John Browning

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…

and everyone, including his wife. His need for control his mirrored in his relationship with the count’s agent. He is a patriarchal figure, who views himself as the more significant of the two sexes. He is proud of his “nine-hundred-years name” (Browning 33) and is upset that his wife could only treat him like she treated other men. He could not comprehend how such a woman, from a lower social class, could possibly not be under his control. To him, she was an object for him to possess and when…

and tries to assure to himself, that she did not resist his strangling of her and that he had not committed a crime. The poem shines light on the obsessive behavior of the speaker, relating to the idea of never wanting to let go of someone we love. Browning unveils the speaker’s concealed insanity as the speaker takes his act one step further and kills Porphyria to…

Eliot’s Rosamond Vincy is a further example. On face value Rosamond also can be considered an Angel. She is beautiful and has been schooled in all the lady-like accomplishments; although as one of the Middlemarch older women noted in a direct challenge to the concept of Angelic domestic ideology, ‘what was the use of accomplishments which would all be laid aside as soon as she was married? (Eliot 157)’. The Victorian lady may have been equipped to look angelic but she was ill-equipped to deal…

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…

Introduction - Duffy and Browning both traverse the concept of personal power and power distribution in the poems “War Photographer” and “My Last Duchess”. Duffy, through the use of imagery, metaphors and personification aims to portray the power the photographer has, however it is not enough to impact readers in his home country. Browning aims to criticize the patriarchal society, power control between the sexes and the attitude of the upperclassmen during the Victorian times, through the…

From what I understand, the poem trying to say that the speaker is eloquent, he uses words are easy to understand and it helps us to see the images clearly, unconfident, he does not be courageous to confess that he loves her, and daydreaming, it was his subconscious told him that he was falling in love with her at first sight. Next, the rhyme scheme of this poem is ABABCDCD from the first stanza, EFEFGHGH from the second stanza, and IJIJKLKL from the last stanza. Then, the setting of this poem…