How does Robert Browning convey the feelings of the narrator for the women in each of the two poems 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess'?

How does Robert Browning convey the feelings of the narrator for the women in each of the two poems 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess'? The thing that struck the reader about this poem, was the way it told the story of a shocking possessive relationship. Browning writes the poem in a very different way, setting the mood almost immediately. Through the poem, he tells the story of a Lady, quite rich in her class. Coming to a cottage to meet her lover. He sets the atmosphere right from the beginning as being a cold, winter night with the storm raging outside. The Lady (Porphyria) walks in, immediately bringing warmth to the cottage. The lover looks on passively, as she undresses herself from the cold in front of him. As the Poem goes on, the two sit by the fire and Browning describes how at that moment 'at last I knew Porphyria worshipped me'. Browning describes how he kills Porphyria because he knows she will never really be his, due to her ties in the upper class of society - compared to his lower state. He strangles her with her long blonde hair in the poem, and Browning describes this using similies and excellent metaphors, which are unique in themselves. They set the chilling atmosphere brilliantly for the reader. Although the dialect is in some parts hard to grasp, the poem has a remarkable way of getting across the cold and angry atmosphere of the story line.

  • Word count: 1640
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Compare The ways In Which Tennyson And Browning Present The Theme Of Love In Their Poems And The Way They Suggest About Victorian Cultural and Social Values.

James O'Brien 1/3/03 Compare The ways In Which Tennyson And Browning Present The Theme Of Love In Their Poems And The Way They Suggest About Victorian Cultural and Social Values. The poems "The Sisters" by Lord Alfred Tennyson and "Porphyria's Lover" by Robert Browning involve the themes of love, madness, obsession and jealousy. The poems were written in the Victorian era and are both dramatic monologues, which are poems written in the first person and are dramatic in content for example a murder and suicide. As these are both written in the 1st person, "The Sisters" is narrated by a sister and "Porphyria's lover" is narrated by the lover. One theme in the two poems is jealousy. In "Porphyria's Lover" the lover is jealous because he cannot have Porphyria to himself; this drives him to kill Porphyria. This is similar in "The Sisters" where one sister is jealous of the other because she is more beautiful and an Earl fell in love with her; the sister died and the jealous sister thought she went to hell. Towards the end of the poem, the sister invites the Earl around for dinner and she sleeps with him, in the middle of the night she woke up and stabbed the Earl to death. If we look at Victorian social ideas, young women were not to go out without a chaperone and clearly Porphyria went to her lover's house without one, young women should have never betrayed

  • Word count: 864
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Browning gives us insights into people at crucial points in their lives. Compare the ways in which the poems use the dramatic monologue form as well as language to bring out the feelings and situation of the characters in the poems.

Browning gives us insights into people at crucial points in their lives. Compare the ways in which the poems use the dramatic monologue form as well as language to bring out the feelings and situation of the characters in the poems. Robert Browning in all three of his poems, 'My Last Duchess', 'The Laboratory' and 'Porphyry's lover', create an unusual original perspective for the readers of the poems. They all are of the same theme, murders/killings, because of love. Either because the lover is jealous, or because of hate or of love itself. 'The Laboratory' , shows us insight of a women who's 'lover', is in love with another women. She wants to kill for love, and is motivated by jealousy. To hurt the man, she intends to poison the persona, with the poison the man makes. The women, who Browning has made to narrate and express her feelings in the poem, seems to be quite strange, but also very sly and cunning when it comes to getting the poison of the man. From the way the language is expressed, to define her character. She even helps him make the poison, 'Grind away moisten and mash up thy paste...' We can see by the language of the poem, that the women wants the man to suffer. 'He is sure to remember her dying face!' From this we can tell that the women is trying to make the women look ugly, so that he may picture that face forever. 'Let death be felt and the proof

  • Word count: 1262
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Browning's porphyria's lover

BROWNING'S PORPHYRIA'S LOVER Many of Robert Browning's early poems were part of what Isobel Armstrong has called a "systematic attempt to examine many kinds of neurotic or insane behavior, and in particular the pathology of sexual feeling" (Armstrong 288). Paired with a companion poem, "Johannes Agricola," under the title Madhouse Cells, "Porphyria's Lover"(1836) is one of the earliest products of this project. The standard reading of this monologue is that the poem's insane narrator, Porphyria's unnamed lover, has murdered her in order to possess her completely or, perhaps, to freeze in time a moment of perfect devotion: [. . .] at last I knew Porphyria worshiped me; surprise Made my heart swell, and still it grew While I debated what to do. That moment she was mine, mine, fair, Perfectly pure and good: (32-37) I would like to suggest that beneath the narrative of the insane, murdering lover, Browning layered a tale of erotic asphyxiation, one in which Porphyria survives.( n1) There is ample evidence in the text and its contexts to credit the murder reading alone, without such a shadow text. Violence and death are well-known outcomes of frustrated or perverse sexual feelings like those Browning writes about here and elsewhere in poems such as "My Last Duchess" and "The Laboratory." Similar sexual behaviors surface in the works of other poets of the

  • Word count: 2110
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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How does Browning show the balance of power between men and women in 'My Last Duchess' and 'Porphryria's Lover'?

How does Browning show the balance of power between men and women in 'My Last Duchess' and 'Porphryria's Lover'? In these two poems Robert Browning shows the balance of power in male-female relationships. Both are very similar in the way that they portray the women having more power than they should have, and the men not having the power they think they should have. In the first poem, 'My Last Duchess', Browning shows the Duke not having full control over his wife, the Duchess. In the second poem, 'Porphyria's Lover', the narrator does not have control because she is in a higher class and cannot be with him and she would lower her class and she is not ready to give it up. In 'My Last Duchess', the Duke is talking to someone about the dead Duchess. He first refers to power over the Duchess in the poem when he says about the painting of her behind the curtain, and if anybody wants to see it they would have to ask him first, 'Since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I' This shows that he still has control over her even though she has passed on. After that he writes about how every little detail seemed to please her, 'She had A heart... how shall I say... too soon made glad, Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.' The Duke gets quite angry at this point, 'The bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in

  • Word count: 814
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Porphyria's Lover/ My Last Duchess comparision. Women and relationships in the19th century

Porphyria's Lover and My Last Duchess Compare the two poems 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess' by Robert Browning. What do they reveal about attitudes to women and relationships in the nineteenth century? Robert Browning was one of the greatest poets of the nineteenth century. In 1842, he published 'Dramatic Lyrics' which included the two poems 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess'. In 'Porphyria's Lover' Browning gives the reader a dramatic insight into the twisted mind of an abnormally possessive lover, who wishes the moment of love to last forever. In this essay, 'Porphyria's Lover' will be compared to Robert Browning's other dramatic monologue, 'My Last Duchess', where an Italian aristocrat reveals his cruelty to his late wife whilst showing off a portrait of her to one of his guests. Robert Browning's poems 'Porphyria's Lover' and 'My Last Duchess' were both written in the form of a dramatic monologue. Both poems show a similarity because they are both narrated from the male lover's point of view. As a result, the reader becomes more closely involved in the poems and can feel very strong emotions for the individuals portrayed than if the poem was written from the eyes of an 'outsider'. This form of writing enables Browning to use irony, in which the real meaning is concealed or contradicted by the literal meanings of the words. For example, in 'My Last

  • Word count: 2278
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Consider how two poets use their craft to create a powerful narrative.

Consider how two poets use their craft to create a powerful narrative Different poets have very indivudalistic ways and ideas on how to create powerful and bold narratives. It is what distinguishes the two poets I will be assesing. These poets are, Robert Browning who wrote Poerphyrias Lover and My Last Duchess, and John Keats who wrote La Belle Dame Sans Merci. Both John Keats and Robert Browning are very talented and created hier poems with thought and skill and in this essay I will be exploring their poetic minds and the techniques that are used. In Porphyrias Lover Robert Browning sets the mood straight away from the fist stanza: "The sullen wind was soon to wake, It tore the elm tops down for spite," Robert Browning uses pasonification to give the wind a character, in this case violent/angry, this helps to set the atomospheric mood of the poem which Robert Brwoning obviously wants the reader to notice from the very start. Browning also uses another technique in his poem to enhance the words, which he thinks that plays a vital role in this poem. "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

  • Word count: 940
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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"Stealing" by Carol Ann Duffy and "Porphyria's Lover" by Robert Browning, will be compared and contrasted on the ways that the poets reveal their narrator's personalities

How do Duffy and Browning reveal the characters of their narrators? The two poems, "Stealing" by Carol Ann Duffy and "Porphyria's Lover" by Robert Browning, will be compared and contrasted on the ways that the poets reveal their narrator's personalities and how they express their feelings towards their surroundings and lives. In the poem "Stealing", the narrator, an outcast to society, decides to steal a snowman because he is in need of a friend. The narrator appears disturbed and behaves in an anti-social manner. In "Porphyria's lover", the narrator awaits for his lover, Porphyria, who returns from a social gathering. Porphyria is married and is having an affair with the narrator. Then the narrator strangles her. The fact that they are both outcasts to society provides a useful starting point for comparison. There are numerous differences and similarities between the narrators such as, the way how both narrators are isolated from society and, at different points in the poems; they become cut-off from human contact. However, the narrator in "Stealing" has to create a "mate" (the snowman) because he is unable to communicate with other humans: "I wanted him, a mate" The use of colloquial slang, "mate", emphasises how he addresses the reader, and it is sad because it shows that the narrator is lonely and is desperately in need of a friend, so desperate that he has to resort

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Comparing the way two different authors portray love and saying which one was the most effective and why.

Comparing the way two different authors portray love and saying which one was the most effective and why. In this essay I will be talking about two different ways in which authors portray love. In my conclusion I will be talking about which one I found the most effective and why. The three poems I will be looking at are- "My last Duchess" By Robert Browning, "Porphyria's Lover" By Robert Browning and "Ballad" which is written by an anonymous person. There is a difference between love and attraction, love and sexual desire, love and infatuation, love and friendship, between a good relationship and one that is only pleasurable. Fundamentally, love is a strong positive emotion of regard and affection. All relationships involve three key elements, emotion, how we feel about each other, ethics, how good or bad we are for each other and joys, how much we satisfy and dissatisfy each other. "My last Duchess" by Robert Browning is a poem that is seen from two perspectives, male and female. The duke sees the possession of art as love. We know this because lines 1-3 illustrate that- "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, looking as if she were alive. I call that a piece of wonder." This quote also tells its readers that the painting of the duchess looks as if she were alive and that the painting itself is a piece of wonder, therefore it is a possession to him. The Duke

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  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Discuss the importance of religion with reference to at least two poems within the selection. In the course of your answer Look closely at the affects of imagery language and verse form, and Comment on how these poems relate to Victorian values.

Discuss the importance of religion with reference to at least two poems within the selection. In the course of your answer; * Look closely at the affects of imagery language and verse form. * Comment on how these poems relate to Victorian values. Robert Browning was born 7 May 1812. He began writing poems and at a very young age and learned many languages, also showing an interest in history. This interest in foreign language and history is to a certain extent reflected in his poetry, as many poems are set abroad, and it can be interpreted that there s a certain amount of historical knowledge present in Browning' s poetry. A prime example of this possible historical knowledge is the interest Browning shows in religion, and the various mimics of biblical events, particularly evident in the poem, 'The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church", a poem that talks of the real 'Saint Praxed's church' in Rome. The first poem that has particular religious grounding is 'The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church', written in 1845. This Dramatic monologue talks of a Renaissance Bishop on his deathbed instructing a party on the tomb which he aspires to have built for him. He talks of this tomb in comparison to that of his predecessor, Gandolf, of whose tomb his is scorning, "Old Gandolf with his paltry onion-stone." The bishop mentions a variety of themes for his

  • Word count: 2101
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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