Robert Browning for 12A

A revision aid and discussion board.

[mrsbarlowalevel]

A Toccata of Galuppi's

Questions: 1. What length is every stanza in the poem? What effect does this have on the poem? 2. What is the effect of rhyming triplets on the poem and why has Browning used this rhyme scheme? 3. What sentiments does the 'old music' have on the listener of the Toccata and also the reader of the poem? 4. What is the appeal of Venice as the focal point of the poem? 5. What impression do we get from the poem regarding how people of the time appreciated the music? 6. What is the speaker commenting on regarding art? 7. What effect does the trochaic meter have on the poem and why has Browning used it? 8. What effect do the speech marks and conversations have on the poem?

[mrsbarlowalevel]

Prospice

Questions: 1. How many examples of battle imagery can you find? 2. What is the rhyme scheme and why? 3. Why does Browning start with a rhetorical question? 4. Why is 'Arch Fear' capitalised? 5. Why are there so many references to light and dark? What atmosphere do they create? 6. Which other poems explore the theme of conflict? 7. How does Browning use pathetic fallacy in the poem? 8. How does the battle semantic field develop? 9. What other poems explore light/dark imagery?

[mrsbarlowalevel]

A Woman's Last Word

Questions: 1. What lines could be classed as a use of parallelism in Stanza One? 2. What effect does the use of animal imagery in 'serpent's tooth' and 'hawk on bough' have on the reader? 3. What other poems highlight male dominance, and how? 4. What comparisons can you make between the presentation of sexualised women in this poem and others in the collection? 5. What effect does the rhyme scheme in 'A Woman's Last Word' have on the reader? 6. What are the different connotations of the title? 7. Why does Browning use such short lines and stanzas? What might this represent about woman's speech?

[mrsbarlowalevel]

Love in a Life/Life in a Love

Questions: 1. What mood is created through "I hunt the house through / We inhabit together.'? 2. What does the use of parallelism and enjambment create in: 'Escape me? / Never- / Beloved' and 'I shape me- / Ever / Removed!'? 3. What does Browning present the speaker's search for love as a 'quest'? 4. What are the similarities and differences between the two poems? 5. How do the titles compare to each other and what do they show? 6. Why is it set in twilight? 7. How is the 'quest' shown in 'Love in a Life' and what does this suggest?

[mrsbarlowalevel]

Up at a Villa- Down in the City

1. How does Browning ironically manipulate the pastoral genre to portray the ignorance of the speaker? 2. What other ironies are used in the poem? 3. What effect does the chaotic verse form create? 4. What does Browning use the theme of greed? 5. Why does Browning open by saying the poem is distinguished by "an Italian person of quality"? 6. How does the theme of corruption link to other poems? 7, What differences are there between the countryside and the city?

[mrsbarlowalevel]

Apparent Failure

Questions: 1. What are stanzas 2/3/4/5/6 the same length and shorter than stanza 1? What effect does this have on the reader? 2. How does Browning present the past in 'Apparent Failure'? 3. How does Browning's use of animalistic imagery in the poem have an imapct on the reader's reaction towards the treatment of the deceased? 4. How typical is the presentation of death in this poem?

[mrsbarlowalevel]

Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister

Questions: 1. How has Browning used Biblical imagery in the poem? 2. Why does Browning start and end the poem with 'Grr' and what effect does it have? 3. How has Browning represented religious figures in the poem? 4. What effect does the caesura 'There's Satan!-One might venture...' have on our perspective of the persona? 5. What other poems are showing religious figures in this way? 6. What is the effect of the many interrogatives in the poem? 7. What themes does Browning explore in the poem? 8. What religious sins does the persona commit, and what sins does Brother Lawrence commit?

[mrsbarlowalevel]

Prospice

This poem was published in 'Dramatis Personae' in 1864- although was probably written soon after Elizabeth Barrett Browning's death in 1861. The poems in this collection represent a turning point in Browning's career: he becomes much more focused on death and loss- it is easy to see why given the context. This collection was also the first of Browning's works to go into a second edition, thus representing some commercial success for Browning. However, sceptics suggest this was more out of sympathy for the loss of his wife than for a notable shift in public opinion. (We also study 'Apparent Failure' from this anthology- what similarities can you find between subject matter and mood? Does this poem deal with death in a different way to earlier poems such as 'The Bishop Orders his Tomb at St Praxed's Church'?)

The persona here seems to be speaking in soliloquy (there is no real implied audience- apart from the metaphysical Death or 'Arch Fear' of the poem). The poem begins with a challenge: 'Fear death?' It is up to the reader to decide whether this is a challenge to the reader, the persona himself or a smirk at society whom he feels DO fear death. The poem continues to use a range of battle imagery (much like 'The Lost Leader') to present the upcoming fight between life and death. The persona's message is that he will face death head-on, unafraid; he is looking for the reward or 'guerdon' which will come with death- regaining the companionship of his dead lover (Elizabeth). The use of this archaic word could suggest that this is an ageless, timeless struggle which is the fate of all humanity- we might as well embrace it.

'Prospice' feels like one of Browning's more personal poems- the persona could easily be Browning and it deals with issues very prominent in his own life at the time. The same can be said of 'Apparent Failure'- Browning did live in Paris and could very easily have made the actual journey he describes in that poem.

As discussed, the poem utilises battle imagery throughout, at times seeming very violent and angry. Even when he imagines himself reunited with his love the blunt, even aggressive, tone continues with words like 'clasp' and the closing line of the poem: 'And with God be the rest!' Here Browning overtly deals with the notion of the afterlife into which he had dabbled with poems such as 'The Bishop Orders his Tomb' and 'Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister'.

What is the effect of the apparently soliloquy form?

How does the persona make use of battle imagery to create mood and atmosphere?

Can you identify any changes in Browning's poetic voice and meanings with this poem?

How might the context of both Browning's life and the Victorian era have influenced this poem?

Does Browning criticise God or religion in this poem? Can you see he is an atheist having read this poem? (What might be happening to his religious faith as his circumstances change?)

[mrsbarlowalevel]

Love Among the Ruins

The persona is most likely a shepherd, and the opening situation of this poem gives it a rural, idyllic feel. From the field in which he tends his flock he imagines the vast city that once stood on the same land- now all that remains is a single, crumbling turret. He imagines the city and the men who crowded and defended it- giving a warrior-like, imperial feel to this section of the poem. This is sharply contrasted to the image of the beautiful woman that arises in stanza five- the love of the persona.

By the end of the poem, love has won the 'battle' in the persona's psyche which permeates the poem. The persona is reminded of the transience of both the past and the material power of the city and ends by declaring that 'Love is best': a stark statement that emotion is permanent whilst materialistic concerns/man-made constructs are never built to last.

Do you think the girl is real? Does it matter?

What other poems explore love? Are they the same as this poem?

Why is the rural setting, and the imaginative construction of the city, important to this poem?

What does Browning show us about the past and love?

[mrsbarlowalevel]

[mrsbarlowalevel]

Questions to help you with 'The Bishop Orders His Tomb'

What is the Bishop discussing with the monks (nephews/son)?

What does the Bishop think of Gandolf, his predecessor? Is this very religious?

To what extent is the opening line an effective introduction to the major themes: 'Vanity, saith the preacher, vanity!'

What sort of things has the Bishop been collecting that he now sends the monks to find? Why does he want these things? Remember that collecting was a Victorian hobby!

What evidence are we given that the Bishop is not a devout Catholic man? Again, what is Browning suggesting about religious figures?

What does the Bishop realise at the end of the poem? 'Or ye would heighten my impoverished frieze, / Piece out its starved design...' What does Browning show us about death and posterity (What you leave behind)?

[mrsbarlowalevel]

St Praxed's Church, inside and out. The inside is very ornate and lavishly decorated but the outside appears quite non-descript. Does this have any relevance to your understanding of the poem or the bishop? Why might Browning have chosen this church out of all the churches in Rome? (Or was that just the point- that there ARE so many churches in Rome?)

[mrsbarlowalevel]

The Bishop of St Praxed's Church

Do you agree with the following, written about the character of the Bishop?

'The Bishop, an earthly, businesslike man, does not try to aestheticize his speech. The new form owes not only to the speaker’s earthy personality, but also his situation: he is also dying, and momentary aesthetic considerations have given way to a fervent desire to create a more lasting aesthetic monument.' (SparkNotes)

[mrsbarlowalevel]

[mrsbarlowalevel]

Browning's 'Philosophy of the Imperfect'

Finally, worldly criteria for success lose their validity in Browning's poetry. The poet's so-called philosophy of imperfection, with its lesson that "a man's reach should exceed his grasp," has anti-social implications. This belief holds that an individual's first and highest obligation is to fulfill his own being, regardless of consequences. A lifetime of devotion to settling ""Hoti"'s business," properly basing "Oun," and providing "us the doctrine of the enclitic De" entitles the grammarian to a final resting-place on the heights.

To what extent do you agree that Browning's poetry highlights the importance of self-fulfilment as superior to any other more social or worldly concerns?

[mrsbarlowalevel]

This brings up some interesting ideas about the speaker of 'A Grammarian's Funeral' and Browning's ideology, as explored through the poem.

[mrsbarlowalevel]

A Grammarian's Funeral

ONE APPROACH to what has been a vexing problem of interpretation in Robert Browning's "A Grammarian's Funeral" questions whether the evidence provided by the poem alone enables its readers to decide between the extreme possibilities that the grammarian wasted his life in dry-as-dust scholarship or that his pursuit of human knowledge and perfection makes his life fully admirable. Two recent commentaries, for instance, arrive at quite different conclusions. G. Robert Stange, admitting that "Browning's attitude toward the grammarian seems somewhat ambiguous," concludes nevertheless that "primarily Browning is praising a Renaissance humanist for devoting his whole soul to the complete fulfillment of a high purpose, namely, the absolute mastery of ancient literature as a key to wise living (such an aim would rightly include the necessity to understand the most subtle points of grammar) and for the faith that what he cannot accomplish here will be achieved in heaven."2 But Richard D. Altick, in a spirited, engaging article, argues the case for another possibility: denied the poet's approbation, if not his compassion, the scholar is a "dead gerund-grinder,"