Monday, March 7, 2011

My Last Duchess/AO2/Robert Browning/How the story is told.

Along with many other Robert Browning poems, this one is written in the form of a dramatic monologue.
  • This makes the poem more personal and more detailed than is if it was from the view of a second party.
  • In this particular poem, the narrative appears more colloquial, involving more rhetorical questions, as if he is personally addressing the reader head on.
  • The use of punctuation (such as brackets for when the narrator is insinuating something) !and exclamtion makes to mark dtrastic changes in tone and emotion! helps the reader understand the tone and
As well as Porphyria's Lover, this dramatic monologue is written in one continuous stanza, perhaps this suggests that the narrator is desperatly trying to explain something to the reader, and perhaps he is on edge, a bit tense maybe, so he is rushing (plus the use of punctuation shows his ever changing punctuation).

The rhyme scheme is AABB...............(I will amend this blog post by Wednesday)

Porphyria's Lover /Journal Notes/How the story is told.

Porphyria's lover is written in the 1st tense in the form of a dramatic monologue.

  • The useof a dramatic monologue is an effective way of reflecting on issus and the character does not neccesarily replicate the poet's author. For example, the charaters could be microcosms of different aspects of society: Lover-Violence, Porphyria- Sex.
  • The monologue is a (in the characters opinion) justified accountof a series of events, therefore, alongside the 1st tense, making the poem more personal.
  • The poem could be a Browning's liberal thoughts on society, where violeence is deemed more appropriate than overt sexual manerisms out of welock.
Poetic devices:
  • The rhyming pattern is ABABB, which is a carefully constructed useof rhyme, which enhances the thought that the Lover has thought carefully about his decisions and actions, along with the use of the iambic pentameter.
  • The similie - As a shut bud that holds a bee - provides the reader with imagery and even more justification from the lover.
The poem is very descriptive. Lots of colour, lots of imagery and lots of descriptive language. Perhaps this could suggest that the Lover has been carefully constructing this plan, and been waiting for the visit and been imagining the event in his head, and the monologue is written as is it was spoken just after the event has occured, after he has propped her head and and not heard anything from God. Therefore the Lover knew exactly what he was going to say, and along with the rhyming pattern and rhythm, it adds to the idea that Porphyria has planned this event, and has carefully been prepared.