Who is the speaker of the poem "Richard Cory"?

The
speaker in this poem identifies himself in the second line as being one of "we people on
the pavement." The speaker's observations ofmake clear the differences between the
"gentleman" and the group to which the speaker himself belongs.

The
speaker is impressed by Richard Cory's attire, his graceful manners, and his wealthhe describes
him as being "richer than a king." The speaker himself is a working man, who sometimes
does not even have the money to spare for meat, which he has to go without. Richard Cory
represents everything that the working people wish they could be and could have. Theis that,
while he is wealthy, Richard Cory evidently is not happy. At the end of the poem, the speaker
describes how he returned home and "put a bullet through his head" on a summer night
with apparently no warning.