Compare how a characters voice is created in “My Last Duchess” and ONE other poem. The characters’ voices in “My Last Duchess” and “The River God” are created in very similar but also different ways. In both poems we can see that the characters are created as quite lonely in, “My Last Duchess” and “The River God”. The writer of “My last Duchess” uses euphemism to display his loneliness to the reader. “This grew; I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together.” This quote creates a sense of loneliness to the reader seeing as the speaker is saying that “all smiles stopped” implies that the person who smiled is no longer alive but now dead.
The use of emotive language, “dumb” and “blindly”, highlight to the audience the true vulnerability of a person who is asleep much like a newborn baby. The dissonance used in the last stanza, “riving and driving forth” help to convey the violent and negative imagery, “expulsion… remorseless… pangs and betrayal of harsh birth”, which emphasises how pure and perfect sleep is in comparison to the harsh realities one must face in their consciousness. The water imagery throughout the poem, “estuary… lave you”, suggests the cleansing effect of sleep on the mind body or soul. Water is commonly associated with cleanliness however it also alludes to holy water which
As Francesco was dying Carlo describes how his eyes were ‘blinded with tears’. The word ‘blinded’ suggests a loss of control which could symbolise the deep passion Carlo had towards his lover. Although Francesco says ‘I felt good with you’ Carlo never receives a sense of closure as he never mentioned his sexuality. The mention of ‘incalculable grief’ in a previous chapter could have been an explanation of Francesco’s death and also his inability to completely get over it
The phrase ‘no sleep’ is a euphemism for death and suggests that she will pay for what she has done. This is similar to Farmers Bride as he is frustrated that she will not interact with him. This is shown when he says ‘three summers since I chose a maid’; this suggests that she has been avoiding him for the past three years, which is frustrating for him. The word ‘maid’ implies that she is still a virgin, suggesting that his frustration could also be sexual In Sister Maude italics are used to emphasise her hatred for her sister Maude. This is used in the last line of the poem ‘Bide you with death and sin’; this symbolised her outrage at her sister and her hope that she will pay by going to hell after death.
The men in both poems truly loved their women in the beginning, but by the end they had become obsessive, drove themselves to insanity, and slept next to the dead bodies of their lovers. God and the Angels played a role in the speakers mind, but in dissimilar ways, and both authors used some personification, one with the storm, while the other with the sea. Ultimately, love, true love, can drive you mad. The speaker in “Annabel Lee” describes his love for her as strong and powerful. He says “But we loved with a love that was more than love.” Their age had no determination on how much they loved each other; “But our love it was stronger by far than the love of those who were older than we.” In Porphyria’s Lover, the speaker describes their love more indirectly by saying she was “murmuring how she loved me.” This is very romantic, though she is still hesitant and can’t say it directly.
Rosaline is unobtainable, just like Juliet was at first. Romeo's words for his love for Rosaline are very insincere and he discusses his love for Rosaline using sad language "Aye me sad hours seem long", "In sadness, cousin, I love a woman." When Benvolio asks who he loves, Romeo does not give a straight answer but instead complains that she does not return his love "From Love's weak childish bow she lives uncharmed."
First of all, Wharton’s subtle action toward Ethan’s torn feelings for Mattie and being loyal to his wife. Ethan was unfortunate to have a choice in leaving his wife to be with Mattie but, tried a futile decision to both trying to do suicide. In the novel there were events in which Ethan was indecisive over rebelling against Zeena’s decision of firing Mattie. I was very compassionate toward Ethan when he heard that Mattie was being sent away as for his reaction was as said “now his one ray of light was to be extinguished”. The moments between Ethan and Zeena showed me how miserable he truly was and made me sympathize with him for their
He also wants to know why lovers who keep loving the same person are always in pain instead happiness. He thinks their virtue (faith) is full of unpleasantness. Sonnet 39 explains how sleeping will help the Speaker (Astrophel) to see his lover. Seeing his lover is a way for him to get out of the painful state he is in. Note that Sleep and Despair are given human-like qualities.
This can be seen in the poem ‘Music’ where in particular, Owen’s use of pathetic fallacy reveals to us the narrators true feelings. Therefore we are able to see that one’s emotional state of mind is projected onto his perception of his surroundings rendering music, which is an entirely subjective and state-dependent phenomenon. Accordingly, we can see this through the metaphor, “Drunk their mellow sorrows to the slake”, that alcohol is like music as it is also very state-dependent. The assonance of long and soft sounds in “mellow sorrows” may be suggesting that these soothe his pain, however could also prolong his pain as well. Owen conveys the idea that by using music and alcohol to relieve your pain is an outdated method, which we can see through the archaic diction “slake”.
The speaker in Keats’ poem is in a depressed state, and he uses alcohol as his escape: “That I might drink, and leave the world unseen”(Keats, 19). The nightingale’s purpose is to show the speaker that there is an escape from the pain he is living in: “hearing the song induces Keats to forget and also remember what is unhappy in life” (O’Neill, 64). By allowing the speaker to realize what is unhappy in his life, the bird is able to help him realize that there can be happiness for him. “Charmed magic casements, opening on the foam/ of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn” (Keats, 69- 70). The speaker describes how the nightingale rescues him from danger, bringing him to a magical