How do the poems you have studied portray women? Refer to at least two poems in detail.

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How do the poems you have studied portray women?  Refer to at least two poems in detail.

Within the five poems we have studied, ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’, ‘Lady of Shalott’, ‘My last duchess’, ‘Porphyria’s lover’ and ‘Marianna’. Women are portrayed as weak characters with no voice. All of these poems are seen through the eyes of men, who accuse them of being self-centred and lacking in morals.  However, these judgements can be placed upon the men themselves. The social/historical position of women during the nineteenth century can be identified within the poems. Browning’s dramatic monologues in particular show women’s lack of voice and dependency on men during the eighteen hundreds. Showing both women as possessions of men.

The powerlessness of women is shown within Tennyson’s poems; ‘Mariana’ and ‘ The Lady of Shalott’. ‘Mariana’ wastes her life because of a man and the ‘The Lady of Shalott’ looses her life due to Sir Lancelot. However, in Keats’ poem ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci”, the balance of power changes. The mythical female in the poem woos the knight and takes him under her control, but still she is portrayed negatively. She is displayed as a deceitful character who lures men into danger ‘she took me to her elfin grot.  And there she wept and sigh’d full sore’. ‘La Belle Sans Merci. Thee hath in thrall.’ This quote highlights the female’s seduction of the Knight and his piers.    

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 ‘La belle dame’ is described as a beautiful character implied by her name. However the other side of her character is shown within the rest of the title ‘Sans Merci’, without Merci. ‘Her hair was long and her foot was light’, ‘Her eyes were wild’, perhaps relating to the empowering side of ‘La belle dame’.  Keats reinforces his point by using ‘wild eyes’ once again in the later part of the poem.  Keats describes her, as a ‘faerys child’ and later says in ‘language strange she said I love thee true’ – this implies her mythical quality which mystifies and ...

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