Theme Of Love In My Last Duchess
The theme of Love is complexed and varied: How is the theme of love portrayed respectively in ‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning, ‘Mother in a Refugee Camp’ by Chinua Achebe, ‘Sonnet 116’ by Shakespeare, ‘Catrin’ by Gillian Clarke, ‘Sonnet 130’ by Shakespeare and ‘Le Belle Dame Sans Merci’ by John Keats?
Love is a mixed emotion of happiness and sadness that is unavoidable. These poems explore love in three different ways: obsessive love, motherly love and unconditional romantic love. The poets use a wide range of literary devices and language techniques to convey their theme of love and to challenge the reader’s mind.
‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning is set in the Late Italian Renaissance. Browning’s inspiration for ‘My Last Duchess was from a Renaissance duke, Alfonso II of Ferrara, whose wife, Lucrezia, died in 1561, aged 17. Although Lucrezia came from a powerful and wealthy family, she never had a chance to enjoy her status as a duchess since she married Alfonso II at age 14, 3 years before her death. After her tragic death, Alfonso married the niece of the Count of Tyrol.
The poem commences with the Duke presenting the painting of his Duchess to a messenger from the Count’s Family, commenting on the painting ‘looking as if she were alive.’ This simile is ambiguous, as it can hold the meaning that the Duchess has passed away – or it could be a compliment to the painter’s talent. Compared to ‘Sonnet 116’ which expresses love romantically, Browning presents a
Compare And Contrast Elizabeth Browning And Anne Bradstreet
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Imagery In 'For That He Looked Not Upon Her'
892 Words | 4 PagesIt has been said that “beauty is pain” and in the case of this poem, it is quite literal. “For That He Looked Not Upon Her” written by George Gascoigne, a sixteenth century poet, is a poem in which the speaker cannot look upon the one he loves so that he will not be trapped by her enhanced beauty and looks. In the form of an English sonnet, the speaker uses miserable diction and visual imagery to tell the readers and his love why he cannot look upon her face. Containing three quatrains and a rhyming couplet at the end, this poem displays a perfect English sonnet using iambic pentameter to make it sound serious and conversational. This is significant because most sonnets are about love and each quatrain, in English sonnets, further the speaker’s
Theme Of Cyrano De Bergerac
727 Words | 3 PagesLove is something important. It’s the cause of life, death, and everything in between. It’s the reason that urges some people to get out of bed in the morning. Whether it’s head over heels, or just a short-lived crush, love is beautiful. However, a multitude of people corrupt the view of love with lust, a feeling based wholly on appearance.
In Praise Of My Young Husband Analysis
1112 Words | 5 PagesRomance comes in all different forms and sizes, and Calbert understands that along with these she apprends why people fall in and out of love. Falling in love has a sense of vulnerability that requires taking risks that people are “willing to fail, / why we will still let ourselves fall in love,” in order to sustain real love. Calbert ends her poem with listing the romances with her husband and vows, “knowing nothing other than [their] love” because that is all that matters to her
Superficial Love In The Great Gatsby
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Idealised Love In The Great Gatsby
1263 Words | 6 PagesShe wants the whole world to know of the love she has attained. Further engraved with the repetition of “love me”, mimicking a cuckoo song. In the final, sonnet XLIII Browning use of the anaphora "I love thee”, truly expresses the limits of her love. Ending with a hyperbolic statement “ I love thee better after death” referring to her pursue of eternal and idealised love. Therefore, even though set in the materialistic Victorian era context Browning defied her Era proving that eternal love could be found overlooking materialistic standers and focusing on the nobility of
George Gascoigne For That He Looked Not Upon Her
359 Words | 2 PagesThe sonnet “For That He Looked Not upon Her” , written by english poet George Gascoigne, tells of a story between a man and a woman, and the speaker goes into details about their relationship with each other. The speaker describes his complex relationship with the woman, and using literary devices such as a confusing and conflicting tone, and almost victim-like metaphors, describes his attracted, but yet doubtful attitude towards the woman. The confusing and conflicting tone set within the story helps describe and expand the complex attitudes of the speaker. The speaker’s use of this tone shows how he has conflicted feelings to the woman, as if he wants to chase after her, but he knows that nothing good may come out of it.
The Connection Of Love Diane Ackerman Analysis
206 Words | 1 PagesThe author, Diane Ackerman, makes the connection of love by connecting that “love is the great intangible” And that “love is throughout history” using descriptive language. Love is the great intangible is what Diane Ackerman said throughout the text. Diane connects the idea of love being an ancient delirium. For example, she says in paragraph 4, In folk stories, unsuspecting lads and lasses ingest love potion and quickly lose their hearts. As with all intoxicants, love comes in many guises and strengths.”
Compare And Contrast My Last Duchess And La Belle Dame Sans Merci
726 Words | 3 PagesIn comparison to the rigid patriarchal society portrayed in “My Last Duchess”, Keats’ “La Belle Dame sans Merci” illustrates how the freedom of individual expression in the romantic period affects people’s perspective on love. While the narrative persona in “My Last Duchess” demands his wife to devote her love to him, the protagonist of “La Belle Dame sans Merci” devotes to the woman he loves even though the love is unrequited. This is evident through the repetition of the line “On the cold hill side.” throughout the poem. The noun phrase “cold hill” suggests that the knight is lonely and depressed when he waits for the woman solely, however unlike the narrative persona of “My Last Duchess”, he would not demand the woman to love him instead he would wait patiently until the day his affection towards her is accepted.
Similarities Between Sonnet 18 And My Last Duchess
1282 Words | 6 PagesIn these short poems, the authors utilize particular rhetorical techniques and methods to reflect the speakers’ personality and motivation. Therefore, presenting the speaker becomes the main focus of the authors. In Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 and Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” both poems reflect the speakers’ traits through monologue, figurative language, and symbolism. However, these two speakers’ personalities are different due to their attitude toward their beloved. The speaker in Sonnet 18 is gentle and delighted but frustrated because the ideal metaphor comparison of summer is not perfect for describing his beloved; the poem thus suggests that the way you love others reflects how you feel about yourself.
Theme Of Sonnet 130
862 Words | 4 PagesThroughout William Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130,” the reader is constantly tricked into thinking he will compare his mistress to something beautiful and romantic, but instead the speaker lists beautiful things and declares that she is not like them. His language is unpredictable and humor is used for a majority of the poem. This captivating sonnet uses elements such as tone, parody, images, senses, form, and rhyme scheme to illustrate the contradicting comparisons of his mistress and the overarching theme of true love. Shakespeare uses parody language to mock the idea of a romantic poem by joking about romance, but ultimately writes a poem about it.
A Memory Of Youth Poem Analysis
800 Words | 4 PagesThis erotic love—marked in this poem as a common noun—“brings forth” for the speaker a specific, romantic “wisdom”. With this wisdom, as well as his innate, genealogical “mother-wit”, the speaker sharpens his verbal
Theme Of Love In La Belle Dame Sans Merci
1918 Words | 8 PagesLove can exist as affection, infatuation, obsession, pleasure and in many other ways, as love is abstract. Hence, there is no one single interpretation of love. Love is a theme that has been embedded into language and literature over the centuries, yet due to the ever changing perception of love people continue to search for a universal definition of love. Poems are able to showcase the inner feelings and desires of a poet as well as their own unique views on love. Nevertheless, through poems “La Belle Dame sans Merci” by John Keats, “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning, “Mother in a Refugee Camp” by Chinua Achebe, “The day is gone, and all its sweets are gone!”
Theme Of Femininity In My Last Duchess
1876 Words | 8 PagesThis form makes it possible for the reader not only to follow the story from the point of view of one of the actors but also to understand his character”(3), and like any other poem of this form, it tells a story. The poem is set in the city of Ferrara in Italy during the late Italian Renaissance, probably the sixteenth century. “Browning may have modelled his speaker after Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara (1533-1598).” (2) The story is based on the life of Alfonso 11, the Duke of Ferrara, whose wife died after three years of marriage.
Theme Of Love In Shakespeare's Sonnet
2302 Words | 10 PagesThis theme is basic spirit of all sonnets of him. His treatment of love has something divine quality. “His love is ideal love and surpasses the love of Dante for his Beatrice and the love of Petrarch for his Laura. Nor could Mrs. Browning, in her sonnets, written much later and addressed to her husband, equal Shakespeare’s ardor and fervor.” 5 It is classical
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