Love is not always what one expects it to be. Shock, disillusionment and renewal are sometimes the eventual outcome of relationships gone wrong. Dorothy Parker, Mary Coleridge, and Robert Browning, all demonstrate these common themes, as well as others, through the use of romantic motifs in various tones, in the poems “One Perfect Rose”, “The Poison Flower” and “Porphyria’s Lover.” In the first poem, Dorothy Parker's "One Perfect Rose", she describes the high expectations the speaker has towards suitors. On the surface this is shown in a materialistic sense; the speaker expresses her apparent discontent with the one “rose” her suitor has brought her because she expected more extravagance. In an article in “ Student Resources in Context” , this meaning is explored. “The rose is depicted as having the suitors love hidden within its petals as well as possessing a certain charm like an amulet would.” (Student Resources in Context) The classic romantic symbolism of the rose is downplayed as the speaker shows her cynical feelings on the somewhat cliche idea of the rose as a representation of love. The consistent iambic pentameter/diameter and repetition of the title, in a certain sense, mirrors the consistency in the way suitors approach her. Her suitors attempts are not unique enough to appease her deep longing to be a bride, to be taken away in a limousine; because they are all the same, not unique enough to take her hand in matrimony. Her desire for something unique is therefore deeper than a mere materialistic longing. The speaker has a grander sense of her self worth and feels that she deserves something much more significant, dignified and durable than that which is offered. The rose suggests impermanence and the fleeting natu... ... middle of paper ... ...table. “The Poison Flower” shows that the world and people are forever changing and one must learn to adapt. “Porphyria’s Lover” shows that strong emotions can sometimes take on a tragic twist. Student Resources In Context. “One Perfect Rose.” EXPLORING Poetry. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Gale Power Search. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. Chapman, Richard. “Mary E(lizabeth) Coleridge.” Contemporary Authors Online. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Gale Power Search. Web. 15 Dec. 2013 Pinch, Adela. “Rhymes end.” Victorian Studies 53.3(2011):485+. Academic OneFile. Web. 12 Jan. 2014 Cheetham, Paul. “Porphyria’s Lover: Paul Cheetham explores the psychological dimensions of Browning’s Dramatic monologue.” The English Review 20.4 (2010): 21+. Gale Power Search. Web. 15 Dec. 2013 Ross, Catherine. “Browning’s Porphyria's Lover.” The Explicator 60.2 (2002): 68+. Academic OneFile. Web. 12 Jan. 2014
Robert Penn Warren's poem “True Love” express the power of love and attraction to cause an unrequited love to become a source of nostalgia, admiration and the idealization of the intended for the admirer. The narrator and admirer, reminisces on his childhood memories of the older girl, still idealizes her to the point of her being a mere object rather than a real person. Years after the boy’s memories, the narrator still holds shallow impressions of the girl’s reality though but has grown to have a slightly deeper view of her situation.
The Definitive Guide to Love Poems. Web. The Web. The Web. 8 Apr. 2011. The. "Contemporary Literature, Books on Literature."
A common practice when faced with a difficult choice, self-examination, is the centerpiece of two popular poems: Gregory Corso’s Marriage and T. S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. Both poems are dramatic monologues in which the speakers address the similar situations that they find themselves in. While the speaker of Eliot’s poem has a nervous and bashful approach in his attempts at romance, the hesitant postmodern speaker in Corso’s poem makes use of sarcasm to attack the institution of marriage. When these two monologues given by similar personas are analyzed together the result is a dialogue which discusses two distinguishing views on the ideas of romance and love.
Since the days of the early Greeks, florigraphy - the language of flowers - has been used to convey "a wide range of human emotions, conditions, events, or ideas" (Seattle n. p.). From the "strength in character" of the gladiolus to the "delicate beauty" of the hibiscus, flowers are symbolic in the message and the image they produce (Tansy n. p.). Tennyson uses florigraphy to symbolize man’s desire to create the perfect Garden of Eden and to expose the contrary emotions the protagonist feels towards Maud. She is "associated with both lily and rose, as both a chaste subject and a sexual object" (Johnson 111). Traditionally, the lily symbolizes "coquetry and purity" and the rose symbolizes passion (Tansy n p.). Maud is the "shrinking reticence" of the lily when the protagonist is content with their relationship and the "aggressive...
Ingersoll, Earl G. "Lacan, Browning, and the Murderous Voyeur: "Porphyria's Lover" and "My Last Duchess." Victorian Poetry 28 (1990): 151-157.
Tradition is losing its value; people want to experience new things rather than the same routine. In One Perfect Rose, Dorthy Parker changes the emotional feel the readers get from the beginning, then how it is towards the end of the poem. Emphasizing how she is tired of the traditional rose and hints her admirer in breaking away from the perfect rose. Her love story impacts how she wrote and definitely resembles in the poem. She also uses imagery and repetition to get her message clear on leaving the typical rose behind.
Another thing to consider is the historical context in which the “One Perfect Rose” was written. It was first published in the 1920s, a time when women were expected to settle down and have children. Dorothy Parker, far from a conventional housewife, was already strange in that she was a wisecracker and an aspiring writer. If the rose represents love, as it so often does, then perhaps love is just something she does not want. Society expected her to marry and that might not have been among her life goals.
We learn to grow to live and let go but will she do it. She is a beautiful flower growing up absorbing the energy of the world. Meeting that one is a moment she wouldn't ever forget. Their eyes meet in place of one another falling into the universe, time just stops. May this be the beginning of her future.
Nims, John . “Love Poem”. Literature to go. Ed. Meyer, Michael. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. Print.
"Porphyria's Lover" is an exhilarating love story given from a lunatic's point of view. It is the story of a man who is so obsessed with Porphyria that he decides to keep her for himself. The only way he feels he can keep her, though, is by killing her. Robert Browning's poem depicts the separation of social classes and describes the "triumph" of one man over an unjust society. As is often the case in fiction, the speaker of "Porphyria's Lover" does not give accurate information in the story.
This poem is an insane creation and shook me as I was studying it. Weirdly enough, it was selected by me because I enjoyed the creative writing by Browning that many could never think of. He created a story that will easily be remembered by everyone who reads it, being that it is the most insane piece of writing that most will ever read. In this story a man's lover came to his house and admitted to him how much she loved and worshipped him. He thought to himself, “At last I knew Porphyria worshipped me; surprise made my heart swell, and still it grew while I debated what to do. That moment she was mine.” He wanted her to stay his and continue to love only him so he ended her life. This gruesome poem is very creative and will be
There are many different themes that can be used to make a poem both successful and memorable. Such is that of the universal theme of love. This theme can be developed throughout a poem through an authors use of form and content. “She Walks in Beauty,” by George Gordon, Lord Byron, is a poem that contains an intriguing form with captivating content. Lord Byron, a nineteenth-century poet, writes this poem through the use of similes and metaphors to describe a beautiful woman. His patterns and rhyme scheme enthrall the reader into the poem. Another poem with the theme of love is John Keats' “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” meaning “the beautiful lady without mercy.” Keats, another nineteenth-century writer, uses progression and compelling language throughout this poem to engage the reader. While both of these poems revolve around the theme of love, they are incongruous to each other in many ways.
In ‘Porphyria’s Lover,’ the speaker appears to be honestly and simply recounting the events of his final encounter with Porphyria. However, Robert Browning’s careful use of meter (Iambic Tetrameter), rhyme and repetition betrays his true state of mind. He uses phrases like “Mine, Mine!” to help enforce this.
There are many positive things and negative things about the movie and the story. In the movie
Burns Roberti. “Oh, my love is like a red, red rose” Literature: Reading, Reacting, Writing. Ed. Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Compact 7th ed. Boston: Wadsworth, 2011.818. Print.