By looking at the beginnings of those two poems written by Browning, we can clearly see that Robert Browning had an intention to shock his audience by making the male lovers very powerful, greedy and vein and lovers that didn’t want to loose there women. To them, love was not about joy, emotion and ethics; it was all about getting what they wanted. In “Porphyria’s lover” it was about sexual desire and a pleasurable relationship, on the other hand, in “Ballad,” the love the couple had for each other didn’t last for very long because the woman’s lover used her for her virginity, therefore it was also a pleasurable relationship. The difference is that in “Ballad” the male didn’t want his woman any longer for the reason that he found out she was pregnant so he rejected her, however, in the poems written by Robert Browning, the men didn’t seem to want to get rid of there women from their lives. They wanted to treasure them in a way that no body else could get hold of them. They wanted their lovers all to them selves by killing them, by doing that, the men in Robert Browning’s poem knew that the women were safe, in no bodies hands and as a result, they wouldn’t have to loose there faith on their women.
The Duke in “My last Duchess” shows how he was not at all made happy by his young bride’s smile. He is a man who could not stand to have his wife smile upon anyone but himself.
“… Sir twas not her husband’s presence only, called that spot of joy into the Duchess’ cheek” (13-15)
It is as if he was so confounded by the fact that she could possibly seek happiness in anything that wasn’t him.
In the Duke’s mind the young Duchess smiled at everything and anything, and everyone. He was sure “she had a heart too easily made glad.” The very fact that she could smile at a servant as she would have smiled at him just drove him mad with rage.
“Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er She looked on and her looks went everywhere/ Sir twas all one! My favour at her breast, the dropping of the daylight in the West,”
The Duke was jealous of everything. She could not be happy about any thing, not something as simple as nature, or as kind as a person who went out of his way to get her fruit. It wasn’t as if she was asking for anything from the Duke. She was merely enjoying the natural joys of life. However, the very act of her smiling was considered a disgusting act on the Duchess’ part.
“… She thanked men-good! But thanked Somehow-I knows not how- as if she ranked my gift of nine-hundred-years-old-name with anybody’s gift. “ (31-34)
That’s exactly how it was in “Porphyria’s Lover,” the male did not like the idea of his lover bonding with other men. Both men wanted their lovers all to them selves. The fact that the women got friendly with other men seemed to upset and worry the women’s lovers. Robert Browning seems to be portraying unfaithful love where the women are not trusted by their men, however, the men expect to gain all the love and trust. A relationship, which contains suspicion and jealousy, describes Browning’s poems. If a relationship was to have true love, then the way Browning has portrayed love wouldn’t be correct because in his poems, true love does not seem to exist, it is more about obsession, attraction and infatuation.
To the Duke the act of trying to tell the Duchess who was young and was obviously just a kind and naïve girl of what bothered him was beneath him, whereas in “Ballad” the woman’s lover simply refused to pay any love or even attention to the woman.
The Duke becomes less logical and more supreme in his thought of himself. The Duke tells of how no doubt his young Duchess smiled for him as well. But he says how the smile she shared with his was not any better than that smile she shared with a commoner or the sun. Such a smile was not good enough for a man such as himself. He deserved more, in his mind; it is obvious that he was sure he deserved everything. He seemed to feel he deserved even the Duchess’ happiness.
How – as if she ranked “ The quote is trying to say the Duke does not no how his wife thanked the men who did her a lot of favours.
To convey shocking actions, short simple phrases are used, as you can see in lines 45-“I gave commands” The use of punctuation also creates an effect of arrogance as this can clearly be seen in lines 54-56 –” Notice Neptune, though...Cast in bronze for me!” That also shows that the Duke sees himself as important.
Browning gives Porphyria power by saying, “She shut the cold out and the storm,/And kneeled and made the cheerless grate/Blaze up, and all the cottage warm.” The reader can sense that this woman holds some power over her lover. She seems to take care of him. This sets up a reason why the speaker is obsessed with Porphyria. Porphyria is obviously of a higher rank in society by her use of the words “pride and vanity.” This “rank” gives her obvious power. Porphyria’s power is stopped when she tells him why she came. “Murmuring how she loved me--she/Too weak, for all her heart’s endeavour/ To set its struggling passion free/From pride, and vainer ties dissever,/And give herself to me forever.”
In “Ballad” the woman holds no power at all since she has know one but her self to help her get out of the mess she as pushed her self into.
“He has two hearts and I have none,” Tell us that the man has taken her heart away. “I weep the past, I dread the gloom” That quote shows us that she really regrets her past and she also cries over it.
By reading line 34 “Of sorrows in the time to come” we knowledge that she is going to suffer through her dreading her Childs future. Later on in the poem she realises that if she does commit suicide, it will only make matters worse and it will leave her child in the most unpleasant position- “Weeping on a strangers knee.” As a result of her struggling to make decisions and regretting her past, in lines 43-44 “I wish our sorrows both away, our souls with god, our bodies clay,” informs us that she is going to kill her self and the baby.
This last part where the Duke tells the servant that he will easily get the next brides hand in marriage was a way for the Duke to tell the servant, “Now you know what exactly I want. I will marry her, it is a matter of her being tamed well as to whether or not I shall stay married to her”. This is evident in;
“Notice Neptune, though, Taming a sea-horse, though it a rarity” (54-55)
Obviously, the Duke was a man who knew what he wanted and was ready to discard anything that didn’t fit his wishes.
The women in Robert Browning’s poems were wanted however, the women in “Ballad” wasn’t.
We find out that the woman In “Ballad” became pregnant and became disowned in lines 7-8 “When it puckered up with shame, and I sought him, he never came.” It tells us that when she became pregnant, she was also ashamed. After she found out, she suffered alone because when the farther of the baby found out he never returned to her. That means that for this couple love didn’t exist and that when it did, it wasn’t true. It was basically sexual desire for the male.
Another quote that tells us that she is rejected is – “ When Summer brought know fears to fright, he came to guard me every night; when winter nights did darkly prove, none came to guard me or to love.
That’s contrasting images (summer and winter) and it reflects her emotional state. At first he was nice with her and wined and dined (summer). Then, No one took care of her and she became rejected (winter).
Both of the poems, which are written my Robert Browning, are remarkable monologues, which use both short and long sentences to describe the shocking murders. The point that Browning is trying to get through to the readers is that men are more sincere and honest by ridding the world of treacherous and unfaithful women. We know this because in ‘Porphyria’s lover’, Porphyria was killed purely because her lover wanted her all to him self and didn’t want anybody to share her. In ‘My Last Duchess’, the Duke also wanted the Duchess all to him self and he disliked the fact that she got along with other men and they had connections with her. He thought it was flirting but it was just the duchess being nice.
As a result he got the duchess to be killed and was even happier when she was there in front of him looking realistic on a painting. Both women were killed simply because their lovers were greedy and didn’t want anybody to share there women. Another similarity is that both the duke and the lover like to be in control over their women and posses them.
The language Robert Browning has used contrasts the warmth and tenderness of the two women to the coldness of the men. Browning has used more poetical devices in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ than he has in ‘My Last Duchess’, however, both poems use romantic, visual language to describe the settings, atmosphere and emotions etc. On the other hand, the murders are explained in straightforward speech, which makes them shocking and spine tingling for the readers.
A ballad is an old poem, which often tells a story. The lines in the Ballad are regular which contain eight syllables each. The rhyming scheme for this poem is rhyming couplets and does not contain a chorus.
Repition has been used in this ballad in lines 13-14.
“I wish, I wish- but it’s vain –
I wish I was a maid again.”
The repition of those words gives it a choric effect. It also shows that she regrets it a lot and that she wants her virginity back. Those quotes also tell the reader that she has got strong feelings about the past.
Alliteration has also been used in line 16- “O when will green grass cover me?” That line shows us that she wants to die. The alliteration builds tension to the part it draws attention. It also manages to create rhythm and manages to show how desperate she is.
Another part in the poem where the writer has used contrasting images is in lines 17-18 “I wish my babe had ne’er been born: I’ve made its pillow on a thorn.” The words pillow and thorn are the contrasting images. A pillow is soft and comfortable where as a thorn is sharp and dangerous. It tells the reader that the situation she has put her self in is very unstable for the baby. Although the contrast is very simple, it is very affective because they are such strong opposites.
In line 21 “He promised beds as fine as silk and sheets for love as white as milk.” We find out that he promised her sexual desire and promised her lots of lust and passion. However, towards the end of the verse “left me to want a bed of clay” we find out that she wants nothing but death and she know longer wants sexual desire.
“His heart seemed soft but it was steel” – Tells the reader that he was nice to her but after she became pregnant, he didn’t like her. She’s building up the layers of desolation.
Robert Browning has used strong adjectives in his poem. Adjectives such as “Some officious fool” (27) show that the duke is reacting in a very jealous way and he also is very irritated. Another example would be lines (37-38) where its says – “Quite clear to such as one, and say, ‘just this or that in you disgusts me; here you miss.” That shows how much the duke hates the character in his wife.
Browning has also used clever insertion of words. We see this in lines 13-15 “Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir ‘twas not her husband presence only, called that spot of joy into the duchess’ cheek:” It shows that the duchess still loves the Duke no matter how he treats her. It is also saying that the Duchess is always smiling and blushing, however she is not just doing that because her husband is in the room.
Since it is a poem about love, romantic images have been created by the use of language that Browning has used. “The white mule” in line 28 creates a delicate image of nature and it’s contrasted to the Duke’s materialistic world.
Robert Browning uses irony, diction, and imagery to achieve a memorable effect. Robert Browning frequently wrote dramatic monologues to enhance the dark and avaricious qualities in his works. Browning’s use of this particular style is to call to mind the free reaction of a person in a particular situation. My Last Duchess is a dramatic monologue and we learn about the duchess through the duke. The readers can discover the duke misunderstanding his wife through simple phrases such as- “She thanked men, - good! But thanked somehow – I know not
Imagery in a poem helps the reader visualize the surroundings and helps the reader infer the main events in a poem. The opening lines in the poem show a dark dismal night. “The rain set early in tonight,/The sullen wind was soon awake,/It tore the elm-tops down for spite,/And did its worst to vex the lake:/I listened with heart fit to break.” This helps the reader think of a dark evening and a man sitting impatiently for his lover. The man is extremely happy when she does arrive because she has worked her way through the storm to see him as we can see in lines 30- so, she was to…wind and rain.”
“That moment she was mine, mine, fair,/Perfectly pure and good.” He realizes that to keep her he must kill her. “In one yellow long string I wound three times her little throat around,/And strangled her.” The speaker then projects his feelings on her. He says he is sure that she felt no pain when he knows that he was hurt and in turn he hurt her. The speaker’s need for Porphyria in his life led him to kill her and to have him by her side forever. In a way, the speaker has chosen Porphyria’s path in life; instead of being in high society she can stay with him. “. . . Her head, which droops upon it still;/The smiling rosy little head,/So glad it has its utmost will,/That all it scorned at once is fled,/And I, its love, am gained instead!” In those lines, one can see that the speaker is obsessed. In his mind his deeds were not wrong because God had not bothered to strike him dead by lightning making the speaker’s obsession with his love legitimate and valid in the world.
In the poem, Browning has used personification in the beginning to describe the weather. In lines 2-3 – “The rain set early in to-night, the sullen wind was soon awake.” – The reader is suppose to get an image of wild weather, however, on the other hand, it can be a symbol of lust or desire or a bad omen. The harsh storm is also contrasted against her warmth- “She shut the cold out and the storm”-line 7
Another part in the poem where he has used personification is line 45-“Laughed the blue eyes without a stain” That is sick psychopathic behaviour because he is checking her eyes out though she is dead. It also shows the reader that he finds her innocent, however he does not recognize what he has done wrong.
Adjectives such as ‘smooth white shoulder dare’ have been used. Thos adjectives are very sensual to contrast with the cold-blooded murder.
In line 43-“As a shut bud that holds a bee”- A well-built representation is formed which makes the reader assume that the lover appreciates her, but then, the thought is dismissed from the readers mind when they remember how he killed her. In line 52, the quote “The smiling rosy little head” is used. He is trying to say that his lover looks as if though she is a doll or some sort of plaything.
Through the lover’s words, we learn about Porphyria’s innocence- “Perfectly pure and good” (36)
Although all three poems that I have talked about were about love, the one that I found the most effective is the Ballad. The reason for this is because it creates stronger images of what the women has gone through, what she is going through and what she going to go through.
Quiet a few poetical devices have been used such as alliteration, similes, and rhetorical question, repition etc. Another thing that I also liked about this poem was that contrasting images were used quiet a few times. This creates two different images to the reader and makes the poem more motivating to read. The ballad written is about a problem that many women experience so therefore I didn’t find it that difficult to understand the point the author was trying to get through. Although the author did not want the readers to feel sorry for her, according to my judgment I think that it did grab a lot of reader’s hearts.
Something that all three poems have in common is that all three poems end up talking about death. Although we don’t really know if the woman in “Ballad” kills herself or not, she does talk about it and it does seem as if though she is going to kill herself and the baby.
The two poems written by Robert Browning were about men that didn’t want their women to leave them and wanted them all to them selves, however, the ballad was the complete opposite. Once the man broke the women’s virginity, he went away and rejected her. The man took advantage of the women and used her. In the ballad the love between the couple didn’t last long, where as in Robert Browning’s poem the love didn’t seem to end. It nice to read something different and it is nice to read a poem, which is trying to tell a life story in a short version. On the whole, the ballad was very appealing because the woman managed to put up with her problems and came to a conclusion in the end, it was very engaging because I like to read about peoples problems, attention grabbing because it made you want to continue reading on and on and finally out of the ordinary because there are not so many poems out there that have such an emotionalised story behind it. The ballad represented a universal problem.
Hitiksha Patel 10A
