2. Where are the dramatic elements?

Dramatic Monologue 1. Are we the intended listener? Robert Browning  (1812-1889) Afred Tennyson (1809-1892) Charlotte Mew (1869-1928) C. Rossetti (1830-1896) Links about Victorian  Age  Dramatic Monologue Defined ( 1) ( 2)

3. Is our life as dramatic or ironic?

Robert Browning "My Last Duchess"       --leading questions      --relevant links "Porphyria's Lover"      --leading questions      --relevant links Browning Relevant Links (biography, overview, dramatic monolgue, etc.)

Please read the questions in our textbook; they will help you think more about the poem.

1. What you need to find out first, as the questions suggest, is the "who, where, when, and why" of the poem--that is, who is speaking to whom and at what time and for what purpose. Try to find out the role the listener plays in this poem.

2. What is the last duchess like? (See ll. 21-34)

3. What is the duke's attitude to his duchess? (e.g. "Who'd stoop to blame /This sort of trifling?" "E'en then would be some stooping; and I chose never to stoop"; "This grew; I gave command; /Then all smiles stopped together"; "There she stands/As if alive," etc.)

4. What does the ending reveal about the duke? For instance, the mentioning of dowry, and "Neptune...taming a see-horse."
 
 

1. The speaker, Porphyria's Lover, tells the story in a calm and steady tone, though actually he has gone insane and killed Porphria. When do you sense that the speaker is insane? Look for the various clues in his description of Porphyria, their relationship, and his views about the killing.
2. Can you tell the story from Porphyria's perspective?

Browning--Overview and Biography
1.  Robert Browning Overview Page-- from the Victorian Web
2. Browning's biography with some links to the Victorian Web and Browning's Poems.
3. Robert Browning's biography from the Victorian Web
4. Elizabeth Barrett Browning: An Overview   A site about Browning' wife, E. Barrett Browning, with links about her Themes, Imagery, Symbolism, and Motifs, Genre and Mode , as well as in formation about cultural context.

  His Dramatic Monologue--
1. An Introduction
2. 3 definitions;
3. The Figure of the Listener in Browning's Dramatic Monologues
4. Victorian Reactions to Browning's Dramatic Monologues: " it was impossible to make sense of his poetry, they said, he must have gone mad, he was unreadable ..."

"My Last Duchess"
1. An Introductory Essay to the poem "My Last Duchess"
2. The Silent Listener in "My Last Duchess"
3. E-Text (Electronic Text): Introduction to Browning and "My Last Duchess" --with a link to an interestingly printed version of the poem.

 

 

"Porphyria's Lover"

4. Student Responses to "Porphyria's lover"
5. Student Responses to "Porphyria's Lover" and some other poems:
6. "Negative Energy"--an essay on the characters in "Porphyria's Lover"¨:

Alfred, Lord Tennyson  (1809-1892) "Ulysses"      --leading questions        --Tennyson relevant links

from The Tennyson page

1. You, again, need to find out about the who, where, when and why of the poem. The listener of the poem, however, might be hard to identify, which makes the poem different from Browning's. Can you tell who the listeners are?

2. How does Ulysses think about his present life (ll. 1-5), his past experience (ll. 7-21), and what life should and should not be like (ll. 22-32). Why does Ulysses compare himself to "gray spirit" and "a sinking star"?

3. What does Ullysses mean when he said "He works his work, I mine." How does he distinguish his work from his son's?

4. Pay attention to a) the rhythm, b) the arrangement of explosive and mellifluous sounds in the poem.

1. Tennyson's Biography and poems: with a flippant tone from Incompetech which has British Authors Bigraphies series and Artists series.
2. Tennyson: An Overview: The Victorian Web's site on Tennyson
3. The Tennyson Page a multimedia site with several of Tennyson's poems.

1. Alfred Tennyson's "Ulysses" presenting a number of views about "Ulysses"

Chritina Rossetti (1830-1896) "After Death"      --leading question      --C. Rossetti relevant links Other Paintings about her:   as a frightened Virgin as a defensive Virgin

Christina Rossetti, 1866   by Dante Gabriel Rossetti; from Faxon p. 11.

Questions for Group Discussion and Journal
1. When do you find out that the speaker is actually dead? Re-read the poem with this awareness, what do you think about the speaker's tone? If you find her calm, is it the same kind of calmness as that of Porphyria's lover?
2. What do you think about the speaker's attitudes toward the man who cries for her?
3. What difference does it make if the man, the intended silent listener, can hear the speaker?

1. How is the theme of love and death differently in "Porphyria's Lover," "My Last Duchess," and "After Death"?
2. Compare the use of death in "After Death" with that in Emily Dickinson's "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died."

1. Christina Rossetti: An Overview: from the Victorian Web
2. Christina Rossetti in Context (contemporary views of her as a woman poet)
3. Image and Symbol in Christina Rossetti's Poetry
4. Christina Rossetti and the Visual Arts

1. Death As Release From Pain in Christina Rossetti's Works--View of death in her poetry
2. "Deathbed Scenes--Rossetti, Dickinson, and Sigourney "-- An Essay comparing/contrasting death in Rossetti and Dickinson.

Charlotte Mew "The Farmer's Bride"      --leading questions      --relevant links

from Charlotte Mew site

1. What is the dramatic situation in this poem?  How is the farmer-speaker related to his wife (e.g. stanzas 1, 3, 5)?  What could be the possible reasons  for his wife's aloofness from and fear of human beings (e.g. stanza 3)?
2. Stanza 4 has a vivid description of the winter scene which is not quite like that of a farmer's.  What's the function of this stanza?

1. Among the five poems we read, only "My Last Duchess" has a living and listening auditor on the scene.  Why do the other speakers speak if there is no (specific) listener?
2. What are the major differences between dramatic monologue and lyric?
3. Some critic said that most of B. Springsteen's songs, such as "Born in the U.S.A." and "I'm on Fire," are dramatic monologues.  Do you agree?

 

1. Are there some significant differences between Robert Browning and the two female poets in their treatments of love?  To be more specific, you can compare the duke with the farmer, "Porphyria's Lover" with "After Death."

1. Mew's Biography  "Charlotte's poetry was distinctive for her development of dramatic monologue, set to meter with a sharp sense of flow.  Her lines often stretched long and captured a sense of enthusiasm followed by restraint. The topics often centered around loneliness, disillusionment, sexual longing, and fear."
2. Charlotte Mew site-  the only extensive site about Mew, including her poems as well as introduction to her Poetic Style, Extensive Bibliography, and the publication background.

"The Victorian Overview"  from the Victorian Web constructed by George Landow in Brown University.

For Further Studies  of the Victorian Age . . .
Please go to the Historical Period Page in Fu Jen English Literature Databank.

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