Pre-1914 Poetry


On my first Sonne

Context
Written by Ben Jonson after the death of his first son.

Structure
Jonson arranges the lines in rhyming couplets. The poem also uses an iambic pentameter

Language
Jonson contrasts his feelings of sorrow with what he thinks he ought to feel - happiness that his son is in a better place, in heaven with God. In the poem Jonson is speaking as himself. He calls him the child of his "right hand" both to suggest the boy's great worth and also the fact that he would have been the writer's heir. The poet sees the boy's death as caused by his sin - in loving the child too much - an idea that returns at the end of the poem. He sees the boy's life also in terms of a loan, which he has had to repay, after seven years, on "the just day". This extended metaphor expresses the poet’s idea that all people really belong to God and are permitted to spend time in this world.

 

Song of the old mother

Context
The roles people take within society and our interpretations of these roles.

Structure
The poem is written in rhyming couplets

Language
An old woman describes her daily routine and contrasts it with the easy time that young people have. She gets up at dawn to light the fire, wash, prepare food and sweep up. Meanwhile the young people sleep on and pass their day "in idleness". The poem is an accurate portrait of the lives of old people in much of the world. By the time the work is done, the stars are coming out again - "beginning to blink and peep". The poet begins and ends the poem with the image of the fire. At the beginning it is born and the poem ends with an image of the fire going cold. This may be an extended metaphor for the loss of energy that comes with old age. The poem also mentions the ‘seed’ of the fire. This could have been selected by the poet to emphasise the idea that the mothers children will still live on. In this sense the poem although sad shows how hope will live on regardless much like the phoenix rising from the ashes.

 

Sonnet 130

Context
Shakespeare names many of the things that might appear in a conventional love poem - the sun, coral, snow, roses, perfume, music and a goddess. The poet does not see her as a goddess, as many people would describe those they love, but instead sees her for what she is, someone who is down to earth with her feet on the ground.

Structure
This poem is a sonnet. The first twelve lines suggest she is nothing special. However, the concluding couplet changes this idea by claiming that his beloved is just as special as any other woman who is the subject of more extravagant descriptions - because these are false.

Language
He describes his mistress through the poem as inferior when compared to the beauties of nature. Shakespeare describes the contrast of red and white on a rose that is “damasked”. But, he says, he has not seen this damask rose effect in his mistress's cheeks. Her breath, he says, is not as delightful as perfume. Having acknowledged all of her imperfections or limitations, the poet swears that his beloved is, nonetheless, as special as any woman "belied" misrepresented by "false compare".

 

 

My last Duchess

Context
This poem explores the relationship between appearance and reality. On the surface the poem is describes a polite negotiation between two noblemen but beneath the surface it is a terrible story of ruthless power.

Structure
In this poem Browning arranges the lines in rhyming couplets, Browning also makes use of enjambment to create the impression of real speech, providing the poem with realism. One of the reasons why Browning may have used speech is to allow the reader to see what the person within the poem wants us to think and what the writer has allowed us to read between the lines.

Language
The duke thinks his wife should be more dignified - and not so easily "impressed". He believes she lacks the "skill in speech" to make his will "quite clear to such an one". He let his anger/dislike carry on for a while - "this grew" - then he "gave commands". These commands lead to her death, made clear in the statement that all smiles stopped – at first we may think she became unhappy. Then we realize that she was killed, the repeated statement that the duchess, in the painting "stands/As if alive" makes this clear.

 

The Laboratory

Context
Browning contrasts the luxury of the court and the grimness of the laboratory. There is also a sharp contrast between the jewellery that holds deadly poisons - "an earring, a casket...a filigree basket". Perhaps Browning is suggesting that wealth is the root of all evils.

Structure
The poem is written in twelve stanzas, all of four lines, rhymed AABB. The meter is anapaestic (two unstressed syllables, followed by a stressed one) - and this creates a rather jaunty effect, which may have been selected by the poet to suggest the woman is ‘insane’, this idea is reinforced by the frequent alliteration - "moisten and mash...pound at thy powder".

Language
The speaker finds pleasure watching the old man at work, than in being at the royal court where men wait on her. When the poison is ready, the speaker seems disappointed first, that it is not as bright as the blue liquid in the phial, and second, that the dose is too little for such a powerful character, who ensnares men and has a "magnificent" control over the sex.