Explore how R.Browning's use of the Dramatic Monologue, helps to shape our understanding of the narrators in 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess. Which narrator do you find the more disturbing and why?

Hugo Price Explore how R.Browning's use of the Dramatic Monologue, helps to shape our understanding of the narrators in 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess" Which narrator do you find the more disturbing and why? A dramatic monologue is a poem that is written in the form of a speech or narrative by a person who has been imagioned, in which the speaker undeliberately reveals aspects of their character while describing a particular situation or series of events. In Porphyria's lover the speaker is in fact the lover and in 'My Last Duchess' the Duke is the speaker. Both speakers tell us their version of events and because of this the listener must be wary of bias. In order to build up a true picture of the actual events and of their character, we must study language, tone and structure. The Duke uses such language as "Wilt please you sit and look at her" this, although politely worded is in fact a command which the envoy would be foolish not to obey. Also the writer uses the words of the artist to hint to the reader what happened to the Duchess for example "the faint Half-flush that dies along her throat" this suggests that she had her throat slit as a result, perhaps it also suggests in 'Porphyria's lover' the sentence "vainer ties" reflects the way that the lover ties her beautiful upper cl3ass hair round her own neck to kill her. This also reflects the fact that the

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1008
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Compare The Treatment In The Poems 'Sonnet 18' And 'The Sun Rising'.

Compare The Treatment In The Poems 'Sonnet 18' And 'The Sun Rising' In 'The Sun Rising' by John Donne, the poet is awakened by the sun's rays streaming through the curtains into his bedroom, where he lies with his lover. Wishing to prolong (to lengthen in duration) the pleasure of lying in, cuddled beside her, he tells the Sun not to disturb the peace of the bedroom. The fact that the Sun's other duties are, amongst others, to wake "late schoolboys" and "call country ants to harvest offices" suggests that the day is already well established, and the poet must soon accept to part from his lover's embrace. But love, he argues, is not ruled by time or the natural order, and is quite independent of them, and therefore he is annoyed that the Sun should meddle in the affairs of lovers and cause this parting: "Love, all alike, no season knows, nor clime, Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time." Indeed, in the second and third stanzas, Donne questions the natural order, and claims that the love between himself and his girl is superior to the Sun's, and all other rulers', power: He can "eclipse and cloud" the Sun's beams "with a wink", and his lover's eyes will blind the Sun, so beautiful are they. In short, he concludes, the lovers' embrace is the real centre of the Sun, and only they two are important in the world: "Since thy duties be To warm the world, that's done

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1304
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

A Comparison of two poetries - Like a Flame and The Thickness of Ice

A Comparison of two poetries - Like a Flame and The Thickness of Ice In this essay I am going to analyse two different poems. I am going to analyse the subject matter, language, rhyme / rhythm, form, ideas and attitudes and the overall tone of each. The two poems that I will be analysing in this essay are "Like a Flame" by Grace Nichols and "The Thickness of Ice" by Liz Loxley. "Like a Flame" is a modern poem written in the 20th Century. The title "Like a Flame" is implying that the atmosphere is very hot and is full of youthful spirit around it. The poem is about one girl falling in love with a man. It is written in their first meeting, giving her first feelings between being a girl and becoming a woman. The whole poem has no rhyming pattern, but some structure is evident. The first four verses, which have three lines in each, they set the scene as well as the mood. It uses the suggestion in the words "ripening cane" to describe herself grow up quickly, already of riper years. His eyes attracted her when she first met that man. As the second verse "my eyes make four with this man." But the third and fourth verses are written she only laughs and feels so confused. She doesn't know she is falling in love because she does not understand the feeling of love. The last four verses of the poem reveal the girl has some sweet feelings when she starts to talk with that man. And it

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1214
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay

Using a selection of pre-twentieth century verse, compare and contrast the ways in which different poets approach the themes of love and loss.

Task: Using a selection of pre-twentieth century verse, compare and contrast the ways in which different poets approach the themes of love and loss. "When We Two Parted" written by Lord Byron, "Remember" written by Christina Rossetti and "My Last Duchess" written by Robert Browning are three pre-twentieth century poems about the ups and downs of love. "When We Two Parted" is a poem about Lord Byron's own secret relationship that failed secretly and tragically when he called it off, yet he feels heartbroken when she finds someone else, breaking their promise to wait for each other. "Remember" also describes how the plans of lovers can go wrong. Rossetti tries to prepare her lover for her impending death. She asks only that he "remembers" her. Likewise, "My Last Duchess" includes the theme of death, as a paranoid Duke tells the story of how and why he killed his wife. While the poems vary in terms of style and techniques, all three poets tackle the issue of love and loss. "When We Two Parted" is a first person narrated poem written for a specific audience. Byron uses the poem as a means by which to send his ex-lover a message in secret. In the poem he reflects upon the break up as he speaks in the past tense. He tells us that they met in "secret", which could mean there relationship was ethically unacceptable; this is what may have caused the break up. Byron says that their

  • Ranking:
  • Word count: 1245
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
Access this essay