Commentary on Easter Wings by George Herbert
Lord, Who createdst man in wealth and store, 1 Though foolishly he lost the same, Decaying more and more, Till he became Most poore: 5 With Thee O let me rise, As larks, harmoniously, And sing this day Thy victories: Then shall the fall further the flight in me. 10 My tender age in sorrow did beginne; And still with sicknesses and shame Thou didst so punish sinne, That I became Most thinne. With Thee Let me combine, And feel this day Thy victorie; 18 For, if I imp my wing on Thine, 19 Affliction shall advance the flight in me. store: many goods, abundance. 5 The length of the lines decreases to reflect their content it symbolise a diminished man 0 Herbert alludes to the paradox of the "fortunate fall" or felix culpa. Only by sinning with Eve, and being cast out of the Garden of Eden into a world of labour, pain, and death, did Adam enable the second Adam, Christ, to redeem man and show a love and forgiveness that otherwise could never have been. 8 Feel: "feel this day" in 1633. The two added words disturb the clear metrical scheme (which has six syllables in lines 3, 8, and 13) and are not found in the manuscript of the poem. 9 'Imp' is a technical term taken from falconry, meaning to
How effective do you find Donne`s use of imagery and language in conveying the strength of his feeling and to what extent could A Nocturnal Upon St Lucy`s Day, Being The Shortest Day be considered a love poem?
Katie Burrows How effective do you find Donne`s use of imagery and language in conveying the strength of his feeling and to what extent could A Nocturnal Upon St Lucy`s Day, Being The Shortest Day be considered a love poem? In the first stanza Donne presents a picture of a dying world, `The sun is spent...The world`s whole sap is sunk...life is shrunk, dead and interred. ` If it can be assumed that the poem is an expression of grief for his dead wife Anne (which would imply the poem is about love, or at least the loss of it), the use of that particular image could have two purposes. Firstly to show that, to Donne, the loss of Anne is worse than the death of the world, 'yet all these seem to laugh, compared with me,' or secondly to show that Donne perceives the death of Anne as the death of the world, as to him she was the world. It is the distinction made by the use of metaphor as opposed to simile, 'life is dead,' that conveys the strength of Donne`s feeling. In the second stanza Donne shows how loving Anne has changed him, 'For I am every dead thing, in whom love wrought new alchemy.' His use of the word alchemy shows the magnitude of Donne`s feeling as it suggests he perceives love as a change of being, and as such before he loved Anne he was a 'dead thing' ; it was only after he fell in love that he began to exist and live. This concept is developed further at the end
"My Last Duchess" By Robert Browning
"My Last Duchess" By Robert Browning "My Last Duchess" is another dramatic monologue revealing the narrator's possessive behaviour towards his wife. Robert Browning has written "My Last Duchess" in similar ways to "Porphyria's Lover". Both poems have similar ideas and depict of possessive male figures. The audience for "Porphyria's Lover" is the reader yet in "My Last Duchess" there is a direct audience which is the count's servant and an indirect audience which is the reader. In the poem Browning creates a male character who is the Duke of Ferrara. The Duke is a mysterious character who appears to of thought a lot about his Duchess, "That's my last Duchess on the war". This potrays his character's image as being a kind, gentle and caring person. The Duke obviously admires his portrait of the Duchess, "I call that piece a wonder". "Looking as if she were alive", this quote compliments the Duke for his artistic master piece yet has a more sincere meaning when you read on in the poem. The Duke begins to show his possessive and materialistic ways. "Since none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I". This shows how he is determined and made sure that he was in control of his relationship with the Duchess. The "curtain" shows how he does everything for her and is control of her life, " Since none........but I". It shows that his whole life was
From reading of Paradise Lost(TM) book IX how has Milton portrayed the relationship between Adam and Eve?
From reading of 'Paradise Lost' book IX how has Milton portrayed the relationship between Adam and Eve? What appear to be Milton's main concerns-regarding gender issues? Adam and Eve's relationship is not portrayed as smoothly as some people may have pre-empted. Milton is keen to show the reality of life in his writing of 'Paradise Lost', this is achieved by the disagreement between the couple in book IX. During this period Milton also deals with many social concerns about gender that may have been raised at this period. The relationship between Adam and Eve has been portrayed in a far from perfect way. Some would say that Milton is a Misogynist and tends to personify Eve as a weaker woman character: "Sole Eve, associate sole, to me beyond Compare above all living creatures dear.." This language used by Milton whilst talking to Eve could be seen as patronising and supporting the belief that Milton believes women to be inferior. This belief would be understandable at this time period because most 16th century poets believed women to be the inferior sex, such as Shakespeare's Katherina in 'The taming of the Shrew'. However, Milton's use of language here could simply portray the amount of care and love Adam holds for Eve. This love and care that Adam expresses for Eve is portrayed throughout the poem by Milton. Although Adam disagrees with Eve in her decision to work
Browning’s Use of Dramatic Monologue
My Last Duchess by Robert Browning - Ragavun Sivapalan - 10 Red - Mr Marsh 5 February 2002 Browning's Use of Dramatic Monologue My Last Duchess is written by Duke Ferrara, its style is 'Dramatic Monologue'. The purpose of this style of poem is to create a dramatic, gripping action-packed dialogue that is spoken by Duke Ferrara (Monologue). Throughout the whole poem, Ferrara's enthusiasm towards the Duchess is fuelled by his jealousy to her. The dramatic monologue and the use of rhyming couplets help create the correct mood through the poem, whether it is suspicion at the start or hatred at the end. "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall" "Looking as if she were alive" As the reader, I can immediately see that the Duke has to reveal his power and control, just by the word "My and I". Further on in the poem, it tells us that the painting is behind a curtain which illustrates his unnatural possessive personality. Proving that he is in control, and also that the painting is for his eyes only. "The curtain I have drawn for you, but I" The Duke describes how people are surprised by her seductive, passionate glance, and he gets very jealous when people admire the painting. The Duke goes on throughout the poem describing his wife in various attitudes. He describes the way she poses for the portrait and the reader can sense his jealousy over the way she is looking at
The poem " My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning is a fascinating poem exposing a flawed and sinister character.
The poem " My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning is a fascinating poem exposing a flawed and sinister character. The Duke, in his revealing monologue is ordering his new Duchess. I was intrigued by his egotism and evil behaviour. I intend to explore the extent of his character unwitiningly exposed by him in this dramatic monologue. The poem is a monologue, the continuous speech of a Duke to the envoy of a count whose daughter is to be the next Duchess. The Duke immediately reveals his egotism and possessiveness when he draws back the curtains to expose to the envoy a fine life-like painting of his previous wife. "........(since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)" The repetition of "I," is obvious here, it continues through out the monologue, which even ends with the words "for me." The Duke refers to the painting as though referring to a living person, and goes on to explain the Duchess's behaviour. It requires little interpretation of the Dukes words to discover that his last Duchess was not only beautiful but charming, romantic and one who delighted in nature and the simple things of life "Sir, 'twas all one! My favour at her breast, The drooping of the daylight in the West, The bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard fro her, the white mule She rode with round the terrace" Unfortunately, for the Duchess she seems naive and
My Last duchess - review.
My Last duchess Summary This poem is loosely based on historical events involving Alfonso, the Duke of Ferrara, who lived in the 16th century. The Duke is the speaker of the poem, and tells us he is entertaining an emissary who has come to negotiate the Duke's marriage (he has recently been widowed) to the daughter of another powerful family. As he shows the visitor through his palace, he stops before a portrait of the late Duchess, apparently a young and lovely girl. The Duke begins reminiscing about the portrait sessions, then about the Duchess herself. His musings give way to a diatribe on her disgraceful behaviour: he claims she flirted with everyone and did not appreciate his "gift of a nine-hundred-years- old name." As his monologue continues, the reader realizes with ever-more chilling certainty that the Duke in fact caused the Duchess's early demise: when her behaviour escalated, "[he] gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together." Having made this disclosure, the Duke returns to the business at hand: arranging for another marriage, with another young girl. As the Duke and the emissary walk leave the painting behind, the Duke points out other notable artworks in his collection. Form "My Last Duchess" comprises rhyming pentameter lines. The lines do not employ end-stops; rather, they use enjambment--that is, sentences and other grammatical units do not
My Last Duchess.
My Last Duchess My Last Duchess In "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning, we are introduced to the dramatic monologue. In a dramatic monologue, the speaker unknowingly reveals his personality through his speech. In this poem, the audience listens to a conversation between the Duke and a nameless envoy who are making the final arrangements for the Duke's second wedding. Strangely, the Duke brings out a portrait of his former wife whom he rambles incessantly about. Through the Duke's ramblings, we learn that he is a self-centered, arrogant, and completely chauvinistic man, asserting emotions of both power and weakness. The Duke is a materialistic, proud man. He has a high rank in nobility and a well-respected name. Thus, he tries to portray himself as powerful and sophisticated. But his underlying motives shine through and we see the Duke as jealous and possessive. The Duke was formerly married and this marriage ended tragically. His last Duchess had a wandering eye and a smile for everyone. This infuriated the Duke - "She smiled, no doubt, whene'er I passed her; but who passed without much the same smile?" (line 44). The Duke must have been a Leo because he always had to be in the spotlight, his pride injured when the attention was not there. He felt he should be the only one in his Duchess's life to cause her joy or any sort of emotion, really. "All and each would draw from
An Analysis of "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning
An Analysis of "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning "My Last Duchess" is written as a dramatic monologue, which is a poem that is read as if on stage, talking to an audience or character in a play. This method of writing has been used because the poem wants to give one perspective, the Duke's, in an effective manner. By using this technique, Browning is also silencing the antagonist, the Duchess, and becoming the protagonist. The rhyming scheme consists of rhyming couplets, which give the poem a sense of order, and make the speaker, the Duke in this case, seem well educated and in control of their emotions and actions. These methods of writing help show the character of the protagonist and the way he viewed the traditions during the Victorian times. There are two different views in which this poem can be interpreted, the Marxist, and the feminist. The Marxist view interprets the poem as if the Duke thinks of everything as his object, and the feminist viewpoint makes the Duke look as if he doesn't treat the Duchess as he should. The Duke's personality is revealed by different aspects in the poem, for example the rhyming scheme, rhyming couplets, makes the poem flow more easily, which leaves no gaps for interruption. This shows the Duke's love of being the centre of attention and being in control. The Duke also shows this keenness of control when he says the painting
Evaluation of "My Last Duchess".
RASHID ZAMIR Evaluation of "My Last Duchess" 'My Last Duchess' is a dramatic monologue written by a famous poet called Robert Browning. It is said that he is the best person to write monologues. This poem is one of the best he has written. The person who is speaking in the poem is an Italian duke, who ordered the murder of his wife. At the start of 'My Last Duchess' the Duke is showing off a portrait to an ambassador and states that she looks as if she was still alive, which informs us that she is dead. The duke here enjoys telling these people the story of how he ordered her death. The Duke describes how people are surprised by her looks and he gets very jealous when people admire the painting. He decides to hide the portrait behind some curtains and he acts like he still owns her. This reveals that the Duke was a very arrogant man, who preferred to stay dissatisfied, rather than to try to solve the situation. Even though she is now dead, the Duke likes to think that he still has control of his late wife by hiding her behind a curtain. He does this so that her glance doesn't attract another men. 'The depth of passion in that earnest glance, But to myself they turned (since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)' The Duke goes on throughout the poem describing his wife in various attitudes. He describes the way she poses for the portrait and the