Victorian Poetry Study Guide- Period 8
Victorian Poetry Study Guide- Period 8
“Porphyria's Lover”
Summary:At the opening of the poem there is a big rainstorm that startles the speaker. During the storm Porphyria arrives and comforts the speaker. Porphyria and the speaker sit together and the speaker admires the woman. While this occurs, Porphyria also admires the speaker and tells him that she loves him. Then, out of nowhere, the speaker strangles Porphyria by wrapping her own hair around her neck three times. Afterwards, the speaker sits with her and reflects on his doings and is happy because the moment can last forever.
Questions:
1. What happened to Porphyria?
2. What was happening before Porphyria appeared?
3. Why does the speaker kill Porphyria?
4. Why does the poet keep referring to Porphyria's hair as yellow?
5. What is the mood of the poem?
“My Last Duchess”- Robert Browning
Summary: The Duke Alfonso II d'Este has is trying to court the daughter of a Count. While he is giving them a tour of his house he walks by a painting of his dead wife. He starts reminiscing about her and talks about how beautiful she was. However he goes on to reveal how she seemed to flirt with every man. He keeps talking about how she kept cheating and smiling at every man. He later mentions that he "commanded all smiles to stop", which meant that he killed her. He then refers to the paint and talks about how there she looks almost alive. He then tells the family of the girl to rise and that they will meet the company down stairs together. He continues talking and says he doesn't want a dowry for the young lady and that he only wants to marry her. But before the family can go down the stairs he gestures to another piece of artwork in his house of Neptune and a seahorse.
Questions:
1) Who is the painting on the wall of?
2) What has happened to that person?
3) Why does Duke refference neptune at the end of the poem?
4) Why would the duke have displayed a painting of the wife he murdered?
5) What does this poem reveal about the author's view on marriage?
“Sonnet 43”- Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Paraphrase:
Let's look at all the ways I love you.
My love for you goes as high as heaven, and as far as my soul reaches.
I love you day and night
Others try to seek what is right and what is modest, but I don't care about any of that I just love you.
All the passion I have left is used on you, my love for you is like the pure love a child dreams of.
I grew out of a child's idea of love but realized it again with you.
I love you with everything I have.
I pray when death parts us I will love you even more.
Questions:
1. Name a simile the author uses to describe her feelings towards her subject.
2. What does the author hope will make her love even stronger?
3. What is the difference (to the author) between loving someone with "childhood's faith" and loving someone when you have "lost your saints".
4. In the last line whose death do you think the author is referring to?
5. Based on the poem, what kind of life do you think the author had up until the point she met her loved one?
“When I Was One-and-Twenty”- A. E. Housman
Summary: When the speaker was twenty-one, an old man told him it was okay to give away his presents and money. But he told him not to give his heart away. He told him it was okay to relinquish possessions but not to commit himself. But the twenty-one year was difficult to get through to. Once again the old man told him not to give away his love without careful consideration, or else he'd regret it. At age twenty-two, he realized that the man was correct.
Questions:
1.) What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? Is it consistent throughout the entire poem?
2.) What is the meaning of the word "guineas?" (Hint: There's a footnote!)
3.) Who do you think the wise man was? Perhaps a family member such as a father? Does it matter?
4.) How do you think the speaker was scorned by his/her lover?
5.) Does the author seem completely distraught or does he simply acknowledge his mistake? (Think tone)
“To an Athlete Dying Young”- A. E. Housman
Summary: A runner had won a race and the people in the town praised him. He went home known as a champion. He died soon after the event. He was smart to die early because he died with his fame. Glory is transient. The man who outlived his fame suffered because his name died before he did. The author envies the man who died because that athlete never had to watch his fame die.
Questions:
1.) What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?
2.) Where does the poem shift from speaking about the runner who died young to the athlete that outlived his fame?
3.) Is it better to live long and have people forget about you or to die young and be remembered?
4.) Why does the author choose to title the poem about an athlete as opposed to a runner? (After the subject matter of the poem)
5.) At what point does dedication to a sport become too much?
“Ulysses”- Alfred Lord Tennyson
Summary: Ulysses is the king of a barren place and its inhabitants don't know him or care to know him. He cannot stay away from traveling even though he can't travel anymore, and he instead drinks. In the past, he has enjoyed his experiences but also suffered during them. He has experienced them alone and with those that love him. He has become very famous and has seen a lot including many different cities and cultures. He misses the delight of war with his comrades and the celebration of victory. Ulysses juxtaposes his current, boring life as king with his past life of adventure.
Questions
1. In line 1, Ulysses refers to himself as "an idle king". Why does he choose this word in particular?
2. What about traveling does Ulysses prefer as opposed to his job as king?
3. Why would Tennyson choose to write a poem about a topic that has already been thoroughly discussed and written about?
4. What about suffering does Ulysses enjoy? In other words, why does he miss it and want to go through it again?
5. How did "roaming with a hungry heart" enhance his experience with travels?
“DoverBeach”- Matthew Arnold
Summary: The sea is calm across Europe. But the sea and the beach are clashing, and it is provoking a tone of sadness. Sophocles had heard of the conflict and saw the misery that was caused by it. Religion and faith used to be all that people believed in, but now their faith is dwindling. Let us love the world and each other for what we are, not what we believe in. We must be kind to one another because we are not sure of anything and we are all suffering.
Questions:
1. What rhetorical device does the author use in the first two lines of the second stanza?
2. What does the sea represent in the poem?
3. What has happened to the sea over time?
4. What message is the author trying to convey in the first four lines of the fourth stanza?
5. What is the author mourning?
“Ah, Are You Digging My Grave?”- Thomas Hardy
Summary: A dead woman hears digging and scratching while resting in her grave. She thinks that it is her husband trying to dig her up, but a voice responds saying her husband remarried a beautiful, wealthy woman. She then asks if it is her family or her enemies, but the voice tells her it is neither of them. Both her enemies and family members have not thought of her since her death. She is still curious as to who is digging, and the voice reveals itself as her dog, who is the digger. The dog, who is supposed to be loyal to her, forgot she was buried there and was just searching for its bone. The woman thinks that those she left behind still grieve over her death, but in reality no one cares about her anymore. Everyone has moved on, even the dog.
Questions:
1. Who is the digger?
- The woman's family
- A wild animal
- The woman's lover
- A dog digging for his bone
2. What is the digger actually trying to do?
- Dig up the woman's body
- Dig for gold
- Relocate the body
- Bury a bone
- Dig up a bone
3. What happened to the speaker? Why does she hear digging and why does she first guess who she does?
4. What happened to her lover, friend, and enemy and how does she feel about what has become of them?
5. What does it mean that the dog has forgotten that she is buried?