Option B: "My Last Duchess"

The speaker in “My Last Duchess”, by Robert Browning reveals himself to be a possessive and jealous man. The speaker is a duke that is trying to arrange a marriage with the count through the word of an emissary. His last wife died and he keeps the painting of her hidden for no one else to see but himself, which proves he is obsessive of her. The duke realized that the painter caught a special look on his wife’s face and doesn’t like that either, because that look should be only for him to see. He claims his wife had a heart “too soon made glad”, “Too easily impressed” (line 22). The duke’s tone and choice of words suggest that his state of mind is a complexity of selfish, controlling, and obsessive thoughts and actions. Everyone smiled back at her whenever she smiled. “Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,/Whenever I passed her; but who passed without the same smile?” (43-45). He couldn’t handle seeing the attention she got from others so he “gave commands” and “all smiles stopped together” He only shares information with the emissary that he wants to be taken back to the count, making himself look like a good man; however, the readers see otherwise. The duke claims to be an unskilled speaker, “Even had you skill in speech—(which I have not)—to make your will” (35-36). Even so, he cleverly turns the conversation around with the emissary at his own advantage to look impressive, proving to be a selfish man with not only his wife but with everything he does.

Erika Knutson

Theme of "To His Coy Mistress"

The theme in this poem is pretty apparent. The speaker in the poem is in love with a lady who does not return his love and affection. She is determined to keep her virginity and to ignore his persistence towards her. “I would love you ten years before the Flood, and you should, if you please, refuse till the conversion of the Jews” (Andrew Marvell, lines 9-10).

The speaker is trying to tell the lady that her beauty will not last forever and that her stubbornness would be for nothing. “But at my back I always hear time’s winged chariot hurrying near” (21-22). He tells her that saving herself will not do her any good in the end. “And your quaint honor turned to dust” (29). He wants the lady to give into him while she is still young and beautiful. He will no longer want her when she is old.

The poem ends with the speaker trying to convince the lady once more to be his lover. “Now therefore, while the youthful hue sits on thy skin like morning glue” (33-34), “Now let us sport us while we may” (37). The poem does not say whether the lady gives in or not.

My Last Duchess

In My Last Douchess, by Robert Browning, the speaker starts off as a nice man. He slowly shows attitude as the poem goes on and also displays what a jealous man he is. “Her husband’s presence only, called that spot” (Browning, line 14) The speaker seems annoyed that his wife, in her portrait, gave the painter her special look. He thought that she should only share this with him.
The speaker is a duke who lost his wife to death. He is a control freak who is looking for a new wife. As he describes his former wife, the duchess, he shows just how jealous of a man he is. “Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule” (28) He shows how displeased he is by other men trying to impress her.
The speaker’s tone suggests that he is a rude man. He cares for nobody else’s happiness, but his own. “Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands” (45 & 46) The speaker seems like he liked to bring his duchess down a few pegs, he didn’t want her to be walking around smiling.
He is talking to an emissary. He wants the emissary to arrange a marriage between the Duke’s daughter and himself. “Though his fair daughter’s self, as I vowed” (52) I am not sure how convincing he has been though, the emissary probably saw what kind of husband he was to the douches and assumed that he would be the same to the counts daughter.

GQ Doll
The poem Barbie Doll,written by Marge Piercy, is written for the female aspects of struggling to be a Barbie doll. This poem can easily be flipped to show Ken dolls side of the story. The boys have the same pressures as girls do, but in some ways even more. They have to prove that they are strong to their class mates to be respected. I don't know to many popular wimpy guys. Parents expect their boys to be stronger emotionally then they do their girls also. I don't think they have as much pressure to be thin as girls but they still do have some pressure. The body builder probably gets more dates than the really nice chubby guy.
If I had to rewrite the Barbie Doll poem to reflect the male Ken Doll I would name it the GQ Doll. GQ is a magazine for handsome men with perfect bodies and features, exactly what is expected of the Ken and Barbie dolls.
I would present the GQ doll as the perfect looking man. He would have a beautiful body, very defined and muscular with no fat. GQ would be tall, have nice hair, perfectly white and straight teeth. He would also be wearing a very revealing outfit to show off his gorgeous muscles. GQ would also be a stressed out man because he would have to constantly work out and diet.
The GQ doll poem would be composed mainly of informal diction. I don’t see any reason to try to fancy up the words. After all, I would be describing a man with a perfect outside and a sad inside. I think the easier it is to follow the better my readers would connect with my descriptions of this gorgeous and distraught man.

Barbie Doll

The poem “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy is a very feminist poem. However, it can also be applied to boys if it is just tweaked here and there. Often times we don’t think of boys as having problems with peer pressure and the way they look, but they do. The hardest think for boys though is the emotional aspect of life. As a society we believe boys to be the tougher, stronger sex. We expect them to always have the answer, to never cry and always be stronger than women. Girls can play with boy toys without getting teased. If a boy picks up a doll, before long the whole daycare will be laughing at him. Girls can cry whenever they want and it is not looked at as being abnormal. If a guy cries, he is thought of as weak or a mama’s boy.

If I wanted to rewrite this poem for a boy, my title would be, “Superman,” because Superman always saves the day and is never hurt for long. He also never cries and has muscles that no one can ever achieve the healthy way. This brings up another point. We tend to think that girls are the ones that struggle with body issues and having to look a certain way. I think boys struggle with this as well. Look at all the male super heroes. They are all ripped! They all have broad shoulders and look very manly (even though they wear their underwear over their TIGHTS!). In my poem I would write about male super heroes and how they affect little boys.

If you’re a girl or if you’re a boy; it doesn’t matter, you are still going to go through peer pressure and pressure from our society on what the cultural norm is. Boys go through just as much problems with body issues and self-images as girls do.

Ozymandias

In the poem “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley there is a theme that nothing lasts. This is shown by the shattering of the statue that once stood tall. “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the dessert” (Shelley 721). The statue or sculpture has been destroyed somewhere along the line. “Half sunk, a shattered visage lies” (721). The sculptor of the sculpture was very proud of his work. He wrote on a pedestal, ‘”My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: look on my works, ye Might, and despair!’” (721). He was very proud of his sculpture. Obviously, the sculpture could not stand the test of time and is now broken and decaying in the dessert. It is no longer a proud sculpture, but broken pieces in the sand. The one thing in the poem that can stand the test of time is this; the passionate words the sculptor spoke while he was sculpting. “tell that its sculptor well those passions read which yet survive” (721). There are several different speakers in this poem. The poem starts out with an unknown speaker who met a traveler. Then, the traveler talks about the sculptor. Lastly, the sculptor’s voice is heard. This contributes to the theme because the first two men are talking about something in the past that did not last.