Robert Browning - The 19th Century Poet

1. In the time of which Browning was writting many aspects of the Victorian Society were reflected through his work. Whilst composing in a time when a major intellectual upheveal was occuring, many things changed in the Victorian Society. Many began to lose faith in religions so instead turned to newly explored scientific theories. As well as the change through religion values art was begining to be protrayed and persuded in a new area, one of which is reagarded as "art for art's sake". The economic turmoil began to occur in this period og tome with the rise of wealth and consumption as well as the abonishing fact of poverty. As browning notes in his writting their were many conflictions with the wealthy between being materialistic and helping the poor.

2. Major trends that occured during the 19th century

Colour Analysis

Colour – Dorethea Mackellar

This poem is about a girl who never really saw true colour before, however she catches a glimpse of colour and will never let it go. Throughout this poem she goes onto explain how colour is in the world around you. “The lovely things that I have watched unthinking unknowing day by day………. that will not pass away,” shows the change the girl went through and how she was oblivious as to what she was missing.

The purpose of this poem is to show how wonderful the world around us and colour is. Another purpose of this poem is to show the change in people can also influence they look at the world. “Who gave this gift of colour, which who shall seek shall find,” shows that only those who seek to change will change.

The emotion of this poem portrays is wonder and loving. It makes the reader feel happy and in awe of what is actually around us. “That their soft dyes have seeped my soul in colour,” makes the reader feel slightly sad at what the person has missed for so long yet happy and glad that she has found colour.

This is an eight free verse stanza construction. There are no real interesting features that influence the structure of this poem. Enjambments’ and commas allow for the flow of words. The poet’s choices of words are enticing yet accurate. Words and phrases such as hillsides golden-green and soothed eyes are examples of how the word choice and descriptiveness of these words and phrases create image and rhythm that contribute to show how wonderful and colourful the world we live in is. The image presented in this poem change in each stanza; however each image relates to the next one through colours, gems and landscapes. “Almond trees in bloom and oleanders, or a wide purple sea,” shows that different colours relate to different scenery, showing that the world is colourful and changes in texture and appearance from a trees and flowers to the vast ocean. Rhythm in this poem makes the poem slow, floating and enticing. The rhythm does not change throughout this poem and by not changing the rhythm it completes the style of the poem. The slow movement of the poem adds to the scene and theme. Although alliteration is present in this poem it does not influence the theme or mood of this poem.

In summary this poem is well constructed and portrays a message which other poets have tried to compose but have never been able to accomplish what this poet has. This poem has achieved what the poet aimed to achieve, which was to portray that the world is wonderful and full of colour but if you don’t open your eyes you’re never going to see what god made for you.

Analysis of "Variations Of The Word Love"

The experience that this poem describes is the word love and the different forms it takes. From the love of a mother cooking their child a meal "you can cook with it to" to the soldiers love for their country "Love! Love! sing the soldiers, raising their glittering knives in salute."


The themes and messages the poet is trying to portray through this poem are different types of love. There is the dedication of people in love and how much they love each other, and take the step to marriage "Add lace and you can sell love". You can give your love to your partner. The willingness of falling in love but the fear of getting rejected or heart is a chance you take in the name of love. It shows that although some people are ready to dedicate themselves to one another, others are struggling to decided whether to fall in love or not. Other forms of love include, love of the environment, love between two people, and love of your country. These different types of love show that we should love everything and that love comes in many different forms.


The most prominent feeling in this poem is love. As it explains and enhances the different loves and in turn makes you feel love for those things. Another emotion/feeling the reader feels whilst reading this poem is sadness. An example of this is "you can hold on or let go".


This poem consists of two stanzas and is a free verse poem. Enjambment is used throughout the piece causes pauses which add to the flow, pronunciation and rhythm of this piece.


The poets choice of words is descriptive and captivating. "its single vowel in this metallic silence." Is a good example of this as it uses descriptive words and interesting phrases. Some of her word choices are very plain as well, "Then there is the two of us" yet it manages to capture our attention even more successfully than the previous quote.


There is a lot of imagery in this poem. Each line produces its own special picture and meaning and with the cmpletion of the stanzas and then the poem it makes a unique and lovely image. "you can hold on or let go" is a use of imagery as you can imagine two people holding each others hands whilst they are drifting apart.

This poem contains a lot of aspects; mainly consisting of imagery and language. It is about the love of everything in the world, for each being and the love for each other. It is well constructed peom that captures the essence of true love.

Analysis of "The Surfer"

This poem “The Surfer” discusses the way the surf changes throughout the day, changing from a place of enjoyment to that of danger. The poem also describes the relationship between the surfer and the sea and that of the onlooker.

The purpose of this poem is to show the message of that although the sea can be a place of enjoyment it can also be a place of danger. “For on the sand the grey-wolf lies, snarling”. The characters created show different things such as the surfer shows; enjoyment and happiness as can be seen in “he in the water, with delight”. The surfer is also a figurine which represents a person’s love for the ocean. The persona is worried for the surfer and can see the changes of the sea. The line “turn home” shows this concern. The sea can be seen as calming and nice, “long banks of foam” compared to a more dangerous version of the sea, “the grey wolf lies snarling”.
Within this poem the mood shifts from one of joy at the surf “as he in the water, with delight” to caution “turn home…….last leaf of gold vanishes”. As the poem ends the mood is much more sombre and illustrates the danger of the ocean, “grey-wolf lies, snarling”.

The structure of the poem is a three line stanza, free verse. This best conveys the change in mood from one of joy and closeness with the sea to that of caution and danger.

The poets choice of words are striking and vivid. They convey a message different to that if other words and phrases had been used. “green weirs of water” conveys a stronger message than a similar line that states “there was a lot of green water”. The language used captivates the reader wit =h interesting words and messages and all the words are relevant to the subject.
Personification and metaphors are used frequently throughout this poem in ways such as “sea crouches on sand, fawning and mouthing” and hawthorn hedges in spring, thorns in the face stinging”. The effects of these examples (use of personification and metaphors) are that it makes the poem more interesting.

Movement is portrayed through the enjalement throughout this poem. This poem is written in blank verse which adds to the imager. There are no animal made or place, such as swoosh or bark, made sounds throughout this poem however alliteration is used throughout this piece.

In summary the is poem is a well written poem that shows the relationship and enjoyment the surfer enjoys with the sea and also the change of the sea from the middle of the day to the night. It holds a lot of techniques and portrays the image and message well.

english assesmnet

This is my english assesment. It is the assesment for term 1. 2008. It is called the Another Ancient Wonder.

Summary

It is Jason's fourteenth birthdayand he is spendign his day at the beach with a friend. but the day has an unexpected twist. When they discover a cave while snorkelling it will have a change on their life they will never remember.

Another Ancient Wonder
By Casey

It was a warm day as the sun blazed down on two young children playing at the beach in Sanctuary Cove. They were too busy to notice the ever so slowly tanning and eventually burning of their fair skinned backs. Their day was going to end differently to how either of them expected it too. For underneath the crashing waves a mystery was unravelling in the unknown perils of the deep water.
Today was Jason’s birthday and he was turning fourteen. Because it was late in the afternoon, all of Jason’s friends had already departed from the beach. Only Amanda remained.
Both children ran towards their parents who were busy chatting as they lay under the shade of an umbrella.
When they reached their parents, they chorused, “Can we go snorkelling, please?” with pleading voices.
“Oh, okay, just don’t be too long,” their parents replied mimicking the same tone as their children. As they ran away they could not prevent themselves from releasing large grins upon their masked faces.
They hurried to put on their snorkels, goggles and flippers. As they walked awkwardly towards the glistering water they grabbed an oxygen tank each. The refreshing and soothing motion of the waves calmed Amanda and Jason.
For a while they only snorkelled in the shallower waters, but after ten minutes Amanda let out a sigh.
“We’ve been snorkelling here for ten minutes and I have seen every grain of sand to the biggest of fish. I am bored!” she moaned.
“We’ll go diving then. After all we do have oxygen tanks,” he replied instantly.
“Okay,” exclaimed Amanda eagerly. They both took a big breath before plunging under the water.
At first it was pitch black. Gradually their eyes adjusted to the dark. Around them swam fish, many differing in size, shape and colour.
“The coral is beautiful,” sighed Amanda, but to her amazement only bubbles escaped from her mouth.
Something caught Jason’s attention. He motioned for Amanda to join him. Jason wanted to explore, while Amanda was moderately more mature and tried to delay him. Finally, Amanda gave in and reluctantly followed into the unknown waters.
When they arrived they noted that it was a cave. While Amanda was momentarily distracted Jason saw his chance and with no warning dashed into the cave. Amanda was surprised and sped off after him.
Amanda hauled herself out of a hole in the middle of the cavern floor. The cave was well above ground level making it able for a human to live in it, but surprisingly there were no signs of one. After checking that Jason was alright, she wasted no time in taking off all her extra belongings apart from her swimmers, as did Jason.
Situated in the middle of the cave was a rock. Amanda leaned in closer for a better view, overcome with curiosity. She realised it was engraved with writing.
“It’s written in a different language,” stated Amanda.
“This is the eighth ancient wonder of the world. This is the Aboriginal treasure cave. Once you depart you will never have any memory of this place,” muttered Jason.
“How do you know that?” quizzed Amanda.
“I don’t know,” insisted Jason.
The ground began to shake. They looked around, the walls were now covered in pictures of the dreamtime. Jason let out a whistle but apart from that he was silent.
The two of them studied the pictures for an hour before coming to the decision to leave, and rejoin their parents. A spell came upon them and they dropped to the ground in a dead sleep. From the back of the cave emerged an ancient Aboriginal, guard to the eight ancient wonder of the world. He slung the two children and their belongings over his back and made his way back to the beach.
When the two children awoke, they remembered nothing about the cave. And so that is how the eighth ancient wonder of the world has remained a secret.

INTRODUCING MY FIRST ENGLISH BLOG

Welcome to my English blog. If you visit this later on it will be overflowing with stories and acticvities done in my English class. Yhankyou to Mr powell for showing us how to set this up. and Miss English if you read this it means that you know we have set this up and that you expect great peices of work on here. Anyone else come back later on to see what I have done.

HAVE A GOOD DAY