"The Lady of Shalott"
Tennyson claimed that the source for this poem was an Italian novelette, and that he had not read of Malory's Elaine, which is plausible, as his later "Lancelot and Elaine," clearly based on Malory, is quite different in tone. He changed the sound from Scallot to Shalott for euphony. He also added many poetic and dramatic elements to the story: the presence of Arthur and the Queen, the mirror, the weaving and loom, the curse, her song, the river and the island, all features which would recur in "Lancelot and Elaine."
1. How do you interpret this poem? What does it seem to represent?
2. From whose point of view is it told, and why is this significant? How would the poem have been altered if told from the Lady's own view?
3. What are some of the poem's striking images? What is added by its visual details?
4. What are features of the poem's meter and diction? How do these add to the magical or eerie effect?
5. What seems to be the significance of her enclosure in the tower? her remoteness from daily life? the loom, weaving and ruptured web? (tapestry of medieval life) the procession of old, young and lovers?
6. How is Launcelot presented? What imagery is adduced to render him attractive?
7. What seems to be her response to him? Is hers a spiritual or physical response, do you think? What do you think is the poem's attitude toward her "love"?
8. What is added to the poem by its legendary and medieval setting? How would its effect have changed had it been set in contemporary (that is, Victorian) Britain?
9. How may the poem mirror the position of the Victorian woman, especially of the upper classes? If the poem to some degree represents constraints on women of the period, to what extent is it a fantasy, and to what extent a lament?
10. Some have interpreted the poem as an allegory of the poet's relationship with his own imagination, or artistic processes? (cf. "The Palace of Art") Can you see any validity for this reading?
11. Is the poem a warning? A celebration of life? Is its message, if any, gendered, or may it apply to all?
12. Why do you think the Lady of Shalott became the subject of so many Victorian paintings? (Hunt, Grimshaw, Waterhouse)
In Memoriam A.H.H., Prologue
1. This poem was added late in the composing stages as an affirmation of Tennyson's religious faith. What do you think of the quality or steadfastness of Tennyson's affirmation?
2. What relationship between faith and knowledge does the speaker posit?
3. How does this Prologue recast or sum up the whole of In Memoriam A.H.H.? In other words, how does the speaker characterize the poetry he has been writing and editing for around 17 years?
Lyric 5
8. What does this lyric argue or explore about the relationship between words and grief? How does the poem question romantic notions about the powers of expressive language?
9. How does the speaker's exploration of expressive theory affect your relationship as a reader to In Memoriam A.H.H.?
Lyric 7
10. How does the speaker's state of mind color the description he provides?
VII-How are sounds used to create the mood in this section? Do these create comfort or pain and despair?
What is the “dark house”? What images are used to describe his friend and himself?
What allusions or echoes help structure this section? What final images determine the poet's thoughts? Is resurrection likely in the modern world?
“My Last Duchess”
What is subtly eerie about the title? What situation does the poem represent? Do we know the envoy's reaction to what he hears?
What is unusual about the poem's choice of speaker? How reliable is he intended to be as a narrator?
What are some unexpected moments in the poem?
Why did the Duke feel anger at his wife? Why didn't he complain to her about her deviations from his desires? To what extent do you think the narrator expected readers to adopt the Duke's view?
In addition to his past as a wife-murderer, what personal traits of the Duke are revealed in the poem? Do these traits reinforce the plot?
Can you infer/conjecture anything about Robert Browning's views about love and marriage from studying this poem?
What are features of the poem's style? Use of irony? Why do you think this poem has been popular for decades?
"The Bishop Orders His Tomb at St. Praxed's Church"
How are the title and title-situation appropriate for the poem's theme?
What are some unexpected features of the bishop's character, past, and predilections? In what way does his behavior depart from the clerical ideal? What event is referred to in line 34, “that conflagration of my church”?
What are some comic or ironic features of the poem? What is/was his relationship to his “nephews,” Anselm, Anselm's mother, and Gandolf? (Have a look at Titian's “Pope Paul III and his nephews” available on my website to give you some ideas.)
What objects does the bishop admire? What symbolism is inherent in his taste in stones? What is revealed by his references to “a Jew's head cut off at the nape”? The “vein o'er the Madonna's breast”?
What seems to be the bishop's view of death? His reaction to the prospect of his own death? Does he seem to believe in a Christian heaven? Why does he speak of “the life I lived before this life”?
What are some features of the poem's style? Do you think it is skillfully written?
With what emotions does the poem end? What do you think the reader's emotions are expected to be--for example, do we feel sorry for the bishop because he doesn't get his fine lapis-adorned marble tomb?
To what degree may Browning's poem be read as an indictment of sixteenth century Roman culture? Of certain aspects of its art?