"Made my heart swell…"
"But passion would sometimes prevail"
He uses alliterationn to emphasize the obsession that the killer has on Poprhyria. This technique is used in a lot of poems and is very clever, the reason why is because when you read the words that are alliterated it makes them stand out subliminally without the reader noticing.
Browning likes to provoke thought and imagination of the reader, I nthis particular poem, he makes anyone that reads this particular poem imagine themselves as the killer and puts you into the killers mind by showing you exactly what he thought of the whole situation:
"That moment, she was mine,mine fair,
Percectly pure and good."
The killer believes that Porphyria is his Woman and he is the only one that deserves her and he has not done or is doing anything bad. He believes he has a 'right' over her and therefore by killing her has not done anything wrong. Browning opens up your mind and shows you just how the mind of a killer would really be like.
In, My Last Duchess, Robert Browning uses even more techniques in order to create a realistic and bold dramatic monologue. In order to create a dramatic monologue, one of the most important things is for the readers to be able to put themselves in the character place, so they can imagine just what it would be like to be, in this case, the Duke:
"This sort of trifling, even if I had your skill
in speech - (which I have not) - to make your will
Quite clear…"
The caesurus suggests to the reader that the Duke is pausing to think, or hiding, he pauses out of nervousness/worry. Also notice the enjambed lines, these indicate the control and domination the Duke has in this conversation, and it gives you the feeling that the he is rushing through certain parts of the conversation to avoid question…
Another example of enjambement in this poem is line 53/54:
"Though the fair daughters self,as I avowed
at starting, is my object. Nay…"
This gives the reader a sense that the Duke is rushing through this part of the coversation to avoid the subject of his late wife. Browning makes the reader think about how the duchess died and brings an element of mystery to the poem.
The ryhme scheme that Browning chose for this poem is AA, BB. This is the common rhyme scheme that is chosen for a ballad, and don’t be decieved, although people have different views, I believe that this was no mistake. Ballads were poems that told a story and were usually put to music, they are usually based on an event that has happened but gradually through the years the story gets twisted into a legend. Browning has used this rhyme scheme to emphasize that the poem is enshrouded with mystery and is quite an old tale. In order to emphasize this even more he uses an archaism to show how old the story and gives the poem an element of extended folk mystery:
"Her wits to yours, forsooth and made excuse,
E 'en then would be some stooping & I choose
Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without
Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,"
John Keats is a completeley different type of poet to Robert Browning, he does not use as many techniques but focuses more on the language used for example the verbs and adjcetives are all carefully chosen. He uses sesuous language and imagery in this poem to open up the readers mind:
"Manna dew"
"Roots of relish sweet"
This type of language makes the readers mind open up and become more imaginative, making it easier for the reader to imagine and play out the poem in his/her mind.
John Keats enchances the knight's tale by contrasting the middle section of the poem with the first and last stanzas, which have bleak description and not many interesting adjectives. The poem uses the Q and A (question and answer) structure and repetition to bring it to a full circle.
John Keats has chosen a very archaic choice of language in La Belle Dame Sans Merci:
"And there she lulled me asleep,
And there I dream'd - ah! woe betide!
He uses this choice of language to amphasize the knights tale/ballad and it helps the reader to put himself in the knights character which is an essential ingrediant of a dramatic monologue.
