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Robert Browning life and works
critical essay on robert browning poetic style
critical essay on robert browning poetic style
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Physical and Mental Landscapes in Childe Roland by Robert Browning
On a doomed quest to conquer the evil of the Dark Tower, Childe Roland wanders through a wasteland filled with barren natural images and memories of once-heroic, now-fallen friends. The poem is alarming in the way the stark, barren terrain through which Roland travels offers no sensual or imaginative detail, but more so for its unflinching portrayal of
a desperate and broken man.
The opening lines of the poem are more shocking than the grimness of the detail because they illustrate the bleak mood of the hero. He is distrustful "My first thought was, he lied in every word" and bitter: "That hoary cripple, with malicious eye". His despair and paranoia become evident in the inconsistency of his thought: if the man was lying about where to find
the Dark Tower, why the barely suppressed "glee" at the prospect of Roland's death? This paranoia and sense of foreboding is all-consuming; he is convinced he will not reach his goal, that the cripple deceived him, and traps lie in his way. His fears, however, fail to materialize. He does reach the tower, evidently the hermit did give accurate instructions, and nothing deters him from his quest. His fear is projected onto the landscape, and his morbid mind runs wild, imagining a stiff old horse as one of the "devil's stud" and picturing dead bodies choking the river as he wades across. Instead he only encounters a water-rat that shrieks as he
spears it, but even that to his tortured mind seems the scream of a baby. Everything he sees or thinks fills him with loathing and sorrow. Despair and uncertainty play a major role in "Childe Roland". The knight does not know where to turn. We learn early on in the poem th...
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... the allegorical level, the tortured landscape the narrator depicts represents his own imagination, fallen prey to these negative forces. This is shown in his painful attempt to recall happier times; "Out went my heart's new fire and left it cold."
However, a dramatic change takes place when Roland finally discovers the Tower; or when perhaps the Dark Tower discovers him; "Burningly it came on me all at once," Roland exclaims, and the "burning" although again a simple of destruction, also has a purifying effect. It purges Roland of his malaise and hatred, essentially ridding him of his ego and restoring
his heroic sense of self-sacrifice. This change in him is reflected in the landscape- mountains rise, bells chime, he has a vision of his ghostly comrades. His imaginative powers are reawakened with his sense of duty, and "dauntless" he goes to face his doom.
His initial view is conveyed through the comparison between the Modern World and the Aztec world. The positive imagery of “passing under trees filled with birds” describes the free, peaceful and safe nature of the modern world through the symbolism of birds living in freedom and not locked up in a cage. This is contrasted with the metaphor of “He detached himself almost physically from the nightmare” when referring to the Aztec world shows that it is an unsafe and violent due to the world being described in negative connotations by the protagonist. However he realises that this peaceful world that he lived in was only his imagination. The realisation of his true reality occurs through the imagery of “He realised he was running in pitch darkness…the sky crisscrossed with treetops was less black than the rest” of the Aztec world. Coupled with the motif of smell in his dreams shown through “it was a curious dream because it was full of smells and he never dreamed smells” also reflects the idea that his real world is the Aztec world. The depth of description when describing his dream and the use
He describes how the sun “bakes” the earth, the grasshoppers “consume the parched grass,” and how the prairies are full of “endless desolation.” The word “bakes” exhibits nature’s hostility to its surrounding lands. The grasshoppers eating the “parched grass” convey how on top of the grass slowly starving and dying, it has to deal with the grasshoppers devouring it as well; which emphasizes nature’s unforgivable attitude towards the land. The words “endless desolation” reveal that the land is nothing but despair, and that it is full of endless agony and suffering. This bleak description expresses a miserable tone that deduces the reader’s mind to believe the landscape is barren and
“Its deserted streets are a potent symbol of man and nature 's indifference to the individual. The insistence of the narrator on his own self-identity is in part an act of defiance against a constructed, industrial world that has no place for him in its order” (Bolton). As the poem continues on, the narrator becomes aware of his own consciousness as he comes faces nature and society during his walk. He embraces nature with the rain, dark and moon but he also reinforces his alienation from society as he ignores the watchman and receives no hope of cries for him. The societal ignorance enforces our belief that he is lonely on this gloomy night. “When he passes a night watchman, another walker in the city with whom the speaker might presumably have some bond, he confesses, ‘I… dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain.’ Likewise, when he hears a voice in the distance, he stops in his tracks--only to realize that the voice is not meant "to call me back or say goodbye" (Bolton). The two times he had a chance to interact with the community, either he showed no interest in speaking or the cry wasn’t meant for him. These two interactions emphasize his loneliness with the
Iron Towers. Terrible flames. Inhuman music, rising and falling. Grim depths and abysses, where only night holds sway and gruesome creatures crawl before their awesome Master. Through these disturbing images, and a masterful adaptation of the sonnet structure, Archibald Lampman summons forth The City of the End of Things.
Regardless of what people think Poe did or did not do, he did change the face of literature through some of his short horror stories. Two of his stories that were discussed within this paper are, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Within these two stories Edgar Allan Poe has given it a horror reading, with descriptive places, such as “wet and gloomy” and “evil atmosphere.” Besides the stories giving off a sense of horror, they also contain characters with disturbed psyches. The character with a disturbed psyche in “The Cask of Amontillado” was Montressor. He got revenge by murdering Fortunato, who ruined his self-esteem. He bricked Fortunato in alive in the catacombs and walked away feeling pity on him but knowing what he had done and having to live with it. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” Roderick Usher was distracted by his thoughts knowing he buried his sister alive within the vaults of their home. She got out of the encasement, Roderick and the narrator placed her in, and attacked Roderick in her bloody
One way the author persuaded people into joining the crusades was through Roland’s character. Roland was King Charlemagne’s nephew, an epic hero and the model of knighthood. Roland is seen as a great knight because he is great on a horse and equally great with weapons. During the battle Archbishop Turpin speaks to Roland about what a good knight should possess, “Who bears arms and sits astride a good horse. In battle he should be strong and fierce, or else he is not worth four pence.” (89) This idea of good battlefield and horseman skills is repeated many times throughout the poem. Roland is also seen as a Christ symbol during the narrative. During the first part of the poem, Roland is a sacrificial Christ, who dies freely. Roland does not call for the help of King Charlemagne until he knows that he will die, sacrificing willingly his life for the Christian cause. It is fitting that a member of the clergy, Turpin the archbishop, signals when to sound the horn. When Roland’s demise nears, the religious symbolism ...
Thomson, Gary Richard, and Poe Edgar. The selected writings of Edgar Allan Poe. New York: Norton & Company, 2004
This change in tone echoes the emotions and mental state of the narrator. At the beginning of the poem, the narrator starts somewhat nervous. However, at the end, he is left insane and delusional. When he hears a knocking at the door, he logically pieces that it is most likely a visitor at the door.
In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Poe’s use of dark, descriptive words allow him to establish an eerie mood. Poe’s unique style of writing along with his foreshadowing vocabulary is significant in creating a suspenseful gothic story. At the beginning of the short story, Poe describes the House of Usher to be “dull”, “oppressive”, and “dreary” (1265). His choice of words strongly emphasizes a mood of darkness and suspense as he builds on the horrific aspects of this daunting tale. At first glimpse, the house itself is surrounded by the feeling of “insufferable gloom”, (1265) “[t]here was an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart, an unredeemed dreariness of thought [...]” (1265). The atmosphere that Poe describes in the statement above establishes a spine-chilling mood. Poe uses words such as “insufferable gloom”
The time period this work takes place in is a very gloomy and frightening time. He wakes up in a dark place by himself and in fear, which makes things worse. A common theme we can relate this dark place to is when we fall off of the path of God. Since God represents all things good, the dark is the exact opposite. Since everything is not so clear in the wood he his describing, the path back to God is even more difficult to attain.
The setting of the poem is a day at the ocean with the family that goes terribly awry. This could be considered an example of irony, in that one would normally view a day at the beach as a happy and carefree time. In “Feared Drowned,” Olds paints a very different scenario, using dark imagery to create the setting: “…suit black as seaweed / Rocks sticks out near shore like heads.” The poem illuminates moments of intense fear, anxiety and the element of a foreseen sense of doom. Written as a direct, free-style verse using the first-person narrative, the poem opens with the narrator suspecting that her husband may have drowned. When Olds writes in her opening line: “Suddenly nobody knows where you are,” this signals to the reader that we are with the narrator as she makes this fearful discovery.
To begin, the reader may gather that the poem has a very dark and saddened tone. Due to Lowell's vivid imagery, a mental image of a dark urban setting is created. It also seems very cold, with the mentioning of wind and nighttime. Readers may be able to relate to urban places they know, adding to the reality of the poem. Connections can be made. The imagery is left in such a way that the reader can fill in the gaps with their own memories or settings. Also, since the poem uses free verse, the structure is left open to interpretation. This makes the poem more inviting and easier to interpret, rather than reading it as a riddle. However, though simple in imagery, the poem still captures the reader's interest due to the creation it sparks, yet it never strays away from the theme of bei...
In conclusion Poe excellent use of characterization and imagery to depict fear and darkness, truly make The Fall of the House of Usher a story of the battles the we must face our fears in order to free our mind.
...hful and benevolent man, following his return from Old Hell Shaft, serves to exhibit the grave flaws of industrialism that are embodied by the ubiquitous serpents of smoke that hang over the factories.
The consistent pattern of metrical stresses in this stanza, along with the orderly rhyme scheme, and standard verse structure, reflect the mood of serenity, of humankind in harmony with Nature. It is a fine, hot day, `clear as fire', when the speaker comes to drink at the creek. Birdsong punctuates the still air, like the tinkling of broken glass. However, the term `frail' also suggests vulnerability in the presence of danger, and there are other intimations in this stanza of the drama that is about to unfold. Slithery sibilants, as in the words `glass', `grass' and `moss', hint at the existence of a Serpent in the Garden of Eden. As in a Greek tragedy, the intensity of expression in the poem invokes a proleptic tenseness, as yet unexplained.