1. Poetry Across Time: Character and Voice
Key
Language: connotation, imagery, metaphor, simile
Structure and form: stanzas, type, patterns, contrast, juxtaposition
Poetic methods: alliteration, caesura, assonance, rhythm, rhyme
Character and voice: who is speaking and to whom? Tone of voice
Links: comparisons to other speakers, methods and themes
Fairytale imagery implies solid,
protective, happy times.
Tone is
reminiscent. Les Grand Seigneurs Continuation of
fairytale
Men were my buttresses, my castellated towers, connotations,
The bowers where I took my rest. The best and worst the exotic
Of times were men: the peacocks and the cockatoos, animals
Dramatic represent men
descriptive The nightingales, the strutting pink flamingos. as show offs.
monologue,
emphasises the Men were my dolphins, my performing seals; my sailing ships,
possession and
The ballast in my hold. They were the rocking-horses Enjambment
power she had
over men. Prancing down the promenade, the bandstand links sounds
Where the music played. My hurdy-gurdy monkey-men. and sights.
‘Courtly’ implies I was their queen. I sat enthroned before them, Imagery - royal, high
romanticised love, Out of reach. We played at courtly love: society, courted, but out
continuation of the The troubadour, the damsel and the peach. of reach.
fairytale theme.
‘His’ a contrast But after I was wedded, bedded, I became
from repetition of (yes overnight) a toy, a plaything, little woman, Change of tone marks
the personal change of status –
Wife, a bit of fluff. My husband clicked contrast.
pronoun ‘my’ and
His fingers, called my bluff.
shows husband
now has the
Links:
possession and
Medusa – before and after; female dramatic monologue; sympathy for narrator;
power over her.
changed by actions of men; the ‘silent’ voice given a voice by female poet.
My Last Duchess – victim who loses her voice after husband ‘clicked his fingers’;
dramatic monologue; power.
Interpretations of the poem:
 A feminist account of men's affections and how they cannot be won but rather
need to be constantly kept at arms length and tantalised with the promise of
something unattainable. It is open to interpretation whether the poem is a
critique of masculine shallowness or on some women's willingness to give
their all to a relationship too soon.