The Ups And Downs of Love
Love is a constant. Although it comes in many forms and many different ways love cannot be changed and has existed since the dawn of time. No matter where you are in the world, love is still the same thing, it is universal and is experienced by everyone in their lifetime. Poetry has been used for centuries to express feelings and emotions and is the most effective way to express love. Poets have been able to show all aspects of love, the ups and the downs throughout time.
“Lucy Poems” by William Wordsworth, portray both sides of love in his “Lucy Poems”. He describes the contrasting feelings that come with love both the, brilliant ups of being in love when the poet describes his love for Lucy, and the deep depressing loss of losing a loved one. Wordsworth is was one of the first romantic poets, having a new, modern approach towards poetry which in his time was unheard of, he felt poetry should be about emotions and feelings, it shouldn’t be inhibited or stifled by politics or city social life and this is reflected in all of his poems. “She Dwelt Among Untrodden Ways” is the last in the “Lucy Poems Series” in which Lucy dies. The poet describes Lucy as A Maid whom there were none to praise ; And very few to love” and that “She lived unknown” however, despite the fact that she was not renowned, he still felt great loss and grief over her death, which is a sign of true love. Wordsworth says “But she is in her grave, and oh, The difference to me!” and his life would never be the same after this one single event.
Robert Browning with “Porphyria’s Lover” shows another side of love, desire and how quickly this desire can lead to madness. The poem is written in a more methodical, less emotional manner, being a characteristic of the Victorian Era in which Browning was writing. It tells the story of Porphyria who returns home to her love. Browning has portrayed a very different mindset in this poem, with the subject of the poem not being in a secure frame of mind, but on the edge of insanity. Porphyria worshipped him and he thought of he obviously felt the same emotions towards her
“Porphyria worshiped me: surprise
Made my heart swell, and still it grew”
However, his actions do not correspond to love in a traditional sense in the paragraph:
The death of the female beloved is the only way deemed possible by the insecure, possessive male to seize her undivided attention. This beloved woman represents the "reflector and guarantor of male identity. Hence, the male anxiety about the woman's independence for her liberty puts his masculine self-estimation at risk" (Maxwell 29). The jealous and controlling males in Robert Browning's "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess" possess a fervent desire to fix and monopolize their unconstrained female beloveds. Due to a fear of death, both speakers attempt to achieve control and deny object loss; by turning their lovers (once subjects) into objects, they ultimately attain the role of masterful subject.
Love plays an important role in most physical and emotional relationships. Love is a word that can prove difficult to define or even compare to other emotions. This is due to the diversity of meaning and the complexity of the emotion itself. Everyone has been in love at least once before and has gotten a taste of all the good and bad things that come with it. Christina Rossetti’s “Song” presents some of the good parts of love while Philip Larkin’s “Talking in Bed” shows us some of the bad parts of love. Larkin’s poem presents a failing relationship where communication has failed between a couple and things are getting more and more difficult. Rossetti’s poem presents a wholly different view on love; it is told from the viewpoint of someone talking to his or her lover about what said lover should do after the speaker dies. The love between them seems better, more powerful and good. The two poems also present wholly different attitudes towards “The End,” whether that is the end of life or the end of the relationship. Larkin presents the end as something dark and sad, difficult to cope with. Rossetti, on the other hand, talks about the end as just another beginning, a chance to start over in a new world. Finally, the two poems represent remembrance in different ways. Larkin’s presents memory as something extremely important while Rossetti implies that it does not matter whether we remember or not.
In Robert Browning's dramatic monologue "Porphyria's Lover," he introduces the persona, a twisted and abnormally possessive lover whose dealings are influenced by the perceived deliberation of others actions. As the monologue begins, a terrible, almost intentional storm sets upon the persona, who awaits his love, Porphyria. His lover "glide[s] in" (l 6) from a "gay feast" (l 27) and attempts to calm her angry love. This leads to a disastrous end, either for spite or fulfillment of a figurative wish that "would [now] be heard" (l 57). Browning suggests one must be cautious of what one wishes for, especially in dealings with love, where one focuses on the heart rather than material consequences.
Although, people might say out of emotions that their feelings are so intense that they cannot be expressed in words. Because of the same emotion, people may say that love cannot be described by words. It is evident that the language has proved to be sufficient enough to not only analyze, dissect or explain the feelings of love from so many angles, but also the chemical reactions happening in the body when somebody is in love. Subversions of conventions of love is not the matter of insufficiency of language but a matter of how a poet experiences love or how a poet chooses to express those experiences.
‘Porphyria’s Lover’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ are both poems by the Victorian poet Robert Browning. In this essay I will compare these two poems to find similarities and differences.
The types of love in a poem can be reflected in many ways. One of
Love has been expressed since the beginning of time; since Adam and Eve. Each culture expresses its love in its own special way. Though out history, though, it’s aspect has always been the same. Love has been a major characteristic of literature also. One of the most famous works in literary history is, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. This story deals with the love of a man and a woman who’s families have been sworn enemies. There love surpassed the hatred in which the families endured for generations. In the end they both ended up killing their selves, for one could not live without the other. This story is a perfect example of true love.
Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue, Porphyria’s Lover, illustrates the musings of a madman as he justifies his heinous actions. The message of the poem is revealed through the underlying irony as the speaker fails to recognize his apparent mental illness. Order is put against chaos as Browning satirizes ideals of the Victorian society, ultimately displaying the contradictory embrace of morality and the rejection of sexuality. Linking sensuality and violence, Browning’s portrayal of a psychopathic, possessive male speaker unveils the struggle to behave within society’s limited notion of what is considered appropriate.
The Victorian period was in 1830-1901, this period was named after Queen Victoria; England’s longest reigning monarch. Britain was the most powerful nation in the world. This period was known for a rather stern morality. A huge changed happened in England; factories were polluting the air, cities were bursting at the seams, feminism was shaking up society, and Darwin’s theory of evolution was assaulting long established religious beliefs. The Victorians were proud of their accomplishments and optimistic about the future, but psychologically there was tension, doubt, and anxiety as people struggled to understand and deal with the great changes they were experiencing. One of the authors known for writing during the Victorian Period was Robert Browning. Robert Browning was a poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic monologues, which made him one of the Victorian poets. Robert died in December 1889. His Poem “Porphyria’s Lover” was published in 1836. This essay will explore three elements of Victorianism in Porphyria’s Lover by Robert Brown...
"Porphyria's Lover" is an exhilarating love story given from a lunatic's point of view. It is the story of a man who is so obsessed with Porphyria that he decides to keep her for himself. The only way he feels he can keep her, though, is by killing her. Robert Browning's poem depicts the separation of social classes and describes the "triumph" of one man over an unjust society. As is often the case in fiction, the speaker of "Porphyria's Lover" does not give accurate information in the story.
By using references of her grief or her losses, Browning creates a more realistic view of her love suggesting that her love is sincere as it comes from a grieved person, which differs to the positive and idealistic feelings portray in the first octave. The poet then talks about her fondness of her love, revealing that her she lives for her love “ I love thee with the breath, / smiles, tears, of all my life;” (line 12-13), the asyndetic listings of the verbs ‘breath’, ‘smiles’ and ‘tears’, implying that her love can stem from different emotions she feels such as happiness and sadness, suggesting to her beloved that her love comes from good and sad points of her life.
Love, an intense feeling of deep affection. Everyone wants to reach this state, whether its physically, mentally, or emotionally. Love brings peace, it 's the only thing that does not hurt. Hate hurts, lies hurt, loneliness hurts, but love is what cures all of the wounds. Seeking a lifelong partner to provide support, for a plethora of people, is an ultimate objective and goal. This happiness can be discovered several times; however, only true love will triumph. Not an average, but a supererogatory significant other is what is dreamt of. Falling in love is process, and can manipulative. Provoking someone to fall inlove will allow for the long-term presence of a supportive and loving significant other. Those who seek both; to have
The first, and most conventional interpretation of “A Slumber,” identify the pronoun ‘She’ in the third line as “Lucy,” who is the subject of the four other poems in the collection. The male speaker (the speaker of a poem must be separate from the poet, in this case Wordsworth) describes how this woman whoever she may be: mother, lover, sister, or friend; has died. The word “slumber” is a euphemism to suggest an easy passing on to the afterlife. The final two lines of the first quatrain point to the tranquility of her death, and the narrator’s consolation that she is beyond the grasp of human mortality.
In Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe’s Faust (Part One) as well as in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s Nathan the Wise, love plays a vital role. Love is the reason that an individual strays from the path to enlightenment and begins to act in strange, unpredictable ways. It decreases an individual’s ability to reason and takes away any incentive he might have to seek enlightenment. Since love is based on faith, it goes against the ideals of enlightenment which stress individual thinking. Love brings about a sense of fulfillment, which also works against the ideals of enlightenment which advocate a constant struggle within the individual to find truth or reach a higher plain of thought. In the Age of Enlightenment, love is a temptation man must overcome to reach enlightenment.
Losing a loved one is one of the hardest experiences every person must go through. The experience does not end with the loss though, but begins with it. The loss of a dear person leads those left behind into a downward spiral of emotions and memories. A poem entitled “Lucy Gray” by William Wordsworth focuses on that loss and the emotions that follow it. By reading the poem one can objectively experience both the grief that Lucy Gray’s death brings on but also her parents’ acceptance of her death.