Love in “Let me not”, “First love”, “My last duchess” and “Porphyria’s lover”
Love in "Let me not", "First love", "My last duchess" and "Porphyria's lover"
In this essay I will be discussing the views of love which are presented in four different poems. I will be explaining each poem in detail and I will also compare and contrast the ideas about love made by the poet. The four I will be comparing are
"Let me not"
"First love"
"My last duchess"
"Porphyria's lover"
I noticed that the theme love is commonly used in all the poems. Each poet writer has a different view on love. The language used by each poet differs.
In the poem
"Let me not" written by William Shakespeare. This is what we call a sonnet. This is sonnet number CXV1. This poem is also a rhyming couplet and the rhyming scheme is ABAB CACA EFEF GG this poem contains four quatrains. The main theme about this poem is true love. In this poem Shakespeare is using language and describing the effects of love. He said love conquers time he also says love does not die as you get old. The poem is trying to get a message over to the reader. I think it may be that true love never ends. At first he portrays that he believes in strength and true love. Secondly he uses metaphor images.
"Though Rosie lips and cheeks"
This is an example of metaphor. In this quote I think he is trying to point out that there is more than a physical side to love. He used metaphor to describe lips.
In the third stanza Shakespeare uses personification to emphasise the use of humanity. Shakespeare has personified time; he uses time as an example. To me I think he is trying to say that just because we get old it doesn't mean that love dies away too. I think that this poem is different to the others we studied because this poem is about true love which conquers the inside of you. The use of hyperbole has an impact as the effect is very imaginative and makes you feel and imagine what true love is about.
In my task I am going to compare "let me not" with "first love" I think this a good poem to compare with because "first love" is the love we don't forget whether it's true or not. The poem "first love" is about a love which struck painfully. John Claire uses a lot of meaningful words which have a strong impact towards them. The words felt real and the words used were strong. As I was reading the poem I noticed the 4th line. This line showed first feelings
"Stole my heart away complete" this line was very strong which I think meant that it was love at first sight and that she is the only love he has fallen for. I think it seemed that he had never felt in love with someone as much.
"Seemed midnight at noonday"
This could mean that he was so in love it blinded him and he could not tell between night and day. He described that his love was strong and his blood was burning of love. He felt that his heart was taken away and he ...
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"Stole my heart away complete" this line was very strong which I think meant that it was love at first sight and that she is the only love he has fallen for. I think it seemed that he had never felt in love with someone as much.
"Seemed midnight at noonday"
This could mean that he was so in love it blinded him and he could not tell between night and day. He described that his love was strong and his blood was burning of love. He felt that his heart was taken away and he will never fall in love with anyone else ever again. In my opinion the writer used repetive language on the word "heart" hinting that this is the only love he has. In my opinion this poem shows the vulnerability of love.
"Let me not"
Has a big difference this is because I think true love never happens when you love somebody for the first time. The first poem had a true and moral meaning. This poem combines well with "let me not" because in this poem love is meant in the same way.
Now I'm going to discuss the two poems written by Robert Browning
"My last duchess" and "Porphyria's lover."
Robert Browning was born in 1812 and he wrote many poems. His wife Elizabeth Barett Browning also was a famous poet. Both of them loved one another and both wrote many poems about love. In these poems I will be focusing mainly about love and how the poet shows their views of love in the two poems. I will also be touching some issues about the time of the poem was written and how poets felt in the period it was written in. I will also be discussing the different views in the poems. Each poem will be discussed individually and in comparison with each other.
"That's my last Duchess painted on the wall"
The first line of Browning's poem, "My last Duchess," tells us exactly what the poem is about. The Duke is talking to the count's messenger. This poem is written in the form of a dramatic monologue, so it is only the Duke that speaks, and that is out aloud. They are looking at a painting on the wall of the Duke's late wife. The Duke tells the messenger about the painting, whom it was painted by and the content of the painting:
("Frà Pandolf's hands worked busily a day,")
Later on in the poem you can see that the Duke is very persuasive and keen on his famous names; for example the painting was painted by Frà Pandolf who was a very good artist at the time, which is explained by the phrase
"Worked busily a day."
The main content of this poem is based on Duke's explanation of the painting. He comes out as a strong powerful character, for example in the line 11 he uses
"If they durst" meaning if they dared, showing that he is strong, respected and has power and maybe even that he is feared.
"Her husband's presence only, called that spot of joy into the duchess cheeks."
After this the Duke begins to speak in an angry tone. He explains to the messenger about the
"Spot of joy" and how he was not the only one who caused this. As this was written in the 19th century, it would have been wrong for a married woman to flirt with other men. Browning writes that the duchess would have this "spot of joy" with the slightest thing; this spot of joy would be practically like flirting. From lines 21 to 34 browning also explains how easily the duchess was impressed by the smallest things such as,
"The white Muller she rode with round the terrace,"
This also caused the "spot of joy."
His possessive side came through again and a selfish side is shown within this.
"My gift of a nine-hundred year old name with any bodies gift."
Browning has used the word 'my' repetitively to show possession and exclamation and also to show the Duke's anger and strong tone of voice.
I personally found the next part horrific and very shocking.
"I gave commands: then all smiles, stopped together."
This meant that the Duke had given someone orders to kill his wife. The writer uses the word 'stoop' showing that the Duke would have been a higher class then the duchess before he got married to her; or he was not willing to compromise to his wife's ways.
Finally, the Duke ends the poem, by saying that it does not matter how much money he receives in the dowry, it is the beauty of the counts daughter which he liked, and he passes this message to the messenger.
After reading and reviewing this poem, I think that the Duke's character is very strong and possessive. The kind of love shown in this poem is possessive love, but there is a lot of passion. Browning uses strong language to emphasise the points to add power to the words,
"Sir Twas all one!"
I think the poem is trying to show how a man preserved his wife's happiness, which he has done in the painting. Browning has used effective language to pass a message across and I think he has been successful in doing so.
"Porphyria's lover," is also written by Browning this is the second poem I will be discussing
"The rain set early"
"The sullen wind was soon awake."
After reading the first 5 lines, the mood of the poem is set. Browning uses personification to describe the weather and it puts an image of a dark stormy night. When he mentions Porphyria he makes her seem almost like a special angel by using the word ' gliding' which gives a sense of grace and beauty. This is also written in a dramatic monologue and it is the lover who is speaking, there is fear in the words and it's a form of monologue, the lover or the writer has used words such as "vex" and "spite" to give a picture of the way he felt, a picture of his emotions.
"She shut the cold out the storm,"
"Blazed up, and all the cottage warm."
Now the scene and mood has changed from being cold to warm. Then I got an image which when Porphyria walked in it became warm and light before she came it seemed dark and cold.
"She put my arm around her waist, and made her smooth white shoulder bare."
From this and until line 24 I think that Porphyria is trying to show her love. The writer used movement language which showed how Porphyria physically acted in order to show her love. I think that Porphyria was engaged or married to someone else and loved someone else so the lover killed her, strangled her.
"As a shut bid that holds a bee,
I warily opened her lids:"
The lover is afraid that she may still be alive, so browning uses metaphor "as a shut bud that holds a bee" which is like a flower bud that has a bee and if it is still alive then it would strike.
After he kills her the lover starts to show passion for her and kisses her. Not only once has the lover mentioned that he regrets it and feels guilty. I think he might have planned to kill her and keep her forever. I think this is because of line 32.
"While I debated what to do."
This tells me that he had planned to kill her.
He also feels as if he has done the right thing and there is nothing wrong with it. As the final line is
"And yet god has not said a word." I think that the lover thinks he has done the right thing and was not a crime which is punishable. This brings a point to my head that if the poem was written in 1800's then the punishment for murder would have been capital and if a woman was seeing two men she would be known as a prostitute, so meeting the lover, Porphyria would have been private and in the countryside away from public.
I think the lover character seems to be cold at first. He ignored Porphyria's enticement and just sits there, "no voice replied."
However after he kills her, there is a strong passionate side that comes through and then he begins to show love towards her.
"blushed bright beneath my burning kiss," the burning gave me a image of Porphyria's face going red and there being a long, passionate kiss from the lover Porphyria on the other hand seemed to be warm open and giving herself to him.
Just like "my last duchess," I personally think that browning is yet again successful in passing the message across of a strange love like the lovers and the Duke's. Once again he has used effective and emotional language in the poems and it has worked very well.
