As an educated scholar, it is important to come to light with the fact that every well-known and reliable author, skillfully crafts his words manipulatively mainly by using figurative language, aiming to have a meaning, hidden behind the text. Beginning to read Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess", the reader might not fully grasp what's happening in the poem, or what rhetorical and hidden meanings the poem might possess; until reading it thoroughly and repetitively. In order to comprehend poetry, a reader must first analyze the poem and its poetic tools, understand the persona, and what it can reveal through the dramatic monologue. Browning has been able to transfer a strong message and experience to the reader, by rendering and putting in motion different poetic tools that reflect the purpose he is trying to achieve skillfully, which will be further discussed in this essay. First, for every poetic work the reader must thoroughly analyze every aspect of the poem being read and pinpoint the poetic tools utilized in the poem, as every small detail reflects on the overall meaning of the poem. Skimming through the poem, one can notice that this piece is rich in poetic tools. First, it involves a voice that is labeled as the speaker which, in turn, creates a dramatic monologue. The speaker is the duke, who is addressing the count or a messenger about the painting of his previous dead Duchess. Second, the tone of the poem gives the reader a feeling of royalty, high hierarchy, and education through the word choice, interest of the duke in art, and royal labels, such as the "Duke", "Duchess", and "Count". Third, the poem involves a number of conflicts that can be either directly seen or interpreted. The first one being an internal confl... ... middle of paper ... ... poetic tools, the persona, and what characteristics it revealed, the reader can connect the dots and draw a conclusion based on that. The persona is the Duke of Ferrara, which is a city where art is highly appreciated; however, the art has taken his appreciation into the next level and turned it into obsession, where he can no longer see beauty in reality, but rather in art only. Furthermore, he has become too possessive of his art pieces to the point where he even considers his wives as objects. Also, he has tried to attain dominance but failed to do so with his first wife and so he killed her. However, the persona was able to get away with his murder because, neither the audience in the poem, nor his creator, Browning, was able to criticize him. Rather, Browning skillfully channeled evil to his character in a subliminal manner and left the judgment to the reader.
The speaker in any poem is significant because he enables the reader to aquire information necessary in order to enter the imaginary world of the work. In Browning's Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, the solitary speaker, who is a monk overwhelmed with hatred toward a fellow monk, plays an important role as the guide in the world of the poem. The diction, structure, and tone of the entire poem communicate the speaker's motives, perceptions, emotions, and behavior.
The speakers and audience in poem are crucial elements of the poem and is also the case in these poems. In the poem Untitled, it can be argued that the poem is being written by Peter based on what his father might say to him...
New Criticism attracts many readers to its methodologies by enticing them with clearly laid out steps to follow in order to criticize any work of literature. It dismisses the use of all outside sources, asserting that the only way to truly analyze a poem efficiently is to focus purely on the words in the poem. For this interpretation I followed all the steps necessary in order to properly analyze the poem. I came to a consensus on both the tension, and the resolving of it.
The poem “My Last Duchess” and “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” present two innocent figures who receive harsh punishments for the ‘crimes’ they have committed. While the duke of Ferrara, in “My Last Duchess tries to narrate to an envoy the painting done by Fra Pandolf, he confidently uncovers why he killed his wife. On the other story, a 35-year old civilian is killed for committing a crime on a bridge. The two figures receive a harsh punishment. Do these incidences bring justice or injustice to the surface? Do these characters understand what is sensationally right or wrong? And, do their characters spread the theme of ‘confusion’ to readers?
On the other hand, on “My Last Duchess”, the speaker is a Duke who is going to be remarried. As the speaker shows his new wife’s father a painting of his previous wife he describes how she was like. Unlike the previous poem, this one clearly depicts the speaker as a monster. He had his wife murdered for what comes across as fairly innocent crimes. In the following lines he states;
The purpose of this essay is to analyze and compare and contrast the two paired poems “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning and “My Ex-Husband” by Gabriel Spera to find the similarities presented within the pairs. Despite the monumental time difference between “My Last Duchess” and “My Ex-Husband”, throughout both poems you will see that somebody is wronged by someone they thought was a respectable person and this all comes about by viewing a painting on the wall or picture on a shelf.
I found that throughout this poem there was much symbolism within it. Identifying that it was written in first person form showed that this poem relates to the author on a personal basis, and that it was probably written to symbolize his life. But when talking about people’s lives, you can conclude that people’s lives are generally and individually very diffe...
Throughout "My Last Duchess," Browning uses diction to further increase the haunting effect of his dramatic monologue. His precise and scattered word choice is meant to make the reader recognize the underlying haughtiness in his speech to the Count's emissary. The Duke refers to his former wife's portraits "depth" and "passion" in order to place a cloudiness over the realism of the painting. This, along with the "faint" and "half-flush" appearance that "dies along her throat," brings about an overcast appearance to the poem. The Duke's "trifling" lack of "countenance" is evident in his jealousy of
Both of these poems can be used read from different points of view and they could also be used to show how society treated women in the Nineteenth Century: as assets, possessions. Both of these poems are what are known as a dramatic monologue as well as being written in the first person. The whole poem is only one stanza long, and each line in the stanza comprises of eight syllables. ‘My Last Duchess’ is about a member of the nobility talking to an ambassador concerning his last wife, who later on in the poem is revealed to have been murdered by the person speaking, who is about to marry his second wife. ‘Porphyria's Lover’ gives an insight into the mind of an exceptionally possessive lover, who kills his lover in order to capture that perfect moment of compassion. ‘Porphyria's Lover’ uses an alternating rhyme scheme during most of the poem except at the end. The whole poem is only one stanza long, and each line in the stanza comprises of eight syllables.
over his wife as he refers to her as a belonging; it also shows that
To begin, the sound of this poem can be proven to strongly contribute an effect to the message of this piece. This poem contains a traditional meter. All of the lines in the poem except for lines nine and 15 are in iambic tetrameter. In this metric pattern, a line has four pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables, for a total of eight syllables. This is relevant in order for the force of the poem to operate dynamically. The poem is speaking in a tenor of veiled confessions. For so long, the narrator is finally speaking up, in honesty, and not holding back. Yet, though what has been hidden is ultimately coming out, there is still this mask, a façade that is being worn. In sequence, the last words in each of the lines, again, except for lines nine and 15, are all in rhythm, “lies, eyes, guile, smile, subtleties, over-wise, sighs, cries, arise, vile...
may not be all that he claims to be- the use of the word ‘My’ is very
In order to create a vivid picture of the townspeople’s impression of Richard Cory, the author implements the usage of imagery and a metaphor throughout the poem. The usage of these literary devices shows that the people within Richard’s town thought highly of him and regarded him in the same manner as a person of royal status. Imagery is the primary literary element throughout the poem used to paint Richard as a man of exquisite taste that is envied by the townspeople. The author’s use of a metaphor within the poem reinforces the notion of Richard being a regal gentleman who is envied by the townspeople.
A Comparison of the Dramatic Monologues of Porphyria's Lover and My Last Duchess by Robert Browning
This piece of the poem is full of the images of nature. The image of sun and the moon can be find throughout the whole work, but in this part it probably poses as a symbol of rationality and intellect. Its function differs from the function of the moon and its light shines its rays of light on things to make them clearer, more comprehensible and earthly. T...