Part 1
In “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning we meet the narrator who is a Duke. The duke is meeting an emissary in order to discuss marrying the daughter of a very important man. As he is giving the emissary a tour of his home he stops to admire the portrait of his dead wife. The Duke begins to speak of his dead wife with affection. This quickly turns into bitterness when he goes on a rant about the fact she engaged in behaviors that he found distasteful. As he goes on he reveals that he “gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together.” (Browning 1996). This tells the reader that the Duke was definitely responsible for his wife’s death. After this he and the emissary continue to walk through the house as the Duke continues to show him art. There is no concrete ending since the reader does not know if the young lady in question married the Duke. However, we assume that if she did then there was probably a good chance that she ended up dead like the last Duchess
“Leda and the Swan”
In “Leda and the Swan” by William Butler Yeats. He tells of the rape of Leda by Zeus in swan form. He uses a number of metaphors to indicate that the act is in fact rape. First he says that “dark webs” (Yeats) stroke her thighs and that the swan held her neck in his mouth while he “her helpless breast upon his breast.” (Yeats). The poem goes on to say that Leda tried to fight but that she was no match for the god. In that her “terrified vague fingers” (Yeats) tried to push the swan away from its position between her thighs.
It does not exactly say so at the end of the poem, but in Greek Mythology which is the basis of this poem. Leda ends up conceiving four children. Two of the children were conceived with the swan and are born from eggs, the other two are with her husband and are born in the typical manner.
“Trifles”
In “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell, Mr. Wright ends up strangled in a farmhouse. His wife is the prime suspect. There is an investigation of the farmhouse by the authorities. However, it is their wives Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters who end up cracking the case, when they notice things that their husbands overlooked. They find Mrs. Wright’s canary with a broken neck and realize that Mr. Wright must have killed the canary and the Mrs. Wright tired of his abuse had killed him. The women then hide the bird from their husbands. This allows Mrs. Wright to go free.
Question 2
Death
In “Grass” by Carl Sandburg. He uses the idea of grass covering the bodies of the dead as a result of war to give an idea of how many people have died. This is because at the time that Sandburg wrote the poem there was still a vast amount of land across America that was still rural. The grass also represents mankind’s ability to cover up and forget about the results of their actions.
Occupation
In “Cargoes” by John Masefield the narrator is describing different types of merchant and trading ships that have existed throughout the centuries. He speaks of the importance of these ships to the time period that they were in despite the fact that they may not be as advanced as what was being used when Masefield wrote the poem. The reason that the cargo ships was so important was because they supported trade across many regions.
Nature
In “Root Cellar” by Theodore Roethke, the narrator speaks of a cellar that is overgrown by roots. The fact that roots are growing in an inhospitable environment indicates both natures adaptability and willingness to survive. The roots do not belong in the cellar away from the light, heat or nourishment that they would receive from the soil. However, despite not having any of the things mention the roots survive in order that they can produce offspring that are better able to cope with living and growing in a basement. This seems to be a parallel to the idea of human evolution and natural selection, which contend that species change overtime to adapt to the changes in their environment.
Part 2
“That's my last Duchess painted on the wall Looking as if she were alive” [Browning]
This is the first two lines of Robert Browning’s poem “My Last Duchess” The lines reveal to the reader that the person speaking is a Duke. He also seems to have had more than one wife, as he refers to his former wife as my last, whether than the Duchess or my Duchess. The addition of the word last seems to indicate that there were more before her. The Duchess is dead but, the portrait is very lifelike which seems to indicate that the Duke really loved his wife or that he saw he as something that he owned and wanted to retain possession of her even in death.
"I never said my name was Connie," she said.
"But I know what it is. I know your name and all about you, lots of things," Arnold Friend said "I took a special interest in you” (Oates)
This quote shows up in "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates, Connie, who is fifteen is very attractive and likes attention. One day she “asked” to take a ride with Arnold and his friend Ellie. Connie who had seen Arnold around town realizes that he is older than she had thought and does not want to go with him. The quote reveals that Arnold may have negative attentions in asking her to accompany them. This is because the way that he tells her that he took special interest in her is extremely creepy. Especially in light of the reveal that he is much older than Connie originally thought.
“It was the lesser of two evils, Mother” (Williams)
The above quote is spoken by Laura to her mother in “The Glass Menagerie”. Laura is telling her mother about how she has been sitting in the park, instead of going to secretarial school. The reason for Laura not going to classes is because she threw up when she went the first time. Laura believes that pretending to go was the best option because it allowed her mother the ability to continue to hold on to the illusion that Laura was “normal” and that she could function in society like other people. Laura cannot at this point because of her severe social phobia caused by her being crippled.
Sheriff: Well, can you beat the woman! Held for murder and worryin' about her preserves. [Trifles]
This quote which appears in “Trifles” by Susan Glaspell. The quote seems to represent the way that men view and treat women at the time that the play was written. The sheriff’s first reaction to Mrs. Wright worrying about her preserves is to wish for her to be beat. This is because he sees the situation as being far more serious then preserves. While Mrs. Wright places more importance on the preserves then her murder of her husband. This is because as a woman in this period of history her identity was tied to her domestic skills.
References
Browning, R. (1990). My last duchess: Ferrara. Champaign, IL: Project Gutenberg.
Glaspell, S. (1996). Trifles. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Library.
Kennedy, X. J., & Gioia, D. (2010). Introduction to poetry 13th ed. XJ Kennedy and Dana Gioia.
Williams, T. (1999). The glass menagerie.
