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Essay / The images about love in Women and Roses by Browning
Women and Roses by Robert Browning explore the idea of dreams concerning love, particularly sexual love. The speaker imagines the three women of time as roses: the past, the present and the future. Although this poem appeared during the repressive Victorian era, through the allusions and dream visions, Browning manages to explicitly develop sexual fantasies that would have been plausible in his time. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Browning describes love as personal. It begins with the austere verb “I dream of a red rosebush” – which, through the personal pronoun, describes love as a private and liberating experience, and ending with another first person pronoun – “for me » - emphasizes exclusivity. of love. However, this tone easily becomes possessive when Browning explores the preservation of women in art – “carved in stone.” Although preservation has beneficial connotations, the act of containment involves objectification. This is explored further in My Last Duchess, as the Duke says that "no one puts the curtain back here but me" to suggest total possession; not only did the Duke own the Duchess when she was alive, but he even owns her portrait now that she is dead. At the end of the poem, the speaker says, "I will make an Eve, be the artist that began her," which suggests that the speaker possesses not only women, but humanity's first woman; he became God. While Browning was writing his poetry, Darwin was discovering The Origin of Species, which developed ideas of evolution and would lead to the idea of a "mitochondrial Eve" who would be the first woman to then transmit DNA through of his mother. Browning therefore suggests that the speaker sees himself as the founder of all women throughout humanity. Furthermore, just like God, the speaker appears outside of time. The fact that he imagines possessing three women, representing all women throughout time, implies that he exists in eternity in order to fulfill his fantasy. This is similar to the situation in A Grammarian's Funeral because, in order to achieve the grammarian's goal of total knowledge, he asks "What time is it?" Browning here explores the idea that love exists outside of time and is totally liberating; he is not limited by social pressure or limitations. Browning also describes women as only relevant because of their beauty. The polysyndetonic liquids and participles present in “Live, love and love today” suggest life and youth then, with “the multitude of young girls” having the double meaning of women and virgins, seem to celebrate fertility. However, while Browning initially seems to appreciate and love the freedom and youthfulness of these women, the speaker then suggests that he only enjoys fantasizing with these characters; they were born only to fulfill this fantasy: “beauties yet to be born”. The irony, however, is that as the speaker has sex with more "young girls" and then seems to get rid of them, there are fewer of them available for him to enjoy. Through such actions, the love he can carry deteriorates. This destructive nature continues through the metaphor of the pollination of flowers. “Bees get away with it” paints a picture of men as bees, impregnating women but also sucking the life out of them. Although it may seem like men are satisfying a need, by objectifying women they corrupt and blacken love. This theme of nature is also addressed in Two in the Campagna in “Feathery Grasses »,.