robert browning

1、“Victorias Secret”,“Victorias Secret” is meant to capture an irony in Victorian “modesty.” For example, efforts to cover up, dress up, and/or hide nudity can merely accentuate the thought of it. The concept of lingeriecovering up and dressing up sexualityis very Victorian; lace coverings are very Victorian. A secret is very Victorian. The free, open, and “natural” expression of emotions is quintessentially Romantic, whereas repression, containment, reserve, composure, artifice, & secrecy are qui

2、ntessentially Victorian. These are stereotypes. Victorian repression, by the way, is what led to Freuds workall his clients were raised as children in the Victorian era. Brownings “My Last Duchess” and “Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister” both exemplify repression. The speakers dont quite tell it like it is, but the readers, like Freud, can interpret whats wrong with the speakers. The poems are dramatic monologues. We learn about the speakers as they speak to someone else.,On Victorian Fashion an

3、d Modesty: The neckline was high except for evenings: as C. W. Cunnington remarks, The high water mark of modesty would ebb after sunset some six inches! (A Handbook of English Costume in the 19th Century). Note the appearance of some covered wrists and some gloves.,Victoriansociety.org,Robert Brownings “My Last Duchess” (1842),A contemporary painting of a “Victorian Portrait” (Niagra Art Collection),Thats my last duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a won

4、der, now: Fr Pandolfs hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands. Willt please you sit and look at her? I said “Fr Pandolf“ by design, for never read Strangers like you that pictured countenance, The depth and passion of its earnest glance, But to myself they turned (since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I) And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst, How such a glance came there; so, not the first Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, twas not Her husbands presence only,

5、 called that spot Of joy into the Duchess cheek: perhaps Fr Pandolf chanced to say “Her mantle laps Over my ladys wrist too much,“ or “Paint Must never hope to reproduce the faint Half-flush that dies along her throat“: such stuff Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough For calling up that spot of joy. She had A heart how shall I say? too soon made glad, Too easily impressed; she liked whateer She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.,What do we learn about the speaker in the opening lin

6、es? What is he like, and what details convey that personaility?,What do we learn here about the speaker when he reflects on the painter and on his wife?,Did she blush?! Isnt that what a fan is for? Couldnt she have covered up that spot more modestly? At least the duke is, how shall I say, careful to compose himself.,Sir, twas all one! My favor at her breast, The dropping of the daylight in the West, The bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule She rode w

7、ith round the terrace all and each Would draw from her alike the approving speech, Or blush, at least. She thanked men good! but thanked Somehow I know not how as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybodys gift. Whod stoop to blame This sort of trifling? Even had you skill In speech which I have not to make your will Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss, Or there exceed the mark“ and if she let Herself be lessoned so,

8、 nor plainly set Her wits to yours, forsooth, and make excuse, Een then would be some stooping; and I choose Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt, Wheneer I passed her; but who passed without Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands As if alive.,Note that the poem is centered on the idea of not being open, honest, and direct, not being straight forward or saying outright what you want to say. But even when people are indirect, wh

9、at they say ends up “saying” so much about them. What else has the duke told us about himself here without really saying it explicitly? The duke is telling us he is,Willt please you rise? Well meet The company below, then. I repeat, The Count your masters known munificence Is ample warrant that no just pretense Of mine for dowry will be disallowed; Though his fair daughters self, as I avowed At starting, is my object. Nay well go Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though, Taming a sea-horse, th

10、ought a rarity, Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!,How is the new wife-to-be like the sea-horse to the duke? How is the duke so Victorian and not very Romantic?,Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister (1842) I GR-R-Rthere go, my hearts abhorrence! Water your damned flower-pots, do! If hate killed men, Brother Lawrence, Gods blood, would not mine kill you! What? your myrtle-bush wants trimming? Oh, that rose has prior claims Needs its leaden vase filled brimming? Hell dry you up with its flames! II At the meal we sit together: Salve tibi! to your health I must hear Wise talk of the kind of weather, Sort of season, time of year: Not a plenteous cork-crop: scarcely Dare we hope oak-galls, I doubt: Whats the Latin name for “parsley“? Whats the Greek name for Swines Snout?,

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