Dismantling the Patriarchy sans merci

After reading both versions of Keats' work, I find that I prefer the draft version over his published one. 'Knight-at-arms' just strikes a chord better than 'wight'. Plus, I find that the imagery comes easier in the first version of the poem. Incorporating the titles, 'sans merci' means without pity whereas 'sans mercy' is simply without mercy. Both phrases are ripe with meaning, but 'without pity' just appeals to me greater than 'without mercy'. In the draft, Keats has the knight-at-arms making the woman a flower crown, bracelets, and a zone before he is consumed by her power; it's his attempt to quell a wild woman and confine her to fit his needs within the patriarchy. Historically, the Victorian era bound women both by its social propriety and its fashions. I like that this woman with 'wild eyes', is still able to entrance a seemingly misogynistic man after his attempts to ensnare her.  It shows her command of faculties and refusal to give up her personal power, or agency. I find it both captivating and terrifying, but in the best sort of way; as if I too, are under this faery queen's spell. It reminds me of my favorite archetype in literature: disciples that love their god too much. For there is nothing crueler than being loved by something divine made flesh and blood.

Chivalry or Enchantment?

We discussed the two different versions of the John Keats poem in class. Within the two drafts of the poem, "La Belle Dame sans Mercy," we see a distinct shift in the power of the woman in the poem. In the first draft, the knight is immediately overcome with emotion for this woman. He makes her garlands of flowers, then sets her on the horse, where she sings to him. In the second draft of the poem, he first places her on the horse, then makes her garlands after she sings to him.  This small shift at first appears unimportant, but it changes her agency within the rest of the poem. Within the second poem, he seems to be initially trying to help her, and she puts him into a trance with her songs. However, in the first version, he is immediately entranced and the effect of putting her on the horse becomes merely symbolic of the pedestal he has already placed her on. He places her above himself literally to show how he is entranced by her symbolically.  The line, "And nothing else saw all day long," shows that his whole world has become focused and consumed by her. Again, the placement of this stanza changes the context within the poem in the same way.  At the end of the poem, the first draft states "And there she lulled me asleep." This again gives the woman more agency. She makes him sleep, rather than in the second version where "we slumber'd on the moss." This gives her less power over him, and makes her less ethereal and more real.

Complex or Hypocracy?

   It seems odd to me that in an era marked in part by the resurgence of chivalry, that there be such a discrepancy on how to deal with the agency of women. The Lady of Shalot is left with the the task of weaving, using her mirror both for her work and to see the world. These things are distinctly feminine and all is well for her as long as she continues her "women's work". It is not until she leaves her work and the tower to serve her own purposes that she is is cast down and killed by the curse. Aside from whatever commentary this may have about creating art or industrialism, this acts a "lesson" for how women should behave, "If you leave your station in life this is what will happen to you".
   In My Last Duchess, the women in question is held as a on the wall. The late duchess is his example of how he deals with women that won't obey or appreciate him. This is even more heavy handed because the duke directly takes the life of the duchess who leaves him. What's even more disparaging here is that the Duke is in the middle of dowry discussion, which shows that Duchess for him are easily replaced. His choice of art in the statue of Neptune taming a sea-horse simply furthers this.
    The difference between the two views here on the agency of women, is that Browning's poem could be seen ostensibly as a way of bringing this negative view on female agency into light for criticism, while Tennyson seems to have simply used it as a metaphor. I don't know for certain what Tennyson's take on women's agency was, but the way he uses it here implies that he sees it as a fact of life. Even if one tries to see the Lady of Shalot as bringing the problem into light the way Duchess does it still seems just like a idea thrown in with everything else he wanted to say. Though this may just be a vented frustration of mine, to me it hardly seems to even call out chivalry's name.

The Lady of Domestication

On Monday our group, when discussing The Lady of Shallot, talked about its references toward women in the Victorian society. We concluded that the act of her weaving represented a mundane place where women resided, this place being the home and womanly domestication. The mirror represented, to us at least, a skewed view of society. This skewed view helped keep "The Lady of Shallot" in “her place”, as well as the fear of a curse. The curse was a sort of warning to women in general, that leaving their post of domestication would result in disastrous repercussions. However, when Lancelot comes into her mirror in shining armor, we see the Lady of Shallot forsake her post and gaze at this man. It was at this point when our group realized the wording of the poem changed, before this romantic natural words were used, after the words became more metallic just like the armor of Sir Lancelot. It wasn't until her eventual death that the words reverted back to the romantic natural words. In regards to the pictures we discussed on the way in which she sat on her tapestry and allowed it to dip into the murky water. Perhaps this symbolized defiance of her former life before seeing Lancelot. She had spent every day looking through this mirror and weaving this tapestry, then when the curse befell her it provided a new life to be opened up, cursed or not, causing her to forsake the former and take the boat to journey into the new. 

I love this rendition of the poem and the pictures are great!

Duke, you silver tongued devil you

"... Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together..."

I found Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" to be an enticing poem, as it engages its readers on a number of levels - on a psychological and historical level among many. Quite noticeably on a psychological level because we only get the duke's thoughts. We have to piece together the story ourselves. The author forces its readers to become involved with the poem, so we can get a clear understanding of it, which makes it all the more fun.

The most fascinating element of the poem is the duke character, who is also the speaker. He lures his readers with his charming qualities and wonderful use of language. However, he has a monstrous side and an excessive demand for control. The biggest example of this is when duke has his wife murdered because she couldn't save her flirtatious glances for the him. "... I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together..." This is an interesting choice of words to describe the death of the duchess. It's not quite as dark as one expect it would be. It's as if the duke is trying to avoid the truth.

Art and Poetry

During class the other day we looked at two John Waterhouse paintings in which he shows imagery that portrays scenes in the poem. We looked at two very different images that are actually by the same painter. They also matched up with two different parts of the poem.

Unlike the second image, this image does not correspond with a particular stanza in the poem. I feel like it is a much more general painting. It is interesting that his technique differs so much from the other painting. In this one his brush strokes are tight and he appears to be using the rules of the salon to paint this. This image might be painted so clearly because this is after she has made her decision to die. The future is clear for her and she knows what she wants her fate to be. 

This painting, also by Waterhouse is radically different.The painting appears to be painted in a much more impressionistic style. Large brush strokes and bold colors. All of the lines appear to be blurred and it shows the madness that comes across in the second part of the poem. 

There she weaves by night and day
A magic web with colours gay.
She has heard a whisper say,
A curse is on her if she stay
   To look down to Camelot.
She knows not what the curse may be,
And so she weaveth steadily,
And little other care hath she,
   The Lady of Shalott.

In this piece there are white lines surrounding her, between that and her crouched position I imagine this painting is her captured in her web. The artist might have interpreted the web to be more physical than metaphorical. Or maybe, he was trying to show the metaphorical web in a more physical way. Either way, I feel that this piece is much more expressive and visually interesting.

Looking at someone's artistic interpretation of a poem can be a slightly difficult process in my opinion. You have to take the artist's opinion into consideration, and also be able to form your own opinions independently and not be too influenced by what someone else has chosen to portray. Waterhouse's two images show that even he had very different interpretations of the different parts of the poem. I feel that this fact shows that poetry is very open to interpretation, depending on the reader.

Lilies and Roses

An interesting element that I found about this poem is the relation of the structure to the Belle Dame.  The ballad seems to have a slow flow to it that kind of mesmerizes the reader along with the Knight.  Like some of the other ballads we’ve read in class, the Belle Dame is very simplistic and straightforward; however, from the technical aspect these elements work with the poem to create a kind of ambiance.  Due to the vagueness of details, we feel that some details are kind of strange and hazy—like when he describes the Belle Dame as being a “fairy child.”  The Knight describes the woman as if putting her on a pedestal.  I feel that the lack of detail and overall, hazy and dreamlike descriptions are a representation of the Knight coping with and surrendering to death.  The Belle Dame could be a symbol for death.  When the Knight’s appearance was described using two flowers; the lily, a symbol for death, and a rose that is “fading” quickly I thought immediately of a woman.  She seems to be described with the feminine likeness of a flower, but then I thought about how the roles of dominance switch.  When the Belle Dame goes from holding a position of submission to one of dominance it is because the Knight gives it to her.  This can be seen a him surrendering himself to his eminent death.

A Monologue

My first reading of My Last Duchess by Robert Browning was somewhat confusing. I didn't really know the rhythm of the poem, I just knew that each sentence ended in rhymed couplets. The pattern indicates, a a, b b, c c, etc.,  but other than that I did not know how to read the poem all to well. I kept shortening and elongating certain parts, especially with the constant semicolons. It wasn't until I researched the poem on Poets.org and listened to the reading by Richard Howard. I noticed he read it more as a monologue for a play or somewhat of a short story. I really like his reading because of the intensity that he puts within the poem. He elongates where needed and made it feel as if it were a story. He starts off slow but towards the end he speeds up and raises his volume as if it were a climax in the poem. I really appreciated his version, but to be honest I have no other version to go off of. For now this is the version that I prefer. As far as the story goes, I believe that the Duke hid the portrait of the duchess out of jealousy. She was once a flirtatious woman, and that displeased him very much. Now he is allowed to have her all to himself, no longer can she flirt with men but he must have her hidden since she is still beautiful enough to gaze at.

I dont really know how to add just the clip of Richard Howard reading so I provided the link below.

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15701

After Death

As I was reading “After Death” by Christina Rossetti, my brain couldn't help but paint a picture of who these two people in the poem were, and what exactly their story was. It is clear from reading the poem that the narrator has just died, and she is speaking this poem once she is already dead. She is describing the surroundings of where her dead body lay and how the man that is mourning her death is reacting. The way the narrator was describing the man gave me the impression that he was either her past lover or husband. Either way, it made me think that they once had a romance that tragically faded or ended. Maybe the man left her for another woman or because he just didn't love her anymore, or maybe they were still married and up until she died their marriage had grown cold. She mentions that although he did not love her while she was living; he pitied her once she was dead and it was sweet knowing that he was still warm even though she was cold. I interpreted this part of the poem to be saying that although she is dead and her body is physically cold, it brought her some happiness knowing that the cold heart of this man that she knew so well had now grown a little warmer at the sight of her dead body. Maybe it took the narrators death for him to show a little warmth and emotion. It ends the poem with a sense of hope that the woman’s death was not in vain. Her death may be the coming alive of this unknown man. 

And Behind Curtain #1.... Poison!

I really was not too sure what to think when I read My Last Duchess. The rhythm took me a minute to get use to (at first if felt a little contrived and ridged), but after a few lines that minor detour went away. It also took me a minute to figure out that this duke was talking to not only a group of people, but also his future father-in-law about his last wife. After figuring out who the duke was speaking to, I felt like it was much easier to see a type of story come together. The captions that are in my book let the reader know that the speaker of My Last Duchess is modeled on Alfonso II (Duke of Ferrara) who married Lucrezia de Medici when she was fourteen years old in 1558. She died about three years later, and the cause of death was speculated to be poison. The duke remarried in 1565. I felt like this information also allowed a story to unfold. When I re-read the poem, I started to wonder if maybe it was the duke who poisoned her. The fact that he keeps her picture behind a curtain, and only he is allowed to open the curtain, is what made me intentionally slightly suspicious of the thought. I also felt like the way I felt she was being described was as being a major flirt. The way the duke talks about her makes me think she flirted A LOT, maybe even had an affair or two. There is a motive right there: an unfaithful wife. Well, it is safe to say she certainly is only smiling for dear ol’ hubby now! An indirect confession scene is the picture that this poem painted for me. I think that this is a very interesting poem, and I enjoyed reading it.  

Porphyria's Lover: Mad, or Merciful?

It seems mostly adequate, upon critical reflection, to conclude that Porphyria's Lover commits this murder by the craze of his mind; however, I feel that it is unjust to assume that madness is the narrator's primary motivation. Browning's biography makes us aware of the suggested intent behind his writing, claiming "the impossibility of ever finding a coherent or truthful narrative and the importance of recognizing the relativity of points of view"(711).  In light of this, I hope within my interpretation to contend with conventional morality's claim that murder is unanimously unjustified.

The foundation for my interpretation lies in accepting that the female character's name is an allusion to porphyria as a rare disorder that relentlessly poisons both the body and mind. In other words, porphyria is Porphyria's affliction.  It is that which defines death as her "utmost will".
It is the lack of dialogue and indifference within the voice of the narrator that seems to render him a bit unaffected by having murdered his love, but it is through the action of the poem that the narrator's truly grievous sentiments become clear. The reader is throughout the poem made aware of the narrator's love for Porphyria. He lies nestled against her shoulder, consumed by her flowing yellow hair, as if aching to be one with her.  Representative of his conflicted feelings, he strangles Porphyria with the very hair he so adores, because he, in that very moment, realizes its effectiveness in accomplishing what they are both aching for:  the severance of her soul from the wicked, earthly pains of her affliction.  He vanquishes not only Porphyria's life but also her suffering, and in doing so has committed a most pristine act of love.  In the aftermath of the fateful moment, the two lovers sit motionless together throughout the night, the lingering airs of deep affection hung still over the scene:

"And thus we sit together now,
And all night long we have not stirred"


What are your thoughts?  Which of the narrator's motivations do you feel are most significant: madness, mercy, or something different entirely?  Am I misled in assuming that mercy by euthanasia justifies Porphyria's murder?