Dramatic Monologue: Love, Death and Ambition

Lord Alfred Tennyson

and Robert Browning

Outline– Dramatic Monologue: Definition– “Ulysses”– Lord Alfred Tennyson – “My Last Duchess” – Robert Browning as a Victorian

Poet

Dramatic Monologue • A poem which involves a

speaker speaking alone to a and an implied auditor.

• Through his speech, the following is revealed: – what, when, where and how of

“the story”; – “a gap between what that

speaker says and what he or she actually reveals” (reference).

Dramatic Monologue & the Reader• Browninesque dramatic monologue

has three requirements: • The reader takes the part of the

silent listener. • The speaker uses a case-making,

argumentative tone. • We complete the dramatic scene

from within, by means of inference and imagination. (Glenn Everett reference).

Dramatic Monologue in Historical Context• The poets’ meeting the readers’

need for stories in Victorian society, when novel was a popular genre.

• A device to explore the depth of human psychology and the theme of alienation– by assuming an personae (often quite alien to the poet’s own values and beliefs)

• e.g. The Waste Land, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

Ulysses

Ulysses Returns Chryseis to her Father 1648 (source)

Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey.

Ulysses 1. The who, where, when and why of the

poem? The listener”s”? 2. Ulysses– What does he think about his

present life (ll. 1-5), his past experience (ll. 7-21), and future goals (ll. 22-32). Are there contradictions in his self-perception?

3. Ulysses vs. Telemachus: "He works his work, I mine." Do you find Ulysses irresponsible or a-social?

4. a) blank verse -- rhythm (e.g. iambic pentameter),

b) the arrangement of explosive and mellifluous sounds in the poem.

Ulysses (1833) It little profits that an idle king,

By this still hearth, among these barren crags,Match'd with an aged wife, I mete and doleUnequal laws unto a savage race,That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.I cannot rest from travel; I will drinkLife to the lees. All times I have enjoy'dGreatly, have suffer'd greatly, both with thoseThat loved me, and alone; on shore, and whenThro' scudding drifts the rainy HyadesVext the dim sea. I am become a name;For always roaming with a hungry heartMuch have I seen and known,-- cities of menAnd manners, climates, councils, governments,Myself not least, but honor'd of them all,--And drunk delight of battle with my peers,Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.

The Hyades = sisters, daughters of Atlas, who were turned into a constellation of stars by Zeus. They vexed, or tormented, the sea with blowing sheets of rain ("scudding drifts"), just as the constellation can influence the sea and weather.

give out by measure

Ulysses

I am a part of all that I have met;Yet all experience is an arch wherethro'Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fadesFor ever and for ever when I move.How dull it is to pause, to make an end,To rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!As tho' to breathe were life! Life piled on lifeWere all too little, and of one to meLittle remains; but every hour is savedFrom that eternal silence, something more,A bringer of new things; and vile it wereFor some three suns to store and hoard myself,And this gray spirit yearning in desireTo follow knowledge like a sinking star,Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

unpolished

Ulysses –Stanza 2 This is my son, mine own Telemachus,

to whom I leave the sceptre and the isle,--Well-loved of me, discerning to fulfillThis labor, by slow prudence to make mildA rugged people, and thro' soft degreesSubdue them to the useful and the good.Most blameless is he, centred in the sphereOf common duties, decent not to failIn offices of tenderness, and payMeet adoration to my household gods,When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

very proper

Ulysses –Stanza 3 There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail;

There gloom the dark, broad seas. My mariners,Souls that have toil'd, and wrought, and thought with me,--That ever with a frolic welcome tookThe thunder and the sunshine, and opposedFree hearts, free foreheads,-- you and I are old;Old age hath yet his honor and his toil.Death closes all; but something ere the end,Some work of noble note, may yet be done,Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks;The long day wanes; the slow moon climbs; the deepMoans round with many voices. Come, my friends.'T is not too late to seek a newer world.

Ulysses –Stanza 3 Push off, and sitting well in order smite

The sounding furrows; for my purpose holdsTo sail beyond the sunset, and the bathsOf all the western stars, until I die.It may be that the gulfs will wash us down;It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'We are not now that strength which in old daysMoved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,--One equal temper of heroic hearts,Made weak by time and fate, but strong in willTo strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Ulysses: young and old 1. Ulysses at an old age—first speaking in his

palace to no one (the wife does not seem to listen) and then ("There lies the port" ), to the mariners by the port.

2. Ulysses: a. present – a boring life in “barren crags” with an aged wife and tedious duties (mete and dole; not known);

past: -- seen the world, well known, a lot of experience;

change – action, to strive with god, to find something new.

destiny – dark broad sea death (Happy isle=Elysium)

Ulysses: ambition vs. duty Ulysses//mariners vs. his wife, people

and Telemachus Is he irresponsible? (“hoard, and sleep, and feed”; “offices of tenderness”)

4. More question: Jerome H. Buckley asserts that the poem does not in fact convey

• a will to go forward . . . but a determined retreat, a yearning, behind allegedly tired rhythms, to join the great Achilles (or possibly Arthur Hallam) in an Elysian retreat from life's vexations. [64] Do you agree?

Ulysses with Three Desires—and three possible readings 1. Desire: for meaningful “living” but not mere

breathing; an eventful life, but not dull routine; to “follow knowledge like a sinking star / Beyond the utmost bond of human thought”; for being a hero as he was before; --one "braving the struggle of life."

2. Desire: to be a wanderer and break away from the status quo (now known, or "I am become a name“), in which he sees his wife ”aged,” his people “savage” (sleeping, eating and hoarding), and his son, Telemachus, who is “soft” (or "discerning," "prudent," "soft," "good," "blameless," "centered," and "tender“) --one dissatisfied with mundane life and thus irresponsible

3. Desire: for “"There gloom the dark, broad seas" and the Happy Isle.” – one yearning for rest and death.

Ulysses: Historical Contexts• In this poem Tennyson is

elaborating upon a conviction he formed at his closest friend, Arthur Hallam's death "that life without faith leads to personal and social dislocation" (Chiasson 165). (source)

• In Memoriam (1850)

Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)

As a “twilight poet” • Worried about poverty and contracting epilepsy

(a family disease) a twilight poet • Deeply saddened by the death of his friend

Hallam. (1833)• Shorted sighted and with keen interest in sound

effects, he created his poems in his head, memorizing lines and then creating their contexts.

• Many narrative poems about suspension and languidness; e.g. "The Lotos-Eaters" “Mariana” (a waiting woman); about dullness of immortality: dramatic monologue: "Tithonus.“

As a a poet Laureate (1850)

• a philosopher-poet, dealing with contemporary concerns with science vs. God: ’Nature, Red in tooth and claw’

• a narrative poet catering to popular taste

My Last Duchess

(image)

“My Last Duchess”: Starting Question 1. The "who, where, when, and why" of the

poem? 2. The role the listener plays in this poem? 2. What is the last duchess like? (See ll. 21-

34) Why is she called the “last” duchess? Is she a flirt or one with genuine kindness to all creatures?

3. What is the duke's attitude to his duchess? What happened to her?

4. What kind of person is the duke? What does the ending reveal about him?

“My Last Duchess” (1)FerraraThat's my last Duchess painted on the wall,Looking as if she were alive. I callThat piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf's handsWorked busily a day, and there she stands.Will't please you sit and look at her? I said"Frà Pandolf" by design, for never readStrangers like you that pictured countenance, The depth and passion of its earnest glance,But to myself they turned (since none puts byThe curtain I have drawn for you, but I)                      

“My Last Duchess” (2)

And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,How such a glance came there; so, not the firstAre you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas notHer husband's presence only, called that spotOf joy into the Duchess' cheek: perhapsFrà Pandolf chanced to say "Her mantle lapsOver my Lady's wrist too much," or "PaintMust never hope to reproduce the faintHalf-flush that dies along her throat": such stuff Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough

“My Last Duchess” (3)

For calling up that spot of joy. She hadA heart -- how shall I say? -- too soon made glad,Too easily impressed; she liked whate'erShe looked on, and her looks went everywhere.Sir, 'twas all one! My favour 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 muleShe rode with round the terrace -- all and eachWould draw from her alike the approving speech,

過分殷勤

“My Last Duchess” (4) Or blush, at least. She thanked men, -- good! but thankedSomehow -- I know not how -- as if she rankedMy gift of a nine-hundred-years-old nameWith anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blameThis sort of trifling? Even had you skillIn speech -- (which I have not) -- to make your willQuite clear to such an one, and say, "Just thisOr that in you disgusts me; here you miss,Or there exceed the mark" -- and if she letHerself be lessoned so, nor plainly set

“My Last Duchess” (5)

Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,--E'en then would be some stooping, and I chooseNever to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,Whene'er I passed her; but who passed withoutMuch the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;Then all smiles stopped together. There she standsAs if alive. Will't please you rise? We'll meetThe company below, then. I repeat, The Count your master's known munificenceIs ample warrant that no just pretence     

Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;           

indeed

“My Last Duchess” (6)

Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowedAt starting, is my object. Nay, we'll goTogether down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!          

“My Last Duchess”

1. Time: the Italian Renaissance, when the duke is negotiating with an envoy over the dowry of his next marriage.

2. Place: the grand staircase in the ducal palace at Ferrara, in northern Italy

3. His purpose: to boast and/or to threaten.

4. silence of the listener = awe, alertness?

“My Last Duchess”• The duchess – jovial and loving

equally to everyone and every being.• last – 1) not late; she may be killed,

but she may also be put in a convent. 2) will be another one.

• The duke: 1) possessive and arrogant, he treats the duchess and the next one as “objects” to possess; 2) proud—choose not to stoop

• His language: 1) implicit demand; 2) uses grand rhetoric to assert his power, disguising his lack of power.

“My Last Duchess”—Dramatic Irony• Contradiction between what he says

and what he means: – double negative – says he has no skills in speech – says he refuses to stoop (Isn’t the

command a compromise of his humanity?)

• Between assertion of power and powerlessness

• Power -- none but me draws the curtain

• Powerlessness– repetitions of “all” “not alone,” “it was all one.”

Robert Browning (1812-1889)

• Eloped with and married the poet Elizabeth Barrett (1806-1861, writer of Sonnets from the Portuguese), and settled with her in Florence. He produced comparatively little poetry during the next 15 years.

• After Elizabeth Browning died in 1861, he returned to England.

• DRAMATIS PERSONAE (1864) • THE RING AND THE BOOK (1869),

based on the proceedings in a murder trial in Rome in 1698. (source)

Reference

• “Porphyria’s Lover”-visual presentation http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/porphyria/porphyria.html

Teach & Learn• Explain one part of the poem • Give a question for discussion • Give one quiz question to test

understanding • Within 10 mins • Test the other group in 10 mins• The last group in front of the whole class

10 mins • Group 1—Kate; group 2,3 David; group 4, 5

-- Daphne

• By next Sunday – ppt and quiz