He does this by giving the poem an ABABB rhyme scheme. This is inconsistent and could represent the irregularity of Porphyria’s visits but also the instability of their relationship. This could be a reason why the lover feels insecure and wants to gain control of the relationship. However, this inconsistency could also represent the speaker’s disturbed mind. The poem starts in an iambic tetrameter and continues this way for the first four lines.
This causes the audience to feel uneasy about the narrator and his reasons behind doing what he does to Porphyria. The language that her lover uses is used in a way that almost dehumanises her. “In one yellow string” this example shows just how much he dehumanises her and just how little he thinks of her towards the end of the poem. Not only this but Browning uses mono-syllabic words which slows the pace, this gives the reader chance to understand just what’s happened. The use of monosyllabic words also shows just how calm the narrator is about the situation he has placed himself in after killing Porphyria, much like how the structure does.
If you are hoping for the highest grades (B and above) you must make comparisons between the characters in the poems and Lady Macbeth. Intro All these texts contain examples of central characters whose minds are unbalanced. In Macbeth the longer nature of a play allows us to understand why Lady Macbeth mind becomes increasingly disturbed, but in the brief dramatic monologues of Browning we have no background to their disturbance. Another crucial difference between the Shakespeare and Browning texts is that we see the character of Lady Macbeth from the outside whereas the disturbed character is the narrator in all 3 Browning peoms, so we only get his/her perspective on events. The basic difference between a dramatic monologue and a play also means that different techniques are used to convey the disturbance.
“Sexton once wrote that poetry ‘should be a shock to the senses. It should hurt’ “(McMahan 560). The title of this poem foreshadows how the story will end. More often then not, the other woman is left with nothing but hurt and disappointing looks from society. While the male involved is able to return to his average life, as if nothing happened.
I believe that while the English language is in decline, it can be repaired. Many of the mistakes that people make when they write are due to over-thinking or not thinking enough, as stated in Simplicity by William Zinsser, “Thinking clearly is a conscious act that the writer must force upon himself.” Using too many words, not enough words, extravagant words, or inappropriate wording are all key flaws of writing (that I admit I’ve done). Still, all can be worked on and fixed. In Politics and the English Language, Orwell explains the causes of the decline of the English language and how the effects are often closely intertwined with the cause. Orwell uses the example, “A man may…drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks…the same thing…is happening to the English language.” Sometimes, bad habits cause other habits to exist and it turns into a cycle of disorder.
This is shown through the conversation between Hermia and Lysander where Shakespeare uses repetition to compare different challenging situations where two people have fallen in love. To support this Shakespeare has used the characters of Lysander and Hermia to express these situations through dialogue some of which include ‘O cross too high to be enthralle’d too low’ (act 1 scene 1) and ‘Or else misgraffed on respect of years’ (act 1 scene 1) Through these quotes we are shown that love is something that is uncontrollable and it does not always make sense. Love can cause us to both love and cry. Love is not always easy it can cause sorrow and pain. An example that love can make us laugh is when Titania falls in love with Bottom who has the head of a donkey.
In their day and age these characters would be judged by many factors including social and cultural backgrounds, crimes committed and personal traits. Both of these writers seem to conjure their audience into a state where it compels them to relate to certain characters. Lady Macbeth certainly loses or suppresses her feelings of cowardice. Throughout her appalling invocation to the spirits of evil to “unsex her”, proving her ambition to attain her goal. In Jacobean times women were seen as inferior and even in the Victoria era, thus she required external forces to crush her conscience to allow her to fulfil her ambition.
In Act 3 scene 5 it could be argued that Juliet is failed by both her parents. Her mother, Lady Capulet, may have failed her in the sense that she does not understand Juliet or have any knowledge as to what is going on in her life. Juliet is crying because Romeo has been banished, yet Lady Capulet believes her to be crying over Tybalt’s death. Juliet cries that “no man like he doth grieve [her] heart”, referencing how upset she is that Romeo is no longer in Verona but Lady Capulet believes this to be “because the traitor murderer lives”. This illustrates how Lady Capulet is ignorant to the fact that her daughter is now married to Romeo, leading to her inability to understand the meaning behind what Juliet is saying.
The whole poem consists of 12 heroic couplets; however, in lines 19-22 the rhyme is imperfect. The fact that the imperfect rhyme is caused by the different sounds of ‘o’, long and short, in, “roam/come” (18-19) and “known/none” (20-21), shows that the flaws of the narrator’s book are very minor. The mixture of both perfect and imperfect rhyme reveals how though the writer is a perfectionist even she has a hard time getting things completely right. Anastrophe occurs in line 13 with “but more defects I saw.” This emphasizes the “defects” of the books and shows how important these flaws are to the writer. Caesurae are also portrayed in the poem as dashes.
Browning has used enjambment throughout the poem to help paint the picture that he's drunk and rambling on. The drunken rant is also used to reveal some of the background story about Fra Lippo Lippi himself. This tells the story to the reader because it shows what he's saying isn't planned it's just his opinions coming out naturally it shows how he has to stop and think what he's saying now and again as well as too much coming out sometimes.. By having the poem as a dramatic monologue it helps the narrator address the situation more as well as directly showing the reader his views on the religious regime. This has also been done by Browning through use of extreme punctuation e.g. exclamation marks, this displays his emotional state and anger, giving you an accurate idea of the character.