As music
The American composer Charles Naginski wrote the music to "Richard Cory", published 1940, included in Thomas Hampson's Album "I hear America singing" from 2001.
The poem was adapted by the folk duo Simon & Garfunkel for their song "Richard Cory". The Simon & Garfunkel version of the song's ending differs from the poem in that the speaker still wishes he "could be Richard Cory", even after Cory has killed himself.[4]
Them (Van Morrison) released their version of Simon's song as a single in 1966. It did not make the charts.
Paul McCartney and Wings performed the Simon & Garfunkel adaptation on their album Wings over America.[5]
The punk band The Menzingers wrote a song titled "Richard Corry" which was inspired by the poem. The difference in spelling from Cory to Corry is because the band has a personal friend whose last name is Corry.
The American composer John Woods Duke wrote Three Poems by Edwin Arlington Robinson, which includes the full text of the poem "Richard Cory".
Martini Ranch recorded a song based on the poem on their album Holy Cow.
Melbourne band Tiny Little Houses released a song titled "Richard Cory" based on the poem, in October 2020.
Other
A. R. Gurney wrote a play based on the poem, also titled Richard Cory.[6] The play, which is presented with a nonlinear timeline, suggests the reasons Cory killed himself, including family problems and changing views on humanity.
American humorist Garrison Keillor wrote a variation of the poem for the Introduction to his The Book of Guys (1993), which suggested that Cory's wife was the reason he killed himself.[7]
The character Ben Nicholson, played by Paul Lambert misquotes the poem in the episode "The Case of the Envious Editor" of the CBS television series Perry Mason (1957–66) starring Raymond Burr.
Author George Flynn also directly references the original poem (and Simon and Garfunkel version) prominently in his novel Richard Cory Revisited as a thematic device.
