Poem One Browning example essay topic

Barrett Browning was one of the most brilliant poets of the Victorian Age. She was born in 1809 in London, England and was raised with an excellent classical school education. In her early teens she showed great signs of a genius. Many of her poems were written before she was just fifteen years of age. By looking at Elisabeth Barrett Browning she was delicate, but inside this fragile woman there was a superior spiritual and mental being.

Browning's first publication of poems written was "Essay On Mind, And Other Poems". In 1846 at the age of thirty-seven she married her soul mate noted English poet, Robert Browning. As of all great poets life experiences are a large basis of inspiration in their works. Throughout the chapter of her life tragedy and health woes surrounded Browning. She had a blood vessel burst in her lungs and this forced her to stay confined home for an extended period of time.

To better her healing process her doctor recommended her to move to a warmer climate. She relocated to Torquay, England and while she was there her brother and two of his friends drowned in a boating accident. This horrific accident had a profound effect on Browning and provided a hue of thought as well as feeling to her poetry. Truly understanding the personal history of Browning enables one to read her poetry and understand her being. After reading dozens of her poems all of them stood out and it was very difficult to just focus on five poems. I will discuss "Sonnets From The Portuguese" first.

I came across the various sonnets in this piece a decade ago and believe her works to be one of the most romantic poems of all times. Browning wrote "Sonnets From The Portuguese" during the time she first met her husband and one can not help get the impression that it was likely dedicated to him. The love that was blossoming in her heart inspired her to write this literary masterpiece. Browning had various inspirations for her works especially Shakespeare's spirit. "Sonnets From The Portuguese" and many of her other works where written in Petrarchan sonnets. Petrarchan sonnets in general are characteristically treat its theme in two parts.

The octave, eight lines state a problem, express emotional problem, or even ask a question. The sestet, six lines, generally resolves the problem, relieves tensions, or answers the unknown question. The rhyme scheme of the entire majority Browning's sonnets varied from cd ede, , and cdc cdc. In "Sonnets From The Portuguese" one can see many of the verses of her poetry were inspired by Greek literature.

When one reads this sonnet one can feel the depth of her soul and the beauty of Greek mythology is expressed in the first line of the stanza that reads "I thought once how Theocritus had sung". Browning expresses to the reader that she has waited her whole life for him and he has finally come, her one true love. In the second line of "Sonnets From The Portuguese" Browning uses assonance with the words "dears" and "years". The basic definition of assonance is the repeating sounds of vowels. In the fifth line assonance is used once again with "antique" and "tongue". In line seven that reads "The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years" alliteration is used.

Alliteration is the repeating initial continents. In lines six and seven a couplet is used. A couplet is two lines that the last word of the line rhymes. In "Sonnets From Portuguese" again one must put the emphasis on the personal life circumstances and physical condition.

Browning was ill and was mourning for a good part of her adult life. This poem tells us this woman has so much love inside of her that she has kept trapped for so long. She was surrounded by sorrow and lived death as opposed to love. What Browning is telling us is her heart feels death and all of sudden something or someone changes it. What one feels in reading this piece is her sorrow is changed to love because of a man. This man has touched her so deeply that she is reinvented and is ready for happiness.

Browning is telling one that the beauty of love is taking over and now she can be happy again. It is time to get past her personal losses and "smell the roses". In Sonnet 43 "Let Me Count The Ways" one is profoundly taken in to Browning's world. Browning uses couplets in lines two and three with "sight" and "height" as well as in lines six and seven with "light" and "right". In this poem the poet continually expresses her new outlook on life.

She is with a man that she can easily make a list of reasons why she loves him. Browning expresses to one she loves him the way he looks physically and she also loves him spiritually. She again expresses to one she adores everything about him with a great passion. Towards the fifth and sixth lines of the sonnet one wanders again back to the deeper meaning of certain phrases that are not just comments on love generally, but an expression of deep personal feeling stemming back from her hardships. The last line "I shall but love thee better after death" really takes one into Browning's mind.

She is telling one that in a way our love is strong if death comes to me our love will still survive in the next lifetime. Our souls are connected for eternity. The form of "Let Me Count The Ways" lends itself beautifully to the crafting of words of this period. This amazing poem is not that it is only about love, but how one that is born with love. Browning was searching to find love in herself and it was a battle she struggled with. In the end she would have not have to hope for death to bring the possibility of perfect love because she was blessed.

"Aurora Leigh" is what most critics consider Browning's great works. "Aurora Leigh" is one of the longest poems written in English and consists of 11,000 lines. Because of the very long length of this piece of work it is very difficult for one to summarize the entire poem without writing a novel by oneself. "Aurora Leigh" is written in Petrachan sonnets. In a brief summary throughout the piece Browning uses alliteration a good bit throughout the poem. By example alliteration is used in book five stanza 167 the third line in "being beheld".

One can not help but, get the impression that "Aurora Leigh" is a bold collection of lyrical and narrative elements in the literal as well as social sense. Just in reading excerpts from this poem one feels Browning bursting out and perhaps finding herself as a poet. The main character Aurora was born to an Italian mother and English father. She became an orphan at thirteen and stayed with her aunt.

Aurora was traumatized by her cold aunt and becomes close with her cousin Romney Leigh. She discovered the world through writing poetry and was inspired from reading form her deceased father's books. Aurora tries to support herself with her writings and can't make ends meat. Everyone wants Aurora to marry her cousin Romney and she refuses for years. For several years she is upset with Romney because of various dramas that occurred.

She is upset with his actions of that involve a woman named, Marion who was supposed to be his bride. In the end Aurora and Romney can not help but, realize their fate and they get married. The couple work together towards their passions of poetry and politics. Many of Browning's critics believe that she was writing this story of her own personal life because of many similarities. Browning's husband moved her to Italy because of her poor health and she was greatly inspired as well finally happy. Many of Browning's works she uses a great deal of imagery.

In "The Cry Of The Children" a large basis of the dynamic of the poem is based around imagery. In this poem Browning uses imagery that is associated with sound. She wants one to close their eyes and not only see the images, but hear the sounds. By example in lines 78 to 88 she brings on into the images to experience the sounds among other things. The sounds of the factory machinery in a way drown out the cries of the child imagery.

All throughout this poem as well Browning uses a variety of tropes. In lines five and six "young lambs" and "young birds" are great examples of tropes. In sonnet thirty-three "Yes, Call Me By My Pet Name! Let Me Here" one sees another side of Browning. One would naturally assume that she might be referring to how she enjoys the pet name her husband has for her. Looking at this poem one Browning again uses imagery to take us back to her childhood.

She informs on that she was called this name as a child and used to respond to it as if it was her own real name. In lines nine and eleven of this sonnet there is rhyme with the words "mouth" and "south". In conclusion, from reading a variety of Elisabeth Barrett Browning's works one can understand why she was considered a female genius of her time. One learns to understand her poems from her continued uses of Petrachan sonnets, imagery, tropes, alliteration, and assonance.

She used all of the literary techniques to take us in to her world and tell one her stories. The concept of poetry is taking simple things like words and telling a story. From reading Browning's works one can not help but feel knowledge and inspiration..