Dramatic Lyrics

“My Last Duchess,” Browning’s dramatic monologue centers thematically on a Renaissance Duke’s obsession with overpowering his Duchess. His desire to dominate reached ta an extent where he reduced her to nothingness, captured in a painting. The poem, though about a Renaissance man, reflects completely a Victorian masculine attitude toward women. The main character of the poem that indulges into the monologue is a misogynist man who is unable to bear with any act of agency performed by women. In…

Introduction to Author Oscar Wilde was a Anglo- English author, playwright, novelist, critic and poet. He was a popular literary figure in late Victorian England, known for his brilliant wit, flamboyant style. After graduating from Oxford University, he lectured as a poet, art critic and a leading proponent of the principles of aestheticism which emphasized aesthetic values more than moral or social themes. This doctrine can be clearly summarized by the phrase ‘art for art’s sake’. In 1890, he…

Life is full of love and hate. Love is widely considered the beautiful side of life, while hate is thought of as the ugly side. With this popular view on love, people might not realize the evil it can imbed in those who experience it. Robert Browning’s poems “My Last Duchess” and “Porphyria’s Lover” both depict how the speakers commit terrible acts when their possessive and obsessive love towards their women becomes too strong. The speakers of the poems both kill their lovers as they share a…

Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess” is about a powerful Duke and his late wife. He is showing a portrait painted on the wall of his duchess and describing her to someone. The portrait seems to be full-length and highly realistic because the duke remarks that “there she stands” (4). The duke immediately seems somewhat sinister. He even speaks of the duchess as if she were a possession referring to her as “[his] last duchess” throughout the poem. The poem both begins and ends with the Duke…

Love is a manical thing. Sometimes it can push people to do things that they normally wouldn’t do. Robert Browning writes about how love can change people. In “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning, he tells about how a man became to irrationally afraid that he killed his wife. In “Porphyria's Lover” by Robert Browning, a girl wanders into the woods and finds a man who would then kill her. There are many comparisons and contrasts you can pull from Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” and…

love poems of the English language. It may not attribute the same altitude of wickedness found in "My Last Duchess", but the aspiration to eternally preserve an obsessive relationship is on the other hand the same. Robert Browning’s is a compelling dramatic monologue that evokes a sense of oppression, obsession,…

Robert Browning’s unconventional dramatic monologue “Porphyria’s Lover” enters the mind of an unknown, although presumably male, psychologically complex person who tells the story of strangling his lover by winding her long yellow hair around her throat three times after she comes into his house and kindles a fire. Following Porphyria’s death, the speaker repeatedly tells himself, and tries to assure to himself, that she did not resist his strangling of her and that he had not committed a crime.…

The Similarities and Differences in My Last Duchess and Porphyria's Lover 'My Last Duchess' and 'Porphyria's Lover' are poems written by Robert Browning in the form of a dramatic monologue. They both contain themes…

Robert Browning was born May 7, 1812 in Camberwell, London. His father was a senior clerk in the Bank of England. However, his mother was a talented pianist. Browning’s love for writing dramatic monologues came from his father who also had a love for art and literature. Browning attended two schools, Rev. Thomas Ready and the University of London. However, Browning only lasted half a year in the college (Welcome… np). On September 12, 1846, Robert Browning married Elizabeth Barrett, who was…

“Patriarchy is the system or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) The sense of authority given to a man has been a constant struggle in society for women. Equal rights have been forcefully implemented in our societal and government systems to stop the ongoing “commotion” of women. Patriarchy is still alive and well in today’s society. It is reflected in pay gaps, the workplace, parenting, and even in education. Not only are…