My Last Duchess, Villegiature, A Woman To Her lover and A Birthday Essay Example

is downstairs at a party that the Duke is hosting.The envoy and the Duke stand and look at the painting, "And seemed as they would ask me, If they durst, how such a glance came there...

Sir,'t was not her husbands presence only, called that spot of joy into the Duchess' cheek..." The envoy asked the Duke why the duchess had such an expression on her face and the duke suggests to the reader that his wife was enjoying the attention of the artist Fra Pandolf who was painting the picture.He then goes on to imply that the Duchess was easily infatuated by other men,"She had a heart-how shall I say? -Too soon made glad, too easily impressed; she liked whatever she looked on, and her looks went everywhere.

" He is telling the reader that she wasn't very moral and quite unfaithful; he is proposing that the Duchess liked the company of other men, but he implies it quite politely and tactfully. "How shall I say?..."The duke then tells the envoy that he gave her everything, a comfortable, picturesque life where she should have felt privileged and happy. However this was not the case as she liked to be spoilt and didn't treat the Duke with anymore respect or care than she did the other men that she spent time with.

"Sir,'t was all one! My favour at her breast... The bough of cherries some officious fool broke in the orchard for her.

.. All and each would draw from her alike the approving speech." He is obviously quite a jealous man, and the fact that she didn't only have eyes for him, obviously upset him.It gives the

reader the impression that he couldn't control his wife and that he was not the one in the wrong, causing the reader to assume it was the Duchess's entire fault, and because of this the reader takes a slight dislike towards the Duchess.

The Duke covers the painting of his wife with a curtain... "None puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I.

" The Duke is quite a controlling, officious man and it angered him that he was unable to control his wife whilst she was alive, so he covers her painting with a curtain because it is only now that she is dead that he has the authority to control who looks at her. This causes the reader to arouse suspicions as to how the Duchess died.The Duke then goes on further to hint to the reader that his wife may have been slightly more than just flirtatious. "She thanked men-good! But thanked somehow-I know not how-" He's suggested again quite tactfully thatHe was unsure as to exactly how she thanked these other men.

He reveals that he would not have been very good at challenging her with regards to her behaviour. "Who'd stoop to blame this sort of trifling? Even had you skill in speech...

To make your will quite clear to such an one, and say 'just this or that in you disgusts me here you miss or exceed the mark"This line tells the reader that he wishes he could have said the things he wanted to but didn't know how to say it.The Duke then confirms the readers' suspicions that he may have had his late wife killed... "This grew;

I gave commands, then smiles stopped all together." The reader wonders what the Duke is trying to say by the phrase 'I gave commands.

..' causing the reader to assume he ordered someone to kill her and hence that's why the 'smiles stopped'.At the end of the poem the Duke and the envoy turn away from the painting to join the party and the Duke points out a statue of Neptune taming a sea horse that he had made."Notice Neptune though, taming a sea horse, thought a rarity which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!"Neptune is the god of the sea and is very powerful. It is a very symbolic and emblematic statue.

I think its significance is that it is of a strong man making the sea horse (female) obey him. Just like he wishes he could have made his late wife obey him when she was alive.I believe the Duke refers to his late wife as his last duchess..

. because it is only now that she is dead that she is 'HIS'.Over all I think this poem has quite a negative tone to it because it seems as if the Duke loved his wife so much but she didn't love him, unrequited love. I think that Browning chose to write the poem in the first person because it gives the effect of a story I also think that Browning wrote the poem using enjambment because it gives the impression of free, natural speech.The poem has an 'A,B' rhyme scheme which at first isn't very apparent because of the use of enjambment you can only notice it when you look back over the

poem and not when its read aloud.

The use of vocabulary is typically quite complex but that's not unusual for a poem from that period in time. For instance nowadays we wouldn't usually use the word 'Munificence' for generosity, or the term dowry, which in those days was a sum of money that the bride to be would take into the marriage.I think this poem is very strong it has a good moral and tells a deep story it is very affective and is my favourite poem out of the four.In complete contrast to that 'A Woman To Her Lover' is about a woman telling her fiance exactly what she wants! It was written a long, long time ago but many of the ideas are still very relevant and apparent in today's society.

It's about a lady who comes across as being quite young, but very determined and strong willed. She tells her husband to be that she's "An awakened woman" and she isn't going to stand for any nonsense on his behalf.She seems quite intimidating...

which is unusual because this isn't normally a word we would associate with a woman from that period in time. She's also very opinionated which in those days was a rarity for a woman and society wasn't very familiar with the idea of women being equal to men.She begins by telling him everything she's not going to be..

. "Do you come to me to bend me to your will as conqueror to the vanquished?...

To make of me a bond slave...?"That phrase is quite emotive.

It makes the reader feel sorry for her and as if her future husband takes

her for granted. The use of the words 'conqueror' and 'vanquished' create quite a militaristic image in the reader's mind."If that what be what you ask, O Lover I refuse you!" the use of the exclamation mark at the end, makes it seam more intimidating and intense! It's very serious and she comes across to the reader as being quite stern and determined.The poem uses a lot of emotive language that makes the reader feel as if this man is quite prejudice and stereotypical towards women.

.. for instance "Wearing out my life in drudgery and silence." It's very one sided and causes the reader to take a dislike to her fiance with out even hearing his side of the story.

Which is quite a powerful and hard technique to master.She carries on into the second verse informing him of everything she refuses to be,"I am no doll to dress and sit for feeble worship if that be what you ask, fool I refuse you!" Again Walsh uses an exclamation mark to convey how this woman is feeling. She's telling him that she's not just going to be something pretty he can look at, she's not just there to look good on his arm and that she has thoughts and feelings too.Walsh also uses the persuasive technique of the rule of three..

. 'Deed', 'word', 'wish' and 'Shame', 'Pity' and 'Abasement'. I think she does this to enforce the message she's trying to convey..

. and again it makes the reader feel obliged to dislike this man.In this verse Walsh also uses the imperative verb "Go!" followed by another exclamation mark... this also reinforces the idea of her

being very strong willed.

In the third verse she talks about the fact that she wants equality in their marriage, and that she's not just there to fulfil his needs."If you think in me to find a creature who will have no greater joy than gratify your clamorous desire." She's telling him that she is not just there to keep him happy and have sex when he wants because she has needs too.Suddenly Walsh makes the narrator take a very different view and she starts to talk about everything she does want in their marriage and the atmosphere and effect becomes more positive. She begins to describe her perfect marriage.

"But Lover, if you ask of me that I shall be you comrade, friend, and mate, to live and work, to love and die with you." From the very first word "But" the atmosphere changes because it suggests possibility. Walsh uses the rule of three twice in a few sentences..

. 'Comrade, friend and mate" and "work, love and die" this puts into effect the softer more loving side of this woman who we previously saw as quite strong and intimidating."That so together we may know the purity and height of passion, and of the joy and sorrow." This conveys happy images in the readers mind and again the use of the rule of three is used "Passion, joy and sorrow.

"The narrator then goes on to tell the reader and her fiance that what she desires more than anything in their relationship is to feel loved back and know that he cares about her as much as she cares about him. She wants their love to be co-equal.The

poem is structured on a question and answer basis, each verse is separated into a question and then she kind of says if your answer to this is how it is going to be then tough because I'm not going to marry you. For instance the first verse.

.."Do you come to me to bend me to your will as conqueror to the vanquished to make of me a bond slave. To bear you children, wearing out my life in drudgery and silence" <- Question"No servant will I be, if that be what you ask, O Lover I refuse you" <- answer. Each verse is structured in this way.

Walsh uses enjambment like Browning does in "My Last Duchess" to create free, natural speech. The effect of this is it makes it seem more intimidating and as if she's shouting at you rather than her fiance.I think enjambment is very effective in both these poems because, we expect punctuation to be administrated by rules, but taste, style, and even breathing patterns also have influence on the way we read and comprehend a poem.The poem uses persuasive linguistic techniques such as the use of personal pronouns like "You", "Me" and "I" but in the last verse where the narrator changes her tone to one that's more positive instead of singular pronouns it becomes "We" and more about them both.

It is told in the first person like "My Last Duchess"."Villegiature" is a poem about a woman fantasising about how she wishes her boyfriend could be. It's told in the first person and from a woman's point of view. The poem is broken up into four verses; in the

first verse the narrator sets a very pretty, picturesque image in the reader's mind, "A window, framed in pear-tree bloom, White- curtained shone, and softly lighted" This sets off the poem with a very romantic, positive atmosphere. She then goes on to say, "Your ghost last night climbed uninvited.

" By using the expression "Ghost" she's referring to the fantasy version of her lover.In the second verse a very unexpected comical effect is created by the phrases "Your solid self. Long leagues away. Deep in dull books had hardly missed me." The narrator is suddenly snapped back to reality with the thought that in reality her boyfriend's "Solid self" is miles away reading boring books not missing her.Nesbit uses alliteration to enforce how dull and mind-numbing he really is.

"Deep in Dull books" and "Long Leagues away." It emphasises how dramatically different her fantasy version is to the reality version of her lover.The narrator is then whisked back to dreaming of her perfect lover with the phrases, "Yet you found this Romeo's way, and through the blossom climbed and kissed me." Romeo to many people is seen as the 'ideal' lover and is often compared to romantic gestures.

The third verse follows a similar pattern with emotive language creating a dreamy atmosphere, when again something brings her back down to earth. "I listen to you till the dawn... And half forgot I did not love you." Because of the very regular "A,B,A,B" rhyme scheme it creates a comic effect when these very surprising lines appear.

Likewise to the other three verses it starts with an emotive beginning and ends with a comical unexpected line. "I did not - till

your ghost had fled remember how you always bore me!" again by using the term ghost she's referring to how she wishes her partner was.The tone of this poem changes... it has a positive tone that very quickly changes into a negative one I think this is why this poem works so well.

A Birthday is about how a young woman expresses her love through a celebration of senses. The tone of the poem is very positive but it's not clear whom she is speaking to or if she is just thinking out loud.The poem is very exultant and joyful, and in contrast to "A Woman To Her Lover" it expresses equality in love. "My heart is gladder than all these because my love is come to me." It shows the strength of her feelings. She's telling the reader that it's like the birthday of her life because she's found the man she wants to spend the rest of her life with.

This is expressed through exotic images and by appealing to all the senses.The poem is set into one verse and isn't broken up there is no clear rhyme scheme throughout, and the rhythm changes half way through the poem. Rossetti is able to create very powerful, striking, and beautiful images in the readers mind. "Peacocks with a hundred eyes:", "Doves and Pomegranates".

She does this by referring to nature and other things that the reader can relate to and interpret in a different way.Rossetti uses Imperative verbs, such as "Raise", "Hang", "Work" and "Carve" This creates the effect of energy and excitement from the woman. She's giving the reader an image of an exquisite,

delicate and very beautiful boudoir, with "dais of silk and down Gold hung with vair and purple dies with and silver grapes." Again she's using a lot of images from nature.

I think the way Rossetti manages to create these astonishing images so effortlessly is with the use of similes "My heart is like a rainbow shell that paddles in a halcyon sea". This builds up a picture of a beautiful shell with the colours of a rainbow reflecting off it floating in an idyllic calm sea.Similarly the phrase "My heart is like an apple-tree whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit" creates a picture in the mind of the reader of a huge apple tree with bent branches, full of healthy fruit. This causes me to compare how full the tree is to how full her life seems now she has found her perfect man. And also the phrase "My heart is like a singing bird whose nest is in a watered shoot" This builds the picture of a perfect birds nest built in a newly grown tree with a small bird singing a blissful happy tune.

The repetition of "My heart is like" helps the reader to understand how this reflects and corresponds to her life with her new lover.After studying all four poems I decided that my favourite was "My Last Duchess" because it's the most effective and moving. I enjoyed analysing it because I liked the fact that unlike the other three poems I had to read it over and over again in order to comprehend the hidden meanings. I liked the fact that it wasn't straightforward and the ideas went a

lot deeper than I first appreciated.

I also liked the way the Duke implied things so tactfully... that you were left guessing. I've learnt that a poem isn't about the way it rhymes but more about the secret messages the authors trying to convey, and about how the linguistic techniques are used to make you feel a certain way. And "My Last Duchess" has all these qualities.