, however, is that all the money in the world couldn't make R.C. want to live—nor could his good looks, nor could the envy of the townspeople. Money and good looks aren't everything, guys. 
• Further, the poem suggests that appearances can be deceiving. The poem ends on this shocking note: how could Richard Cory's exterior be so deceiving? How could the townsfolk not know what was going on inside?
• How could he appear so happy, so warm and lovely, if his mind was filled with such dark thoughts?
• Or, in other words: can you ever really know another person? "Richard Cory" seems to suggest a pretty grim answer to that question: Nope, not at all.