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Ballad, Porphyria's Lover, To His Coy Mistress and My Last Duchess

SamW — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 20:51:22 GMT

Basically, I have been set a piece of coursework: to compare the aforementioned poems. I am going for an A* piece at GCSE level, there is no particular question, just to compare the four poems. I have almost completed My Last Duchess, mentioning all the themes I can think of and reading the topics on here for extra guidance. However, I could do with some guidance on how to compare the four as a whole. I'd appreciate it if someone could help me out, heres the essay I have written thus far:

Love poetry can be manipulated to affect the reader in numerous ways; the reader can empathise with the poem, the reader can be inspired by the sentiment of the poem, the reader can attempt to emulate the actions of the characters, the consequences of reading a stirring love poem persist. One aspect that all love poetry has in common is the way in which it can engross the reader in its world and engage with their emotional side. They achieve this by using a number of devices and several genres are used to conjure up vastly varying types of emotions: anger, amorousness, longing, and disgust amongst others. One of the foremost genres is that of the dramatic monologue â in which a character delivers a speech explaining their feelings, actions or motives. I will be analysing three starkly differing dramatic monologues: âMy Last Duchessâ, âTo His Coy Mistressâ and âPorphyriaâs Loverâ. Another variation of love poetry is that of the ballad; a timeless art form that is significantly popular to this day. A ballad tells a dramatic story in a direct style, focussing on a single story; repetition is a particularly commonly used convention in ballads. Ballads are traditionally anonymous, and the poem I am analysing is no different: âBalladâ. âMy Last Duchessâ is written from the perspective of a duke who is on the verge of marrying the Countâs daughter and is conversing with the Countâs servant. His previous Duchess was murdered by the Duke himself and the speech could be interpreted as self-justification by the Duke as he attempts to defend his questionable philosophies. âBalladâ is a direct story told through the perspective of a young woman. The lady has fallen in love with a shepherd; unfortunately, it transpires that the man is dishonest. This is revealed when the shepherd impregnates the young woman and flees; his promises unfulfilled. The resolution is minimal at most, the female being left to contemplate suicide. The dramatic monologue has several different forms in itself; the two remaining poems showcase this perfectly. Despite the fact that they are completely different in theme, atmosphere and tempo, they retain the conventions of a dramatic monologue. âTo His Coy Mistressâ is a classic literary piece by Andrew Marvell. The poem is written through the eyes of a male, attempting to âswoonâ his prospective lady into falling for him and consequently, into bed. The male argues, then counter-balances his argument and then concludes, concluding that, surprisingly enough, she should go to bed with him. The last of the quartet is âPorphyriaâs Loverâ, the poem is told through the perspective of a madman sitting with his lover. Porphyria, the woman he loves, comes to his cottage and tells him she loves him. The madman wants to immortalise the moment forever, so he strangles her with her own hair. From the moment âMy Last Duchessâ begins, one can tell that the Duke is an incredibly possessive man. This is reinforced by the opening line, âThatâs my last Duchess painted on the wall.â This epitomises his attitude towards possessions of any kind. One could draw parallels with the overbearing Duke and Porphyriaâs lover, both extremely domineering and possessive. This is exemplified by the quote in âPorphyriaâs Loverâ, when the lover is on the verge of killing his woman, âThat moment she was mine, mine.â This epitomises the loverâs attitude, he is so desperate to own her that he kills her. Robert Browning conveys this obsessively possessive character by using repetition of the phrase, âmineâ. The theme of obsessive and possessive love on behalf of men is clearly at the forefront of Browningâs mind, portraying similar leading men in both of the poems. The Duke is speaking formally to a social inferior, as emphasised in this quote, âWillât please you sit and look at herâ¦Strangers like youâ¦â This insinuates that he is a polite, pleasant man who treats all social classes similarly hence making the revelation of him murdering his last Duchess all the more shocking. The domineering aspect of his character is re-enforced with the quote, âsince none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I.â This embellishes the fact that he sees himself the only one worthy of certain duties. Furthermore, he is clearly happier with the portrait of his wife, âas if aliveâ than he was with the woman when she was living. He is such an authoritarian that anything that he cannot order or control, whether it is art or people, will suffer the consequences. The poem is organised into rhyming couplets, not dissimilar to âBalladâ and âTo His Coy Mistressâ. However, âPorphyriaâs Loverâ does not use rhyming couplets; this may be due to the fact that Browning was looking for an unpredictable rhythm to reflect the unpredictable storyline. The couplets are used in the relative poems to keep a steady sense of rhythm and to keep the stories moving along at a stable pace. Moreover, Iambic pentameter is used throughout the poem to keep the poem flowing as the readers discover the gradual revelation of the speakerâs true nature. As the poem proceeds, it becomes clearer that the Duke is the epitome of excessive, aristocratic pride. This is accentuated by the quote: âAs if she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name with anybodyâs gift.â He is suggesting that she is inferior to him and should cherish the fact that she was allowed to marry him. The quote also carries connotations that he is extremely proud of his heritage and the last duchess didnât respect the name; she brought shame to the family. The line also emphasises how aloof he is, which is also supported by the ensuing line; âWhoâd stoop to blame?â He uses stoop to emphasis how lower class she was in comparison to himself. âMy Last Duchessâ uses archaic language, analogously to âBalladâ, as exemplified by the use of the phrase âforsoothâ (âHer wit to yours, forsooth, and made excuse). âBalladâ possesses a multitude of examples of such language using phrases such as âtheeâ, âthyâ and âthouâdstâ. The two poems use this anachronistic language to invoke different sentiments. âBalladâ uses antiquated language to emphasise the âtypical fairytaleâ aspect of the poem and to engage with the readers by evoking the style of older speech â it is aiming to retain the original essence of a poem. âMy Last Duchessâ uses archaism to accentuate the aloof aspect of the Dukeâs character. Despite the fact that the Duke has murdered the last Duchess, he clearly does not acknowledge, or perhaps understand, the direct consequences of his actions. This is implied heavily by the final three lines in which he points out another piece of art, a statue of Neptune â âNotice Neptune, thoughâ¦cast in bronze for me!â The exclamation mark confirms the fact that he is as proud of a statue and as excited of this Roman god as his wife. This implies that he does not realise the consequences of his actions, simply negating her as part of his collection. This sentiment is echoed in âPorphyriaâs Loverâ, in which the madman does not realise the corollary of the murder he has so harshly committed. This is supported by the phrase, âI propped her head up as before.â This statement conveys the fact that he does not recognise the significance of his actions; treating his dead love exactly the same as his living love. The two males in âTo His Coy Mistressâ and âMy Last Duchessâ may have vastly differing personalities but they both view women in a similar light. The duke and the seductive lover have a certain attitude towards women; they both see women as objects, the only difference being that they view these objects through different perspective. The Duke in âMy Last Duchessâ is a supercilious, impertinent man; his status and wealth meaning more to him than love as showcased by the line âWhoâd stoop to blame this sort of trifling?â He believes that the late Duchess was of a lower class, thus tainting their love, implying that he is more perturbed with lack of status than lack of love. He is a megalomaniac, who is jealous about his ex-wife not giving only him her attention. The speaker in "To His Coy Mistress" seems like a respectful man, the speaker is articulate - an important attribute considering he is attempting to seduce the woman. He uses his way of words to flatter her, but we then learn that he only wants her for pleasure rather than love; he adopts a false persona of love as another technique to lure her. This is exemplified by the change of tone in the first to second stanza, the second stanza assumes a threatening tenor â emphasising a void-like image to win his lady â âAnd yonder all before us lie deserts of vast eternityâ. This phrase epitomises the way in which the male attempts to manipulate the woman by conjuring up images on the topic of void if she was to reject his advances. The Duke patently feels that his last Duchess did not correspond with the expectations of an archetypal Duchess. An exemplary Duchess would be cold and calculating; avoiding affection like the plague. However, the Duchess did not, in the Dukeâs eyes, demonstrate these traits, as portrayed by this quote â âShe thanked men, - good! But thanked somehowâ¦as if she ranked my giftâ¦with anybodyâs gift.â The Duke is accusing the Duchess of being too affectionate, an attribute not welcome for a Duchess. Furthermore, the Duke surmises that the Duchess is too easily pleased, as showcased by this line in the poem â âToo easily impressed; she liked whateâer she looked on.â This illustrates (in the Dukeâs opinion) the fact that she is too âfriendlyâ and easy to please, particularly when dealing with males. However, it is extremely palpable that the Duchess is simply being friendly and the Duke is unable to understand his wifeâs warm nature. This attitude is reinforced when the Duke struggles to describe his wifeâs kind-hearted personality: âShe had a heart â how shall I say â too soon made glad?â This quote illustrates the fact that he cannot understand that aspect of his wifeâs personality; he expects much colder behaviour from his Duchess. Despite the fact that the Duke is, as he put it, âdisgustedâ with the Duchessâ behaviour. She is described as a lovely free being; freedom is portrayed in the quote: âshe liked whateâer she looked on, and her looks went everywhere.â This quote depicts the Duchess as an impulsive, free soul. However, the Duchessâ free spirit is juxtaposed by the restrictive nature of the Duke as rendered by âI choose never to stoop,â and âI gave commands.â This suggests that the Duke is attempting to restrict the Duchess from being her spontaneous self. It seems that he failed and due to his authoritarian nature, he decreed that she should be murdered. The Duchess is represented as a beautiful person, both physically so and by nature. She loved nature, as emphasised by her association with the imagery of a sunset, a âbough of cherriesâ and her âwhite muleâ. The Duchess is shown as physically attractive â âthe faint half-flush that dies along her throat,â â not dissimilarly to the ladies in âTo His Coy Mistressâ and âPorphyriaâs Loverâ. The woman is clearly beautiful in the seductive poem âTo His Coy Mistressâ as conveyed by the use of doting similes (âThou by the Indian Gangesâ side shouldst rubies find; I by the tide Of Humber would complain.â) He uses this imagery to compare her to an exotic river whereas he is an uninteresting English river. The technique is used to lavish praise upon the beautiful woman, portraying her as glamorous and beautiful; akin to the Ganges. âPorphyriaâs Loverâ uses a beautiful lady to emphasise the surprising (and brutal) nature of the death and juxtapose the madman thus creating a sense of paranoia on behalf of the lover. The gracious beauty of Porphyria is emphasised by the repetition of her âyellow hairâ and her âsmooth white shoulderâ. Beauty is used in the two murderous poems to juxtapose the leading men thus creating a sense of wonder. Splendour is used in âTo His Coy Mistressâ to intensify the efforts and give further cause to the leading manâs attempt to seduce the lady. Alliteration is used in âMy Last Duchessâ (âdropping of the daylight.â, âyour masterâs known munificenceâ) to maintain a rhythm and perhaps for the Duke to flaunt his eloquent speaking ability. The poem is written in heroic couplets with almost continuous enjambment; this technique gives the poem a conversational style â essential for creating a rapport between the reader and the Duke. Browning uses dramatic irony to illustrate the dukeâs manipulative and callous character towards the end of the poem, as he refers to the girl he wants to marry as âmy objectâ (the Duke does not realise how much he is revealing about his personality throughout not only this quote, but the whole poem).

The Duke is the epitome of possessive, arrogant egotism.

...and that is as far as I have got. Thanks in advance.

Sorry for the lack of paragraphs, when I copied and pasted the essay from word, it seemed to get rid of them.

Re: Please correct my mistakes in business letter!

nona the brit — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 06:20:31 GMT

Dear Mr. Ericson! Do not end a salutation with an exclamation mark. In US English use a colon :, in British English use either a comma or nothing.

As you are already aware, Football Club âShahterâ(Donetsk) is about to build a new 5-star stadium, which meets all official UEFA requirements and will have no euqual anyway in the Ukraine. The new tender process has been completed and we are glad to invite you to provide the services of General contractor.

Your second paragraph is not clear. Is the company you are writing to making the presentation? How can you invite them to something they are doing themselves? Are you inviting the contractor along to a presentation being organised by the football club? Do you want the contractor to give a presentation at this meeting? At the moment you are mixing up all these ideas and it doesn't make sense.

FC Â«ShahterÂ» takes upon itself all the travel expenses including transfer, meals, and accommodation.

Thank you in advance.
Looking forward to your reply.

Re: Reference letter of a musician

nona the brit — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 21:52:12 GMT

Hi.

Your letter does need quite a bit of attention.

I'm finding it slightly hard to follow with all the As, Bs, Cs, Ds, and Es in there so if you want to post a further draft could you make it a bit simpler and make up names as replacements for the real ones! (although I don't see why you need a euphamism for an area -A and E? - anyway).

The first paragraph has a lot of waffle and I didn't really follow what your letter was about until much further down. You need to make things clearer earlier.

I would suggest

Paragraph one: state that you are representing musicians CB and DD?(I'm a bit lost here) and that you hope the person you are writing to will want to ...what? Buy a CD, book the band for a gig, promote them in another country, arrange an international stadium tour...what?

Paragraph two onwards:Further details about the band(s).

Final paragraph: Brief details about your experience and why you can recommend a band (I don't think the fact that you are an administrator has any relevance).

Thanks and sign off

Note - I (as in me) should always use the capital letter.

No exclamation mark after Dear Sir/Madam

Re: The Condition of the Enviroment

anon1 — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 17:11:49 GMT

Hi,

You opening is weak because you repeat yourself or state the obvious. Look at your first two sentences.

The rest of your essay is reasonably well written from an English point of view. From a logical point of view, it could use more work. For example, filtering effluent from factories is unlikely the problem. But you could âtreatâ the effluent from factories.

If I were in your shoes, I would be more inclined to write about ONE topic (air pollution or something). By covering off all types of pollution your essay becomes too bland or superficial because you are forced to state the obvious.

Again, from an English perspective, you are doing well.

MountainHiker

The Condition of the Environment

[More and more people are getting concerned about the environment nowadays. The number of such people is growing very rapidly. The reason for it is quite obvious: people do not want to live on the polluted and consequently dangerous planet.
I would emphasize three main problems. First of all, itâs air pollution. Itâs proved that air pollution adversely affects your health and can cause a large number of diseases such as cancer for example. Delete---paragraph. Try rephrasing]

In order to solve this problem we should simply take some measures to cut down air pollution in big cities. For instance, we could introduce a law (law is a good work, or âactâ) which would forbid factories to [work and produce anything without special filtersâdelete, exceed environmental limits]. It would also be good if we banned cars from city centers. Such a measure would have a very good effect in rather small cities with the population not more than 1.5 million people. [What about larger cities? Whatâs special about 1.5 million?] The citizens of small cities can usually get to the city center by bus or even on foot. Cars release so many poisonous gases into the air that reduction of the number of cars in such cities would result in the reduction of these poisonous gases.

Secondly, it is the so-called problem of litter. Plenty of people are very worried about this problem, too.[obvious statement, no?] Dirty streets can give you only a very slight idea of what dropping litter in streets can result in. Dropping an aluminum can in the street just think how much harm it might do.[repetitive] Bearing in mind that we contract many diseases by inhaling infected air and litter [we inhale litter?] creates the most favourable conditions for bacterium you will probably break the habit of dropping litter in streets. Itâs not difficult to put your can in a litter bin at all! [you should avoid exclamation marks in essays,]

Lastly, itâs water pollution. To my mind, the best way of solving this problem is to fine factories which pollute rivers, lakes, and seas. Before fining them, it would be a good idea to make all the factories install filters which reduce the number of poisonous substances polluting water. [youâll need more than filters] However, in most countries itâs impossible to do it due to these factories being of great value to them. As a result, they canât stop using factories or reduce the volume of their production. Another good way of solving the problem of water pollution is to limit use of chemicals in industry. But here we face another problem. Many plants canât help stopping using some chemicals since they cannot work without them. So, we are in a dilemma over whether to fine factories polluting lakes, seas, and rivers and to reduce the volume of their production or not. [No, the real question is do you want to spend more money and raise the production costs to reduce the harmful effects?]

There is no doubt there are plenty of other environmental problems such as acid rains, deforestation, global warming and so on and so forth but to my mind, these problems are not as topical now as those I mentioned. [Depends on where you live. If you were living near the ocean, global warming would be a major concern as the ocean levels might rise with the melting of the ice caps. Remember Kyoto? Global warming. If you lived in Brazil, deforestation might be your largest concern.]

Having paid so much attention to all these environmental problems I have to say a few words about recycling. It is a very important subject, and one that is becoming more so all the time. There are four main materials which can be recycled. First of all, it is paper. Paper is considered to be the easiest material to recycle. For instance, 20 tons of paper was recycled in the USA [There was more than 20 tons of paper recycled in my neighborhood last year, let alone an entire country] in 1990 which was a big success. Secondly, itâs metal. This material is also rather easy to recycle. A huge number of things we use are made of metal, so the more metal we recycle the better our planet will be. Thirdly, itâs plastic. This material is the hardest one to recycle. The reason why itâs so hard to recycle plastic is that there are a great many kinds of it. Lastly, itâs glass. Glass like metal and paper is fairly easy to recycle. Therefore, itâs recycled all over the world. You can just melt it down and use to make new bottles. The main problem here is that we can discover recycling chiefly in the highly developed countries. Itâs rare to discover recycling (which is really working now) in many developing countries. Nevertheless, I assume recycling helps us get rid of many problems mentioned above. If both the countries which have already been using recycling actively and those which have just started continue recycling more and more materials and trying to invent new methods of recycling it will do a world of good not only to our planet but also all people living on it.

Re: Motivation letter???:)

anon1 — Fri, 19 Nov 2004 07:23:48 GMT

Dear Ms/Mr [find his or her nameâ¦also if it is a âsheâ use Ms. unless she prefers Mrs.]1]

I am exciting to be applying for an internship to laboratory and joining your team. [there is no English word âpracticantâ, I think you meant âinternâ].

As part of my training, I am required to complete a practical course in a laboratory for least three months. I would great appreciate the opportunity to be a member of your working group. That would complete my practical experience requirement and more importantly would provide me with invaluable experience and contacts, both of which are highly valued.

During my five semesters of study I have acquired a strong [or superior] knowledge of human and cell biology, microbiology and physiology as well as biochemistry and molecular genetics. During my training I have obtained basic practical experience as a scientist as well as a team worker. [no exclamation marks] [2]

I am motivated and curious person who can easily adapt to any situation. I thrive on overcoming challenges. My coworkers know me to be a very effective and helpful team player. I enjoy learning from others and helping others where I can. I am excited by the opportunity to join a group of professional where I can apply my skills, talents, and enthusiasm.

[I hope You will help me cover this step of my education and personal experience. âdelete this sentence. You want to show them why and how you will help them. Donât ask for their pity so that they hire you. Show them your enthusiasm and knowledge.]

I will call you in two weeks to arrange an interview. I look forward to meeting you.[3]

Sincerely,
Yanakieva

Watch your spelling and capitalizations. No exclamation marks, smiley faces, or anything else.

I have made some changes and put in some words for you. See if my words capture your intent.

I love your enthusiasm and passion. If I am hiring someone, I want to see that they have a passion for their chosen career. I want to know that they are excited by what they are doing. Your letter has that. I think thatâs great.

1) In North America, we place a colon after the name. Dear Mr. Jones: , but the European practice might be/is different. Nona the brit and I have had discussions on this topic. So you need to check to see how the formatting is handled in your location. If you were in North America, youâd use a colon.
2) I think you can delete the last sentence in this paragraph as we capture the team player stuff in the next paragraph. Part of me wants you expand your background more. Tell them more about you. But other part of me says no, because you just want to get their attention so that you can get an interview with them. You can think about it.
3) You definitely want to contact them. You have all this enthusiasm, excitement, and initiative. Now follow it up with a real live example. Show them that you are willing to pick up the ball and run with it.

I like your letter. Itâs short, to the point, focused, and shows lots of enthusiasm. Now you just got follow that up.

MountainHiker

Re: Parenthetically challenged.

taiwandave — Thu, 10 Jun 2004 16:59:47 GMT

Sorry for the delay -- I wanted to check first with a real editor to get an authoritative answer.

He used a gerund in his last sentence (whatever that is!).

In the above sentence, the full stop is definitely needed after the right parenthesis. The parenthetical information is part of the sentence, and is treated the same way regardless of whether it happens to be terminated with a question mark or an exclamation mark.

(Blue should never be used as the primary colour in compositions.)

If a full sentence is parenthesized, the period, as shown above, is placed inside. The purpose of parentheses is to exclude extraneous or interrupting material from a sentence or paragraph. There is nothing wrong with parenthesizing an entire sentence.

So, there you have it.

Re: Can U See The Thesis here? or am I stupid?

guyd — Thu, 25 Mar 2004 22:58:58 GMT

Bart, I have already responded to a previous post but will also respond to this one. A few words before I answer you plea for help. Don't use the exclamation mark for emphasis. Use it correctly--only after a true exclamation, such as "Wait!" or "Stop the bus!"

It's sad that you "hate writing." Writing is wonderful. The more of it you do, the more your hate will turn to love. Please keep writing. It's not always easy, but you will be richly rewarded if you will read and write.

And you are not stupid. You have made some very good points. All you need to do is keep working. Here's how.

You can improve your essay by stating your thesis, like you did in the first line: "Why are entrance exams necessary on english philology." It is this question that you want to answer in your essay.

The first paragraph should state the arguments pointing out the flaws in these exams--stress, difficult, maybe unfair, etc. Try to think of more reasons for not giving such exams.

The second paragraph should state the arguments pointing out the advantages of these exams--elimating people without basic knowledge, preparing students for similar exams in the future, etc. Try to think of more reasons for giving such exams.
___________________________________________________________

Follow my advice and your teacher will accept your next revision.