Consider the range of characterisation in Brownings dramatic monologues and the poetic methods he employs to portray his speakers. Some are written in rhyming verse, use metaphors, et cetera, but for what reason? What is the writer trying to achieve and how successful is he?Robert Browning (1812-1889) was an English poet noted for his mastery of dramatic monologue. He was born in London, the son of a wealthy clerk at the bank of England, he received scant formal education but had access to his fathers large library of about 6,000 volumes. Though initially unsuccessful as a poet and financially dependent on his family until well into adulthood Browning was to become a celebrated Victorian poet. In some of his finest works people from the past speak their thoughts and reveal their lives to the reader through the ? The poems I will be taking into account will be:Porphyrias Lover from Dramatic Lyrics, 1842The Laboratory, 1844My last Duchess,from Dramatic Lyrics, 1842Andrea del Sartofrom Men and Women, 1855Fra Lippo Lippi from Men and Women, 1855All these poems are presented from the viewpoint of an individual explaining their actions. The speakers all consider their actions justified, though only Fra Lippo Lippi has reason to explain himself to anyone.These poems use different poetic methods to form the character of the speaker. The rhyme schemes vary from obvious, as in the rhyming couplets of The Laboratory, to subtle, as in Porphyrias Lover to an absence of a rhyme scheme as in the blank verse of Andrea del Sarto.Also there are many uses of alliteration, assonance, enjambment and onomatopoeic words to draw our attention to areas of the poem. Similes and metaphors are employed throughout to create images that reflect the speaker or their conduct. The speaker in Porphyrias Lover is possessive, a psychopath without conscience over his actions, though this is not entirely evident to the reader at first due to the steady structure a...
