An Exploration of E.B. Browning’s use of form: with respect to Shakespeare, Petrarch and the traditional Ballad

Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s relationship to Shakespeare is well known, and has been described by scholars as a “dialectic of trust [and] reciprocal enhancement” (qtd. in Marshall 467). However, Browning does not merely transcribe Shakespeare’s work, but rather explores his use of language in order to apply his concepts in the Victorian age (Marshall 468). One especially hears the echo of Shakespeare when reading “The Romaunt of the Page,” in which Browning mirrors his use of cross-dressing in Twelfth Night as a means of critiquing Petrarchan constructs of love. Shakespeare’s comedy explores popular constructs of gender and love using the guise of mistaken identities and cross-dressing. Similarly, Browning uses cross-dressing to illuminate the superficial nature of Petrarchan love poetry and deconstruct the Victorian notions of gender and the separate sphere ideology.  

The “doctrine of separate spheres” was a Victorian concept that defined the separate areas of influence, both public and private, which were assigned to men and women. Women were assigned the private sphere, where they stood to ““[guard] the fireside comforts” (Ellis 57) of their husband, brother or father while he struggled in the world of industry. This concept of spheres played a large role in defining Victorian concepts of gender and separating the societal roles of men and women. Browning’s use of cross-dressing in “The Romaunt of the Page” serves to illuminate the instability of these constructs of sexuality and gender, and to expose the unjust inequality that such constructs conferred.

            Browning’s creates the character of a young page, who is really the knight’s lady in disguise. This is essentially a woman who has “laid down the silks she wore,” (The Romaunt of the Page 24.186) and stepped out of her private sphere in order to follow her husband into battle. Using this character Browning is able emphasize the insincerity in the Petrarchan idealization of love, and the limitations of the Victorian’s definitions of gender. While the knight idealizes his love and obsesses over the idea of love, as is Petrarchan tradition, he is unable to recognize her standing in front of him. His love is not for the lady herself, but rather for the idea of her “golden brooch and glossy vest” (The Romaunt of the Page 24. 200), “Her little hand . . . [and] her tender tears” (The Romaunt of the Page 24.211-12). When confronted with the reality of love, the Petrarchan ideal is reduced to an uninspiring fragmentation of the female body (Ake 379).  To add tragedy to tragedy, Browning’s knight then declares that any lady who dared to step out of her defining sphere would be “unwomaned” (The Romaunt of the Page 24.196) in doing so.  Browning illuminates the fact that a Victorian woman is not only imprisoned within her private sphere, but also defined (in very essence) by it.

            In “The Romaunt of the Page” Browning also engages with the cultural discourse of Victorian medievalism (Saunders 585). She uses said discourse to evoke medieval chivalric images and demonstrate the injustice of gender inequality during the Victorian age (Saunders, 586). Scholars note that her creative use of the ballad allows her to emphasize the preservation of gender inequalities based on the power structures of medieval society (Saunders 586). Browning engages in the language of courtly love, but twists the traditional roles of the passive female beloved and active male lover in order to propose gender equality (Saunders 588). She starts the poem with a traditional tale of a crusading knight, told in traditional Ballad form with tetrameter and trimester pairs. However, as she begins to twist this traditional tale in stanza XI there is a shift in poetic form to paired lines of tetrameter in stanza XII. It is at this point in the poem, that Browning first begins to suggest that the knight’s loyal page might actually be his passive lady love. Browning uses this shift in form to mirror her refashioning of equality between male and female lovers. As she reveals the true identity of the character of the page, Browning begins to introduce her unique character of an “active, medieval military woman” (Saunders 587). The ending of Browning’s poem depicts the martyring of this woman, which harkens to Browning’s own opinions about the consequences of women’s activity in the public sphere (Saunders 594).  Her successful use of the traditional Ballad form allows her to deconstruct the separate sphere ideology and illuminate the medieval roots of the Victorian’s modern concepts of gender.

Works Cited

Ake, Jamie. “Glimpsing a ‘Lesbian’ Poetics in Twelfth Night.” SEL Studies in English Literature    43.2 (2003): 375—394. 15 March 2009    <http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/studies_in_english_literature/v043/43.2ake.html>.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning. “The Romaunt of the Page.” The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Poetry and Poetic Theory. Ed. Thomas J. and Vivienne J. Rundle. Peterborough: Broadview Press,  1999. 50—56.

Ellis, Sarah Stickney. “The Women of England, their social duties, and domestic   habits.”Victorian Prose: An Anthology. Eds. Mundhenk, Rosemary J., and LuAnn M. Fletcher. New York: Columbia UP, 1999. 53—57.

Marshall, Gail. “Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Shakespeare: Translating the Language of Intimacy.”           Victorian Poetry 44.4 (2006): 467—486. 23 September 2010            http://muse.jhu.edu.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/journals/victorian_poetry/v044/44.4saunders.html.

Saunders, Clare B. “"Judge no more what ladies do": Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Active Medievalism,       the Female Troubadour, and Joan of Arc.” Victorian Poetry 44.4 (2006): 585—597. 23  September 2010 http://muse.jhu.edu.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/journals/victorian_poetry/v044/44.4saunders.html.

Poetry? The true meaning lies within the onion...

For my analysis of this week’s poetry I’d to focus on the image of an onion, which was brought to mind earlier in the week. I feel that this image relates both to Mill’s attempt to define poetry, and our own exploration of the assigned poems “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed Church,” “Ulysses,” and “Invictus.”

Mill defines poetry by presenting the reader with layers of contrasts: description, narrative, eloquence, and oratory. Stripping each of these contrasts away, Mill exposes the true definition of poetry. Mill paints it as a pure and natural expression of human emotion: poetry is “feeling confessing itself” (Mill 1216). However, he is quick to note that the mechanics of the poem (its words and expressions) are not what define it. True poetry does not express feeling, but rather harmonizes with the feelings of the reader. The mechanics are just the skin of the poem, but its true purpose lies beneath.

The dramatic monologue is a type of poem composed of specific elements: a speaker, an audience, an event, a revelation of character, and a dramatic occasion. Using these elements, a poet can create a vessel through which he can communicate emotional truth with the reader. However, in some cases, these elements seem to enclose the true emotion of the poem and move the reader farther from its effect.

Browning employs the dramatic monologue in “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed Church” to create the character of a bishop on his deathbed. The bishop, despite his role as a spiritual leader, is a materialistic and seemingly faithless man. Browning uses the contradiction between the external and internal identity of the character to create a bitter sense of irony. While this irony is strongly communicated with the reader, I felt as if it masked some of the poem’s more serious sentiment. As the poem’s title implies, it actually deals with the more serious topic of “ordering” one’s life before death; however, the reader is less able to connect with this sentiment because of the dominant sense of irony. I argue that, in this case, the mechanics of the poem obscure its meaning and prevent it from “[painting] the human soul truly” (Mill 1214).

Tennyson also employs the dramatic monologue in his poem “Ulysses,” but his sentiment seems far more earnest. Ulysses speaks directly to the audience with truthful emotions and one feels able to harmonize with these emotions. I argue that Mill would find this poem to be closer to his definition of true poetry and much less clouded with “exaggerated colors” (Mill 1214) than that of Browning.  

Henely’s “Invictus” strips away another layer of mechanics and brings the reader emotionally closer. It seems the most natural and earnest poem of the three. I felt that its sentiment was unaffected by the didactic use of character, setting, or audience. This poem seems to have the fewest layers concealing its purpose; it is simple and relatable, or (as Mill would say) “the imagery [is] felt to harmonize with feeling” (Mill 1220).

“What is Poetry.” The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Poetry and Poetic Theory. Ed. Thomas J. and Vivienne J. Rundle. Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1999. 1212—1227.

Introduction to me

Hello to all,
This is my first attempt at blogging and I'm a bit nervous to delve into the world of public writing! I'm a fourth year Biology and English double major with a passion for Victorian literature. This summer I spent a month backpacking around England and Scotland visiting the burial sites of many of the Victorian poets we are going to be studying! I'm excited to learn more about their lives and legacies, as their works have lingered long after their deaths.
I hope it's a great year,
Ashleigh Frayne