A few examples of key details in the poem are: how Elizabeth I rejects her suitors, the way Venus’ son confidently addresses Elizabeth, and the feeling she gets afterwards. When Elizabeth I was faced with a suitor, she would say to them, “Go, go, go, seek some other where, importune me no more.” Simply put, she would tell her suitors to leave and to refrain from bothering her. Once Elizabeth rejects the wrong guy, (Venus’ son) she does not hear the end of it. Venus’ son spoke to her as if she were inferior to him. He was not fooled by her alluring looks, but instead called her dainty. He claimed he would rid her of all her finery until she dropped her selfish acts. At last the poem comes full circle. Elizabeth I feels a change in herself,
For this essay, this essay will talk about the analysis of a poem written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born in 1806 in Durham, England. She started reading and writing poems when she was 8 years old and her family published her first poem when she was 14 called, “The Battle of Marathon.” She was homeschooled and she studied classic works of literature at an early age. She taught herself Hebrew and Greek just to understand the bible and other poems in their original language. Her mother died 2 years after the collection was printed which is, An Essay on Mind and Other Poems. Her Father’s plantation in Jamaica financially forced the family because of the abolition of slavery. In 1835, she moved to London and published her second collection of poetry, The Seraphim and Other Poems (1838). Elizabeth then traveled to Torquay with her brother after The Seraphim was published but her brother died from
Gender was the leading cause of distress in the 1500’s: King Henry VIII wanted nothing more than to have a son, yet was “cursed” with the legacy of a frail son, whom died before the age of 18 and two daughters, one of whom broke every convention of her gender. Queen Elizabeth I never married nor had children, yet can be considered one of England’s most successful monarchs. By choosing King James VI of Scotland as her heir, unbeknownst to her, she created the line that leads to the modern Queen of England, Elizabeth II. The question posed is then, how did Elizabeth I’s gender affect her rule?
Gender was the leading cause of distress in the 1500’s: King Henry VIII wanted nothing more than to have a son, yet was “cursed” with the legacy of a sickly son, whom died before the age of 18 and two daughters, one of whom broke every convention of her gender. Queen Elizabeth I never married nor had children, yet can be considered one of England’s most successful monarchs. By choosing King James VI of Scotland as her heir, unbeknownst to her, she created the line that leads to the modern Queen of England, Elizabeth II. The question posed is then, how did Elizabeth I’s gender affect her rule?
The speaker begins the poem an ethereal tone masking the violent nature of her subject matter. The poem is set in the Elysian Fields, a paradise where the souls of the heroic and virtuous were sent (cite). Through her use of the words “dreamed”, “sweet women”, “blossoms” and
Throughout the poem the tone stays steady, shakespeare uses serious, reflective and relatable elements to keep the mood the same. However, the last sentence changes to a very blunt tone. Shakespeare signifies the theme that love is forever no matter the flaws of the person you're with. Represented in the beginning of the poem, “- Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds,-” (L. 2-3).This signifies that when a issue is found in your significant other your love for them shall not change. That said, the author
Queen Elizabeth I, also known as the “Iron Queen”, was a remarkable woman of her time, she ruled with great power and longevity. She was one of the greatest feminist of time. Coming to the throne in 1558, she took the place of her father, Henry VIII. She was given one of the most difficult jobs fit for a man or King, ruling England. At the time women were second class citizens, they could not vote nor own properties and such. Surprising England with her intelligence and fierce rulings, she changed herself to make better decisions. She proved through her rulings, to everyone that females were strong and could rule just as well as a king. She refused to marry, giving a feeling of “I don’t need a man for anything.” The Queen was responsible for giving females a voice in literature and it is shown through Shakespeare’s writings.
In the second stanza, the woman shows her emotions. The woman’s tone changes as she sees flowers moving freely while she is not moving freely as she walks through the garden dressed in a stiff, brocaded gown. “I walk down the garden-paths, and all the daffodils are blowing, and the bright blue squills” (p. 370). The speaker describes daffodils and other types of flowers moving freely in the winds. The woman in the poem wishes she can move freely and confidently like the flowers. She was not allowed to show any emotions for her lover who was killed in combat. Society expected some patterns from her, and that is what she did. In the third stanza, the speaker tells us how the woman was angry and frustrated for not allowing her to show any feelings. She does not want to be trapped in her brocaded gown. She wants to be loose. “Underneath my stiffened gown is the softness of a woman bathing in a marble basin, a basin in the midst of hedges grown so thick, is near” (p. 371). On the inside, she expresses her emotions and what she truly feels. She feels as if there is not softness anywhere about her being confined by whalebone and brocades. The speaker continues to live up to the expectations society enforces upon her. The last stanza the woman sees that that everything in her life is stiff as her brocade. Her patterns cannot be broken as the
Within the poem, particularly the beginning, the woman in the poem uses multiple examples to give a summary or back story of the family’s life. “…These are the poems of a man who would murder his mother to claim the inheritance.” (Bringhurst 5-7), these few lines are so vile because killing one’s own family is one of the most heinous crimes and sins that a person can commit.
The Elizabethan era gender roles were much different than they are today. Women were regarded as the weaker sex, and men were always dominant. These “rules” are shown prominently throughout Romeo and Juliet, and paved way for obstacles they went through in their relationship. The gender conventions for women and men were prodigiously stereotypical and unreasonable, as they made men out to be the superior gender. Women should not have been perceived as inferior to men, and these unwritten rules for masculinity and femininity were shown throughout the play. Romeo acted very feminine which contradicted his gender conventions while Juliet did not abide by rules and disobeyed her parents. Romeo and Juliet had many ways in which they followed and
The speaker uses metaphors to describe his mistress’ eyes to being like the sun; her lips being red as coral; cheeks like roses; breast white as snow; and her voices sounding like music. In the first few lines of the sonnet, the speaker view and tells of his mistress as being ugly, as if he was not attracted to her. He give...
The Queen uses figurative language, which makes the reader ponder about the more profound meaning and artistic quality of the poem. She uses personification in line 4, “which should not be if reason ruled or wisdom weaved the web”. This shows that Elizabeth is trapped in an unavoidable, convoluted situation with no distinct way out. The word, wisdom evokes a sense of wrongness. She would not be stuck in this complex predicament if people used correct judgment instead of attempting to rebel against her. Elizabeth is using alliteration to question her foes. She is really saying: “Why are opponents using poor and reckless judgment and doing the wrong things to solve their problem? Instead of doing this, they should be using common sense and righteous solutions.” Using alliterati...
This sonnet is by far one of the most interesting poems in the book. Of Shakespeare's sonnets in the text, this is one of the most moving lyric poems that I have ever read. There is great use of imagery within the sonnet. This is not to say that the rest of the poems in the book were not good, but this to me was the best, most interesting, and most beautiful of them. It is mainly due to the simplicity and loveliness of the poem’s praise of the beloved woman that it has guaranteed its place in my mind, and heart.The speaker of the poem opens with a question that is addressed to the beloved, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" This question is comparing her to the summer time of the year. It is during this time when the flowers are blooming, trees are full of leaves, the weather is warm, and it is generally thought of as an enjoyable time during the year. The following eleven lines in the poem are also dedicated to similar comparisons between the beloved and summer days. In lines 2 and 3, the speaker explains what mainly separates the young woman from the summer's day: she is "more lovely and more temperate." (Line 2) Summer's days tend toward extremes: they are sometimes shaken by "rough winds" (line3) which happens and is not always as welcoming as the woman. However in line 4, the speaker gives the feeling again that the summer months are often to short by saying, "And summer’s lease hath too short a date."
In Damelus' Song to His Diaphenia, by Henry Constable, the typical characteristics of the Elizabethan lyric are abundant. The poem is written in iambic pentameter with a solid, almost musical rhythm throughout the poem. The musical quality is reinforced by the prominent AABCCB rhyme scheme in each of the three equal length stanzas. The language is adapted especially for the poem to accommodate the unyielding rhythm and rhyme scheme. All of these mentioned characteristics speak of a set of concrete rules and guidelines that the poet had followed when he was writing this lyric. The tone that is set is one of joy and delight in love and life another characteristic of Elizabethan lyrics. The anonymous speaker is experiencing a buoyant feeling and he communicates this through the lyric. The repetition of "how I do love thee!" in lines three, nine and fifteen summarises the message of this poem: The speaker is using basic images in nature in a simple manner to state how much he loves his "Diaphenia." It is dreadfully predictable and very easy to interpret and it is these characteristics that give the Elizabethan lyrics their instantaneous appeal.
This poem speaks of a love that is truer than denoting a woman's physical perfection or her "angelic voice." As those traits are all ones that will fade with time, Shakespeare exclaims his true love by revealing her personality traits that caused his love. Shakespeare suggests that the eyes of the woman he loves are not twinkling like the sun: "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" (1). Her hair is compared to a wire: "If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head" (3). These negative comparisons may sound almost unloving, however, Shakespeare proves that the mistress outdistances any goddess. This shows that the poet appreciates her human beauties unlike a Petrarchan sonnet that stresses a woman's cheek as red a rose or her face white as snow. Straying away from the dazzling rhetoric, this Shakespearean poem projects a humane and friendly impression and elicits laughter while expressing a truer love. A Petrarchan sonnet states that love must never change; this poem offers a more genuine expression of love by describing a natural woman.
First of all, the poems main focus is Belinda. She is presented as an upper class aristocratic woman with no real duties or concerns. She is constantly surrounded by Sylphs who's only purpose is to protect and pamper her. This is one example of her importance, the fact that she requires such protection suggests a certain level of importance to begin with. As she goes about her day, she sleeps in quite late, takes her time getting ready and being pampered, then she sets out to enjoy her afternoon with friends. Not once does she have to ask permission from anyone or answer to any man. For a woman in this time, this is a big deal, women were usually seen as dependent upon their husbands, but here Belinda can do as she pleases. She also gets into a heated argument with the Baron, "See, fierce Belinda on the Baron flies, With more than usual Lightning in her Eyes;" (Canto V, 75-76). Although Belinda may not be triumphant in the end, her power of free will is in stark contrast to most representations of 18th century women.