N & Q on Robert Browning's Poem "Porphyria's Lover"

1. Vocabulary (an asterisk indicates common word used unusually): porphyritic or porphyry (possibly related to the title character's name; also line 6; what characteristics does the mineral substance porphyry have? possible relation to the woman's eye color? in Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophil and Stella Sonnet 9, Stella's mouth is described as "the door, by which sometimes come forth her Grace,/ Red porphir is" [lines 5-6]); to-night (line 1) [= older spelling, up through the 1940's, of tonight]; sullen (line 2); vex (line 4); grate* (line 8); form* (line 10); murmuring (line 21); endeavor (line 22); dissever (line 24); prevail (line 26); warily (line 44); oped (line 44); tress (line 46)

2. (A) How might the poem be seen to be divided into the two parts of lines 1-30 (subdivided into lines 1-15 and 15-30) and 31-60? How does each of these parts function as a thought or content unit (including the subdivisions cited)? (B1) What general ideas about romantic love, sanity, and religion are conveyed by the poem? (B2) How is a romantic triangle obliquely alluded to in the poem? (B3) How does the speaker imagine (lines 53-55; "The smiling . . . instead") that he has fulfilled Porphyria's implied wish (lines 21-25; "Murmuring . . . forever")? (C1) Why would the rhymed couplets of Alexander Pope (see Chs. 18 and 19 of RJ7) probably not be a good overall verse form for this poem (which could be categorized, like Browning's "My Last Duchess," as a "dramatic monologue")? (C2) However, how do rhymed couplets mark off various sections of the poem?

3. (A) How is the setting of the poem symbolic? (B) How do the repeated imagery and figurative language of cold and heat relate to the themes and ideas of the poem? (C1) How might the color and length of the woman's hair, repeated referred to (lines 18, 20, 38-39), be meaningful in the poem? (C2) What might be revealed about the speaker or Porphyria by the speaker's use of the word he does to describe Porphyria's hair color rather than the word "gold" or "golden"? (D) How does the repetition and interplay of "vainer" (line 24) and "in vain" (line 29) relate to any of the poem's themes or ideas? (E) How does the exact word, "dissever" (line 25), in the self-avowed difficulty of Porphyria in being able to "dissever" (line 25) herself from other romantic ties relate ironically to the manner of her death? (F) How does the particular word "worshipped" in the speaker's perception that "Porphyria worshipped me" (line 33) relate to the last line of the poem? (G) How is the vagueness of the diction or word choice of the speaker in "I found/ A thing to do" (lines 37-38) revealing about his mental or moral state? (H) Which figures of speech are used, and what do they suggest or convey, in lines 2-4 ("sullen . . . lake"), 5 ("listened . . . break"), 22-23 ("her heart's . . . dissever"), 34-35 ("made . . . to do"), 43-45 ("As a . . . stain"), 48 ("blushed . . . kiss"), and 52 ("the . . . head")?
 
 

N & Q on Robert Herrick's Poem "Upon Julia's Voice"

1. Vocabulary: chamber (line 3); lutes (line 4); amber (line 4)

2. How does the title of this poem point to an emphasis on the sound effects, including rhythm and meter, of poetry?

3. In what musical activity may Julia be engaging, as she is described in lines 3-4? What details in those lines help imply that activity?

4. (A1) Which single consonant sound (note that the sound can be produced by two different letters) is notably repeated in all four lines of the poem? How does this consonant sound suggest the gentleness of Julia's voice? (B) Which single consonant sound is repeated in the second through fourth lines of the poem, and how does this consonant sound help convey the musical or humming quality of Julia's voice?

5. (A) How is metaphor used in line 1? (B) How is hyperbole used in lines 2-3? (C) How is metaphor used in line 4? (D) In line 4, how does the imagery, describing the substance the lutes are made out of, help convey something about Julia's voice and Julia?

6. Why are rhymed couplets an appropriate verse form for this poem?