ENGL 3653: English Literature I

John M. Mercer, Professor of English

Northeastern State University, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

Study Guide 8: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, and Arnold

Corrected 3-4-08

 

“The Role of Women,” 990

  1. How did women’s rights change over the course of the Victorian Period?
  2. How did the lives of lower-class women differ from those of middle-class women?
  3. What was the only occupation open to respectable unmarried middle-class women in Victorian England?  What literary genre and specific works reflect the situation of women in this occupation? 

 

“Poetry,” 996

  1. The strongest influence on Victorian poetry was the poetry of what previous period?  How does Victorian poetry differ from that of this previous period (996)?
  2. What is the single greatest achievement of Victorian poetry (997)?  Which assigned Victorian poet is most associated with this achievement?
  3. What are the characteristics of Victorian poetry (997)? 

 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1077

  1. What was the critical assessment of EBB’s poetry during each of the following time periods?  In other words, what opinion did most literary critics in each period hold concerning the quality of her poetry?  On what basis was each opinion held?  Why did it change?
    1. in EBB’s own lifetime
    2. in the first three-quarters of the 20th century
    3. in recent decades, by feminist critics
  2. What do feminist critics find particularly interesting about EBB’s poem Aurora Leigh? What does the poet share in common with this title character?
  3. What is the meaning of the title of EBB’s sonnet sequence Sonnets from the Portuguese?
  4. In your own words, summarize the main point of each of the four assigned poems by EBB.

 

Robert Browning, 1248

  1. a. At the time of his wife Elizabeth’s death, who had the higher literary reputation, Elizabeth or Robert?  Why?

b. Today, who has the higher literary reputation?  Why?

  1. Before he became a poet, what genre of literature did Browning write without much success?  How is his work in this genre related to the kind of poetry he later wrote?  
  2. The textbook identifies three concerns of the 19th century that were major subjects of Browning’s poetry.  Identify the assigned poems (if any) that deal with each of these subjects:
    1. “faith and doubt”
    2. “good and evil”
    3. “the function of the artist in modern life”
  1. Browning’s poetry is known for its psychological insights. Give an example of at least one significant insight into human psychology in each of Browning’s assigned poems.
  2. Browning’s poetry is also known for its creative energy.  What do you think this means?  What are some examples of this creative energy in Browning’s poems?

 

Contrasts between Tennyson and Browning

Tennyson and Browning are today considered to be the two greatest Victorian poets, but their poetic styles contrast sharply.  Your textbook identifies the following contrasts :

 

Tennyson                                                                                                          Browning

smooth, polished, euphonious, “poetic”             harsh, discordant, surprising juxtapositions, “prosy”

beautiful rhymes, pleasing diction                       “grotesque rhymes and jaw-breaking diction”

 

  1. In your hardback college dictionary, look up and explain the definitions of any words in the above list that you don’t understand.  
  2. In your own words, explain what is meant by each of the contrasts above.
  3. Cite specific lines or stanzas from each poet that exemplify each of these contrasts.  

 

Dramatic Monologue

Although Browning did not create the dramatic monologue, he certainly perfected it.  A dramatic monologue is a poem that consists entirely of the conversation of one character in a dramatic situation, revealing “a soul in action.”  For each (or any) assigned poem by Browning, apply each of the following criteria: 

1.      The speaker of a dramatic monologue may be either historical or fictional but is distinct from the poet.

2.      The moral nature of the speaker may be either good, evil, or mixed.

3.      The situation is a dramatic moment in the speaker’s life.  Since a dramatic monologue has no narrator, the situation can be revealed only by the speaker’s words.

4.      A dramatic monologue has an identifiable listener who is part of the dramatic situation.  The listener is silent.  Since this is a monologue, the speaker does all the talking. 

5.      If the poem meets the other criteria for a dramatic monologue but has no listener (and the speaker is talking or thinking to himself or herself), then it is called a soliloquy or interior monologue. Which assigned poems by Browning are soliloquies rather than dramatic monologues because they lack a listener?

6.      A dramatic monologue (or a soliloquy) reveals dramatic irony, usually in the form of a discrepancy between what the speaker thinks of himself or herself and what the poet wants us to think about the speaker.

 

Previous writers of dramatic monologues include John Donne (“The Flea,” studied in English Lit I) and Tennyson.

 

7.      Which assigned poems by Tennyson are dramatic monologues?  Which are soliloquies?  Which are neither dramatic monologues nor soliloquies?

 

Later writers of dramatic monologues who profited from Browning’s mastery of the genre are Robert Frost, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and T. S. Eliot (“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”).

 

“Porphyria's Lover,” 1252

This early poem, written when Browning was only 22, shows Browning’s aptitude for creating a dramatic situation and for writing about abnormal psychology. 

  1. Why is the speaker upset at the beginning of the poem?  How does the description of the weather relate to his psychological state?
  2. According to lines 21-25, what holds Porphyria back from making a commitment to her lover?
  3. According to lines 26-30, earlier in the evening, where has Porphyria been? Why has she now come to her lover’s house?
  4. What reason (lines 31-37) does the speaker give for strangling Porphyria?  How might a psychologist explain his behavior?
  5. Evaluate the reliability of the speaker’s statement that “No pain felt she . . .” (lines 41-42).
  6. What does the speaker do with Porphyria after he strangles her?  Why?
  7. How do you interpret the last line: “And yet God has not said a word!”?
  8. Is this a dramatic monologue or a soliloquy?  Support your answer.

 

“Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister,” 1253

The basic situation of this poem is that the speaker, an unnamed a monk in a Spanish monastery, is secretly watching a fellow monk, Brother Lawrence, tend the garden.

  1. Several times throughout the poem, the speaker describes what Brother Lawrence is doing in the garden.  What actions of Brother Lawrence does the speaker mention in stanza 1?  in line 24?  in stanza 6?
  2. In stanza 1, what phrases especially reveal the speaker’s attitude toward Brother Lawrence?  How would you describe his feelings toward Brother Lawrence throughout the poem?
  3. In other parts of the poem, the speaker describes Brother Lawrence’s words and actions on other occasions.  According to stanzas 2 and 3, what does Brother Lawrence do that irritates the speaker during and after meals?  What is the significance of the italics in stanza 2?
  4. In stanza 4, what scene just outside the monastery (“Convent”) does the speaker describe? What does the speaker imagine is Brother Lawrence’s reaction to this scene?  How do we know that this is not Brother Lawrence’s actual response (line 32)?  Where does the speaker get the idea that Brother Lawrence must be reacting in this way?
  5. In stanza 5, how are the speaker and Brother Lawrence character foils (contrasts) to each other?  How does the speaker reveal his own hypocrisy?
  6. According to stanza 6, what has the speaker been doing to hinder Lawrence’s gardening?
  7. In each of the last 3 stanzas, the speaker comes up with a different scheme to damn Lawrence’s soul to hell.  Explain each of these schemes.
  8. In stanza 9, who says the lines in italics?  What is the literal meaning of these lines?  How do these lines reveal the character of the speaker?
  9. How does this poem exemplify the characteristics of Browning’s poetry described above under “Contrasts between Tennyson and Browning”?
  10. Is this poem a soliloquy or a dramatic monologue?  How can you tell?

 

“My Last Duchess,” 1255

The basic situation in this poem is that the speaker, the Duke of Ferrara in Renaissance Italy, is addressing the emissary of a count whose daughter is about to become the duke’s second wife. 

  1. What is the meter of this poem?  What is the rhyme scheme? 
  2. What is enjambment?  What effect does the use of enjambment create?  How would the effect be different if the lines were end-stopped?
  3. What particular aspect of his first wife’s portrait does the duke emphasize to the count’s emissary?  Why does he focus on this one feature?
  4. What criticism does the duke make of his previous wife?
  5. What is the duke’s explanation for his never having discussed this criticism with his wife?
  6. What happened to the duke’s previous wife?  What particular lines reveal this?
  7. Why has the duke said all of this to the count’s emissary?
  8. On the literal level, “Neptune . . . / Taming a sea horse” (lines 54-55) is just a bronze sculpture, another object of art on the tour of the duke’s palace.  Symbolically, however, what does this sculpture represent? 
  9. Is this a soliloquy or a dramatic monologue?  How can you tell?

 

“The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church,” 1259

The basic situation in this poem is that a dying bishop tells his illegitimate sons how he wants his elaborate burial monument to be constructed and decorated inside Saint Praxed’s Church in Rome.  The dying bishop’s words reveal his rivalry with the previous bishop (“Old Gandolf”) and his distrust of his sons.

  1. According to the textbook, this poem captures the spirit of WHAT historical and cultural period?  According to textbook, what characteristics of this period does the poem exemplify? What other assigned poems by Browning are set in the same period?
  2. Anselm (line 2) is one of the bishop’s sons.  In line 3, the bishop first addresses his sons as “Nephews.”  Why would he do this?
  3. Why, according to the bishop, did the previous bishop, Old Gandolf, envy him (lines 4-5)? Why is the bishop envious of Old Gandolf (lines 17-19)?
  4. What is the view of the church from the site of the bishop’s future tomb (lines 20-24)?  What is ironic about the bishop’s interest in this view?
  5. Beginning with line 25, much of the poem consists of the bishop’s specifications for his tomb.  Describe these specifications. How will his tomb be superior to Old Gandolf’s?
  6. What do the bishop’s specifications reveal about his character?  What are his primary values?  What is ironic about his holding these values?
  7. What lines reveal the bishop’s distrust of his sons? What does he fear they will do after he is dead?  How does he try to bribe them (lines 73-75)?
  8. What kind of life after death does the bishop picture for himself (lines 80-99)?  What is ironic about his view of life after death? 
  9. What does the bishop say about Old Gandolf at the end of the poem?  What does this reveal about the bishop’s character?

 

“Love among the Ruins,” 1264

This is the first poem from a collection entitled Men and Women. 

  1. In each of the first 4 stanzas, lines 1-6 describe the present scene of a peaceful plain, whereas lines 7-12 describe a busy city that used to be on this site in the ancient world.  In each of these stanzas, what details are given about the present and past appearance of this site? 
  2. What do these contrasts between the past and present reveal about human achievement of fame and glory?
  3. In stanza 5, the speaker reveals why this place is of particular importance to him.  Whom is he going to meet here?  In the ancient world, what happened at the same spot?
  4. In stanzas 6-7, which 6 lines of each stanza refer to the past?  to the present?
  5. According to stanza 6, what will happen when the speaker meets the other person here?
  6. What is the connection between the last line, “Love is best,” and the contrast between the past and present in the rest of the poem?  What is the theme of the poem?
  7. Is this a soliloquy or a dramatic monologue?  How can you tell?               

 

 “Andrea del Sarto,” 1280

According to his biographer Vasari, the Renaissance painter Andrea del Sarto had great technical ability but lacked bold aspiration and forceful character.  This poem has been described as a case study of a gifted artist who undermines his own great potential by

  • choosing a wife he knows will betray him
  • choosing a life that compromises his vision as an artist

 

  1. The name “del Sarto” literally means “son of a tailor.” What other work studied in this unit has a similar title?  How are the meanings of the two titles related?
  2. Del Sarto’s reputation as a “Faultless Painter” (mentioned in the subtitle of the poem) had a negative connotation for Browning.  According to the poem, what is wrong with an artist whose paintings are “faultless”?  What other work studied in this unit takes a stand against “faultless” art? 
  3. What is the poetic form of this poem?  What other poems have we studied in this class that use the same form?
  4. This poem was inspired in part by a painting Browning saw in Florence of del Sarto and his wife Lucrezia sitting together as she holds a letter from King Francis of France. Extra-credit research: Find a print of this painting. (Unfortunately, I don’t know its title.)
  5. What request does the speaker make of his wife at the beginning of the poem?  Based on what you learn about Lucrezia, why do you think del Sarto would make this request?
  6. In line 5, “your friend” is a euphemism for Lucrezia’s lover.  (Later in the poem, he is referred to as her “Cousin” [lines 220, 243].)  In lines 5-10, del Sarto agrees to paint paintings according to certain specifications to pay Lucrezia’s lover’s gambling debts (see also line 222).  In lines 5-10, what are these specifications?  How do these terms compromise his artistic integrity?
  7. “A common grayness silvers everything” (line 35) is appropriate to the setting of this poem and to the use of color in del Sarto’s paintings. Extra-credit research: Find prints of del Sarto’s paintings?  What do you observe about their use of color?
  8. What time of day provides the setting of this poem?  What particular lines or phrases reveal the time of day?    
  9. According to del Sarto, how is his work superior to that of other artists? (Cite support from specific lines.) What criticism does he make of a painting by Raphael?
  10. According to del Sarto, how is his work inferior to that of other artists? What does he mean when he says, “Ah, but a man=s reach should exceed his grasp, / Or what=s a heaven for?”  (lines 97-98)
  11. According to del Sarto, what advantage do Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci have over him?  How has Lucrezia (or his love for her) undermined del Sarto’s art? 
  12. Under the influence of Lucrezia, how has del Sarto wronged King Francis of France?  How has he wronged his own parents?
  13. At the very end of the poem, what is Lucrezia about to do?

 

Matthew Arnold, 1350

According to the textbook’s introduction, Matthew Arnold’s writings fall into the following four periods:

 

  • 1850s: poems
  • 1860s: literary and social criticism
  • 1870s: religious and educational writings
  • 1880s: literary criticism

 

  1. Why did Arnold stop writing poetry?  Why was he dissatisfied with his poetry?
  2. What role did Arnold play in England’s educational system?  How did this work affect his social criticism? 
  3. What social class did Arnold criticize?  What did he believe was lacking in the lives of the people in this social class (and in Victorian society in general)?

 

“The Scholar Gypsy,” 1361

  1. In your own words, briefly summarize the legend of the Scholar Gypsy.
  2. What university did Arnold and his character the Scholar Gypsy attend?
  3. At the beginning of the poem, amid pastoral scenery, the speaker addresses a shepherd who is helping him search for the Scholar Gypsy.  What is ironic about this search?
  4. Beginning with what line does the speaker address the Scholar Gypsy?   
  5. When the Scholar Gypsy was “sighted” (like Elvis) on various occasions, what was his appearance? 
  6. At what point in the poem does the speaker acknowledge that the Scholar Gypsy can never be found?
  7. According to the speaker, in what sense is the Scholar Gypsy immortal?  How is he superior to people in modern society? 
  8. According to a footnote, what possible satire of Tennyson does the poem contain?  How would these lines apply to Tennyson?
  9. Near the end of "The Scholar Gypsy," what advice does the speaker give the Scholar Gypsy about modern society?
  10. What situation is described in the last two stanzas?  How do these two stanzas relate to the rest of the poem?  (Refer to the footnote.)

 

“Dover Beach,” 1368

In this dramatic monologue, the speaker addresses his love.

  1. What scene does the speaker describe in the first verse paragraph?  Extra-credit research:  Find pictures of the cliffs of Dover (line 4) and of Dover beach. How are the pictures different from the scene described in the poem?
  2. What does the speaker ask his love to do (line 6)?
  3. What sound does the speaker describe (lines 9-14)?  What emotion does the speaker connect to this sound?
  4. In the second verse paragraph, who is Sophocles?  What is the Aegean?  What is the connection between the first and second verse paragraphs?
  5. The third verse paragraph is metaphorical.  What is meant by the “Sea of Faith” (line 21)? In what sense is the Sea of Faith “[r]etreating” in the Victorian Period? 
  6. What is meant by the metaphor of the “bright girdle” (line 23)?  (Read the footnote.)
  7. In the last verse paragraph, what does the speaker say to his love?  What is his answer to the problems identified in the poem?
  8. The metaphor of the last 3 lines may refer (in addition to the suggestions in the footnote) to Thucydides’ account of the Battle of Epipolae between Syracuse and Athens, in which the soldiers couldn’t tell friends from foes.  How is this metaphor appropriate to the Victorian Period and the modern world in general?
  9. If you are familiar with the philosophy of existentialism, evaluate to what extent Arnold’s world view in this poem is existentialist. In the face of a meaningless universe, what positive value does Arnold assert?

 

Culture and Anarchy, 1398

In the assigned reading from Culture and Anarchy, Arnold identifies two opposing forces in society and the characteristics of each:  

 

Hebraism                                                          Hellenism

  1. Puritanism                                             [culture and poetry]
  2. fire and strength                                    “sweetness and light”

c.       strictness of conscience             spontaneity of consciousness

  1. morality                                                intellectuality
  2. energetic work                                      aesthetic understanding

 

  1. For each of the above contrasts, find the relevant passage in the textbook, and EXPLAIN what is meant by the contrast.
  2. In Arnold’s use of the word, who are the Philistines?  Extra-credit research:  Who are the Philistines in the Old Testament?  What is the connection between the way the word is used in the Bible and in Arnold?
  3. Puritanism as an organized religious and political movement in England ended in the 17th century.  What does Arnold mean by this term?  What is the relationship between Arnold’s “Puritans” and “Philistines”?
  4. Arnold says he believes that both Hebraism and Hellenism are needed for a balanced society.  Which of the two, however, does he obviously favor?   Which does he believe is being neglected in Victorian society?