Fountain of Youth

O’ Muse, sweet Muse fill my soul,
with blackness, tar, and motor oil.
Inject thy face with the fat of the land,
withering willows wake the decay of time's rotten hand.
Narcissus, di Milo, automatons falling victim to youth’s joke,
the art of escaping age’s heavy-handed brushstroke.
Corpses sucked and tucked, fish-lipped looks of surprise,
Ghastly scarce the grace of looking old when one dies.

Control

Parched waves devour
Indifferent the sea's all-might
For those walking water
Such is our lives' plight.

Flying Japan

Doused in champagne I am consumed in the lags of jet
Goodbye Shang- Hai
The persistance of your memory I cannot wait to forget

Hello Tokyo
Illuminate me, as I basque in your flames of neon
Japan will soon be my next act of treason.

“My Last Duchess”; A Portrait of Oppression and Obsession

Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” is a poem that works through associations. It presents a scene that is particular to Browning’s use of dramatic dialogue, and evokes a sense of darkness, oppression, and domestic conflict which is often found in his poetry. “My Last Duchess” is a narrative poem, yet it lacks any narrative development; rather, the poem relies on associations of images and ideas in order to create a surreal and eerie atmosphere vividly describing Duke Ferrara’s dead wife. Duke Ferrara is the speaker of the poem, and is illustrated as being a jealous and controlling individual who is consumed by his dead wife’s imperfections and lack of living up to his outlandish standards. One’s first initial impression of “My Last Duchess” may consist of the poem being Duke Ferrara’s lovely tribute and memorial to his deceased wife, the Duchess of Ferrara. Yet, “My Last Duchess” has a darker subtext that reveals a dysfunctional and repressive male-dominated relationship, ultimately reflecting a growing concern surrounding domestic violence evolving from the Victorian Era.

A great deal of prose and poetry emerging from the Victorian Era from which Browning writes addresses such growing social concerns and problems erupting from violence centered in the domestic sphere. Melissa Valiska Gregory illustrates this notion in her essay, “Robert Browning and the Lure of the Violent Lyric Voice: Domestic Violence in the Dramatic Monologue” and states, “Historical work on the subject of sexual violence within the Victorian home suggests that it was a relatively common feature of domestic life, and occurred within families from a wide range of economic and social positions” (492). Browning’s poem illustrates such violence depicted in an aristocratic home.

Through utilizing dramatic dialogue in “My Last Duchess”, Browning depicts the inner-workings and ever-present oppressive nature of the Duke with imagery suggesting he is consumed with his powerful desire for power and control. These desires are exemplified in the Duke’s attitude towards his dead wife, the Duchess. The opening lines of the poem capture the overall mood and tone of the poem, and are immediately revealed through the Duke’s icy, callous, and apathetic feelings towards the Duchess. This is illustrated in the lines stating, “That is my last Duchess painted on the wall,/ Looking as if she were alive. I call/ That piece a wonder, now : Fra Pandolf’s hands/ Worked busily a day, and there she stands” (1- 3). Immediately, the Duke refers to the painting of his deceased wife, demonstrating how he objectifies her as being merely a thing or “piece”. It appears as though the Duke regards his wife as a “wonder” in the painting, yet his strong disdain for her as a person is quite perceptible. Moreover, the Duke’s objectification of women addresses a growing social concern of the Victorian Era of a patriarchal society in which many women were imprisoned in the realms of their domestic sphere. In the essay, “Structure and Meaning in Browning’s “My Last Duchess”, Joshua Adler demonstrates this notion and suggests, …the pattern of self-enclosure thus established brings “My Last Duchess” into [a] close relationship with two major concerns in Victorian literature: the superiority of the dynamic, spontaneous mode of life over the static and self-imprisoned, and the problem of culture and ethics in society” (220). Browning portrays the Duke as an individual who sees his wife as a mere objects whose sole existence ought to revolve around pleasing him. Additionally, the Duke’s obsession with control is exposed by his placing more value on the painting versus his wife. Unlike his inability to maintain absolute control over his wife in real life, the Duke is able to have utter control over the painting, which is merely an inanimate object in his possession.

Browning employs irony, “a statement that contradicts the actual attitude of the speaker… contrasting what is expected with what occurs …having tones of mockery… as the motivating element in his narrative poem” (Deutch 73). The irony of the poem surfaces through the Duke’s complaints of the Duchess’s “flaws”. This is illustrated when the Duke describes her as, “For calling up a spot of that joy./ She had A Heart-how shall I say?-too soon made glad,/ Too easily impressed; she liked what’er/ She looked on, and her looks went everywhere” (21-24). The Duke’s incessant jealousy is aroused through the Duchess’s attributes of being easily amused. The Duke believes the Duchess’s demeanor to encompass serious character defects because she does not reserve all of her attentions for him, or his rank of power. The Duchess merely takes delight in the simple pleasures in life such as sunsets, “the dropping daylight in the West” (26).

Additionally, the Duke chastises the Duchess for her good manners and polite behavior which is depicted in the lines stating, “She thanked men-good!/ but thanked Somehow- I know not how- as if she ranked/My gift of a nine-hundred-years old name/ With anybody’s gift” (31-33). The heart of the poem illustrates the Duke’s envious feelings of fury surrounding the Duchess’s treatment of not placing him on a pedestal. Browning reveals the Duke prizes his aristocratic status over everything else in life. Browning explores dramatic irony through the Duchess’s “faults” which are qualities such as compassion, humility, and taking delight in the simple pleasures in life. These character traits normally associated with being morally upright and virtuous, are degraded by the Duke, which ultimately characterizes his own nature of being manipulative, materialistic, and controlling. This paradoxical imagery of the Duchess supports the atmosphere Browning is creating of a deeply disturbed portrait of a sick and twisted relationship built on the foundations of oppression and obsession.





Works Cited
Adler, Joshua. "Structure and Meaning in Browning's "My Lat
Duchess"" Victorian Poetry 15 (1977): 219-27. JSTOR. 1977. West Virginia University Press. 1 Feb. 2010 .

Browning, Robert. ""My Last Duchess"" 100 best-loved poems. New
York: Dover Publications, 1995. 64-65.

Deutsch, Babette. Poetry Handbook A Dictionary of Terms. New
York: Collins, 1982.

Gregory, Melissa Valiska. "Robert Browning and the Lure of the
Violent Lyric." Victorian Poetry 38 (2000): 491-510. JSTOR. 2000. West Virgina University Press. 1 Feb. 2010 .

Shakespeare’s Sonnet XCIV; The Epitome of High Renaissance Values and Virtue

The age of the Renaissance is a time of rebirth of classical humanistic ideals. Renaissance thinkers oftentimes associate themselves with classical values that date back to the times of ancient Greece and Rome. A central theme of the Renaissance stems from the idea of an individual having the capacity to reach their full potential through reason. William Shakespeare’s Sonnet XCIV encompasses the Renaissance ideals of what means to be noble, and illustrates the notion of the nature of power being fully achieved when an individual is ruled by logic and reason versus being ruled by passions and emotions. Sonnet XCIV appeals to the rational principle of an individual’s soul, and reveals an individual cannot rely on their senses or emotions that evolve from an irrational principle. The individual described in Sonnet XCIV is illustrated as someone who remains disinclined to revenge against others, yet maintains the ability to influence others. This is demonstrated in the first three lines stating, “They that have power to hurt and will do none, / That do not do the thing they most do show, / Who, moving others, are themselves as stone”. The main argument of the poem suggests though an individual cannot control the events that occur in life, they maintain an ability to control their emotions and how they would react in a situation. Lines 4-8 reemphasizes this point maintaining, “Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow - / They rightly do inherit heaven’s graces/ And husband nature’s riches from expense; / They are the lords and owners of their faces, / Other but stewards of their excellence”. Again, Shakespeare depicts the individual in the poem as one who has mastered the art of controlling reason over passions.
I think Shakespeare’s Sonnet XCIV advocates the classical Platonic principles that lay emphasis on the importance of wise and ideal behavior through a rational and sound mind. According to Plato, through a rational mind and through reason an individual has the power to determine truth and rightness. In Plato’s Republic, Plato argues poetry does not have the capabilities to appeal to our reason, instead, it targets the weak spots of our emotions and senses, what he refers to as, “[an] affliction in our natures” (Book X) which ultimately is the root of one’s reason to be impaired. Yet, Shakespeare’s Sonnet XCIV does not appeal to emotions, rather it illustrates the strength of an individual lies in their abilities to make logical conclusions about what they feel or see, remaining unmoved or fooled by what their senses or feelings are telling them. Not only would this type of poetry be admitted into Plato’s Republic, I concur Sonnet XCIV is a nod to the Platonic ideals and principles that were revived and immensely studied during the age of the Renaissance.