Robert Browning College Essays Samples For Students

In today’s literary world, Robert Browning belongs to a club of great literary minds and is considered in retrospect to have been “one of the most important poets of Victorian England” (Martin 8). During his lifetime, however, his work received considerable criticism and was often not well-received. Much of the criticism was related to the unconventional form he took. Part of this unconventional form can be seen in Browning’s treatment of the aristocracy of his time. But before this can be discussed in terms of his work, it is first important to understand both Victorian England and ...

In many instances, authors use powerful ideas that shift their readers in a way that intrigues their every day understanding of life. It is not debatable that Robert Browning and William Shakespeare were legendary writers of their time. It is also not ironic that although there are years separating the two writers, their work contains similar themes. As a common ground for my comparisons, this paper examines the common ideas and how the themes are brought out in William Shakespeare’s “Othelo”, and Robert Browning’s two poems “My Last Duchess” and “The Laboratory”. Using characters Iago in Othelo, The Duke ...

Formalist Criticism of My Last Duchess

My Last Duchess is probably the best example of the dramatic monologue, a poetical form that was invented and applied essentially by one of the foremost Victorian poets, Robert Browning. A dramatic monologue should certainly have a character who speaks to some particular person, mainly certain silent listener, in the manner of a dramatic speech and has to take place in specific physical setting like that of a drama.
The poem My Last Duchess definitely belongs to the dramatic monologue because it, at first, possesses three formal elements, such as an occasion, a speaker, and a hearer. Secondly, the ...

Why did the Duke kill the lady?

Why did the Duke kill the lady?

Introduction

There are certain poems which are beautiful in terms of poetic structure but depict a gruesome tale of barbarism and conservatism. One of such works is The Last Duchess by Robert Browning which was written in the first half of 19th century ("Applying Modern Critical Theory to Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess"”, Allingham). When one reads along the rhythm of its iambic pentameter, it seems like a poetic essence on drift. But, the fact is that these mesmerising lines are telling the story of a fanatical Duke who was displeased with his wife’s jolly ...

After the first reading, the poem Love Among the Ruins by Robert Browning seems to have a very difficult theme and a very deep meaning. The long lines alternating with short together with a complicated vocabulary not only may, but do bewilder the reader. Though, detailed and close reading of the poem helps to reveal the hidden sense of it. The main themes – love and war – are depicted with the help of the reach usage of stylistic devices, imagery and tone.
The first thing that immediately strikes the reader’s attention is the unusual structure of the poem. The ...

‘Instructor’s Name’

The Narrators of ‘Porphyria’s Lover and My Last Duchess’ – Similarities and Differences
Unlike comics or fairy tales, villain characters are not a common occurrence in modern adult literature, especially in poetry. In the literary works aimed for the grown up or matured reader segment, the authors more often than not, refrain from portraying a character which explicitly exposes villainous nature, or coal-black personifications of evil. Mostly characters who exhibit villainous traits are not easily located in such literary works, but their persona is revealed only after a deep scrutiny of the said work.
Particularly in the nineteenth century, as ...

My Last Duchess by Robert Browning is a poem where the Duke of Ferrara narrates about his last wife to an envoy. Through the narration, the readers get to know about the duke and his last duchess. The poem, which appears to be a dramatic monologue, gives an insight into the duke’s nature. The paper will closely analyze the duke’s character and how he justifies the killing of his wife. The paper will show that the murder of the duchess only highlights the most defining characteristic of the duke, which is his excessive demand for control.
The poem ...

Part 1

In “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning we meet the narrator who is a Duke. The duke is meeting an emissary in order to discuss marrying the daughter of a very important man. As he is giving the emissary a tour of his home he stops to admire the portrait of his dead wife. The Duke begins to speak of his dead wife with affection. This quickly turns into bitterness when he goes on a rant about the fact she engaged in behaviors that he found distasteful. As he goes on he reveals that he “gave commands; / Then ...