http://www.englishforums.com/search/pro.htm?q=tag%3aExpressions+tag%3aIntonations+tag%3aVocabularySearch results for 'tag:Expressions tag:Intonations tag:Vocabulary' matching tags 'Expressions', 'Intonations', and 'Vocabulary'en-USCSMOD (Build: 3273.32735)http://www.englishforums.com/English/HowardsDramaticMonologue/clppl/post.htm#225686Mon, 15 May 2006 17:40:05 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:225686anonymoushey well il show you some of the stuff i have but it is all over the place i haven t edited it yet but there s so much i want to write and so little time to do it in but i would really like some guidance please I have also read Browning s poem but have yet to really talk on the comparison between the two p s my writing is quite bad at the moment been writing whilst ill with the flu so please point out any major contradictions or plain nonsense that you see within the text thank you A dramatic monologue has seven definite characteristics speaker audience occasion revelation of character interplay between speaker and audience dramatic action and action which takes place in the present pg 8 The dramatic monologue is a hybrid form It has relations with lyric because it is an expression of thought and feeling but it is like a speech from a play in that the character whose speech is represented is speaking out of a specific situation and usually a problematic one A dramatic monologue is like a speech from a play taken out of context Its speaker is a figure other than the poet in other words it dramatises the speaking subject and the speaker generally speaks out of a situation that involves or leads towards action a situation that is problematic or conflicted It is a monologue because there is only one voice and that voice is usually presented as speaking Richard Howard has written a brilliant sequel to the Browning poem My Last Duchess His speaker is the envoy to whom Browning s duke has recently spoken to and who is now reporting on that interview to his principal the Count of Tyrol However Richard Howard has decided not to write it in the same form as Browning s but has used a letter form instead The poem does not appear to have a particular rhyme scheme or a specific metre It does however have a rather syllabic stanza form with mainly monosyllabic words which is different compared to Browning s rhyming iambic pentameter couplets Nikolaus Mardruz is the speaker of the poem He is a representative of a government a messenger My Lordship s service I remain his Envoy It is clear to see that the poet is not the speaker of the poem thus it abides with the rules of a dramatic monologue The speaker s voice is quite individualised Nikolaus appears to be very loyal and faithful to the count he travels to Ferrara and patiently waits hours before the Duke attends to him several hours were to elapse before the Envoy Be seen to by His Grace The messenger tries his best to assure the Count that all will be well if his daughter were to marry the Duke and also comes up with a proposal so that the Countess need not suffer from the murderous temper of the Duke The sentence describing the Duke s temper is a clue from Browning s poem that the Duke murdered his wife It is a plausible to suggest the poem has the quality of a dramatic monologue There is a speaker speaking to the Count of Tyrol The situation described can be considered to a certain extent as problematic Clearly the Count has certain anxieties regarding the marriage of his daughter to a Duke who has experienced such a complex past The speaker does reveal certain thoughts and opinions about his encounter with the Duke These are more apparent in the side comments separated with brackets An example of this is when the messenger first arrives on the Duke s grounds and is surprised to see the place close to a ruin Nikolaus comments on the fact that even my Lord s most unstinting dowry may not restore this wasted precincts to what their deteriorating state demands This shows us that he personally believes that no amount of money can restore the palace to a reasonable standard It is almost as if the messenger is really picking on the weaknesses of the Duke and maybe hoping to flatter the Count and appeal to his better nature The speaker also observes the fact that the Duke is getting very old he is no longer a young man These small revelations of character show that he does have concerns regarding the Duke s age It is not necessarily the case that he does not approve of the Duke being much older than the Countess but rather that it works in their favour The Duke will obviously pass away within a few years therefore leaving the new Duchess with freedom and wealth The speaker is very cunning he is able to devise an alternate pre nuptial agreement so that the Countess has the upper hand Thus the Duke will receive the intended dowry in installments instead of a lump sum therefore the Count will have a guarantee that his daughter will be treated fairly and remain in good health The speaker is generally hoping that the Duke will pass on as soon as possible so that the plan goes ahead as planned the long devotion so long as he lasts The poem has many attributes which may lead an audience to believe it is a dramatic monologue However as a point of definition because the sense of an individual voice and often of speech is fundamental to the form it is not correct to use the term of a poem written in the form of a letter The poem therefore can be more appropriately called a dramatic epistle The language in My Last Duchess is calm It is a drawn out one sided conversational boast yet the Duke s speech is sophisticated and eloquent The style contains a gradual build up to the whole story and the drama takes place slowly with obvious mystery surrounding the fate of the Duchess The language and actions of the Duke relay his jealous and controlling nature and yet his mannerisms and speech make him affable and admirable to such an extent the reader refrains from casting a moral judgment on him In both poems Browning demonstrates the ability to detach himself completely and in the former even offers the insight to a killers psyche using the monologue narrative The speaker s attitude is revealed in his intonation Upon his arrival in Ferrara the messenger is quite disappointed by what he sees he has a high expectation of the quality and extravagance of the palace grounds but is taken aback when all is not as he had anticipated This can be seen in lines such as such mirroring was my first dismay and queasy it made me His first impressions of the palace do not impress him at all as he cannot understand why the Duke would let his life in fallen stone remain in such a state in the dingy water that somehow held them up as if for our surveillance ours The speaker refers to this meeting as an opportunity and also emphasises that it is also his obligation In the second stanza this opportunity does not change his perception of what he has seen but instead the meeting with the Duke enhances his disappointment as he is delayed for hours assessing a set of cameos just brought from Cairo He sees the Duke caught up in a dull and gloomy state his tenebrosity They discuss plans of the pre nuptial agreement from the speaker s point of view he feels that their negotiations look promising Nevertheless whatever the outcome is he realises the Count s daughter will remain among Ferrara s treasures and refers to her as a trophy However there is a downside to this as a lot of the Duke s prized possessions do not appear to be in perfect condition or looked after so it can be said that the speaker is not too keen on this idea as at the end of this stanza he says that if this is the Count s wish then so be it The speaker feels humiliated when he is confronted with the painting of the Duke s late wife He calls it a painted deceit and his embarrassment afforded a cue for audible laughter The speaker is not impressed by the portrait and just sees it as another chicane or a form of trickery The speaker himself has a more inferior role to play in society compared to the Duke yet the speaker has formulated many opinions against the Duke based on appearance and plausibility of the Duke s encounters and experiences In his letter the speaker talks of the Duke s rodomontade meaning pretentious boasting The Duke is proud to talk about his bronze Neptune which was cast in bronze especially for him however the messenger states how he must have seen at least six of them cluttering the summer palace at Innsbruck This is also in relation to Browning s poem whereby in the last few lines the Duke draw attention to the same prized possession Notice Neptune though Taming a sea horse thought a rarity Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me From the messenger s point of view it was all nonsense In spite of this the speaker chooses to give the Duke the benefit of the doubt and proceeds to guarantee the future of the Countess be it with the Duke or if he passes on the young lordling the Countess has had her eye on The mood of the poem is quite mischievous and unsupportive towards the Duke The speaker talks about his encounter with the Duke from a negative perspective He is not overly impressed with the Duke s presence and boastful personality The speaker comes up with ways in which the Count will have the upper hand on his new relation There vocabulary used throughout the poem which bring out and places emphasis on the tone of the poem Words such as chicane rodomontade and globose are all very uncommon and complex terms used for words with a simple meaning behind them Howard s purpose for sprinkling words like these throughout the poem is to show that it is a complex situation that that the messenger is involved in that s it so far i have yet to reference my work but they should all be in quoatation marks thank you again for all your helphttp://www.englishforums.com/English/AboutLanguage/bdglw/post.htm#100189Mon, 16 May 2005 17:01:24 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:100189abbie1948hello Lily and welcome That s a very interesting theme I agree with your statement that there is more to understanding language than understanding grammar and vocabulary For one thing language is inextricably entwined in culture so there are all sorts of cultural and social aspects to consider when choosing which words to use and when to use them There are also unspoken aspects of language such as body language and gestures facial expressions etc which may vary from place to place Then there is stress pitch and intonation which also differ between languages and cultures Hope we get lots more ideas http://www.englishforums.com/English/BilingualEducation/3/xrkk/Post.htm#68962Fri, 21 Jan 2005 04:13:17 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:68962matthewgSorry my mistake I misunderstood the intonation of your statement completely I thought you meant that bilinguilism would only be good for a developing brain and would produce no effects on a developed brain Clearly you did not mean that at all My observations of my daughter lead me to believe that there is no conscious discerment in youngsters raised in a truly bilingual environment or at least not in her case The thoughts happen and then follow the appropriate language path to vocalisation quite automatically and with no unusual outward signs of hesitation I think you are right about this But like a lot of Maltese people I grew up learning English and only started learning Maltese and other languages when I was about fourteen Because I am not truly bilingual I still choose my words very well when speaking Maltese even though my vocabulary is decent The literal translation of the word for girlfriend in Maltese is the girl Because I am very conscious of what I m saying in Maltese I always found it extremely awkward to use this word because I know that doing so would only provoke much rolling of eyes and an eventual row The one time I did use this word in phone a conversation everyone next to me just turned and stared at me like I had just farted very loudly Conscious discernment at its very best In some languages such as Maltese it often happens that the articulation forms the thought instead of the other way around Maltese people use a lot of Sicilian influenced expressions all very cynical warning people to avoid obligations keep information to yourself beware of strangers etc I think that this has formed an entire way of thinking judging by peoples behaviour People who speak Maltese and nothing else there are a few surviving specimens in the villages that time forgot can t think out of this narrow mindedness and it comes as no surprise that bilingual Maltese people are generally much less xenophobic fearful or just simply Mediterranean for that matter http://www.englishforums.com/English/MoviesUsefulSupplementLearning-English/hzhpg/post.htm#611496Tue, 11 May 2004 06:34:14 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:611496irma nq 1 Are movies useful as supplemental material for people learning English nq As a student I could say definitely yes I read the book first and I picked out expressions and words I thought they would be useful to remember and practice Then I saw the movie first time with subtitles It was not too difficult because I had the background of the book I have seen already the move more than 10 times I ve got a lot of practice in pronunciacion intonation I don t know way of speak About the movie I think the most important thing is that it should be a movie you really like to be able to see it as many times as you need I have practiced this way with Harry Potter first and second books and movies Only with movies About a boy is a movie I like because they use everyday vocabulary I think and also because the kid uses a lot of tag questions In written English there is no problem but speaking They speak normal it means for us students fast but it is ok Chicken run is a beautiful movie As it is intended for kids the vocabulary is easy and they don t speak too fast I hope it helps you Irma