Is Love ultimately about power?: Compare and contrast the methods used by the poets to address this idea.

Power without love is reckless and abusive, but love without power is sentimental and anaemic, as American activist, Martin Luther King once said. Love is a timeless motif seen in an array of poetry, regardless of era, race, gender or even language. It is also arguable that love is ultimately about power. This essay compares and contrasts the elements of love and power in the relationships illustrated in the poems My Last Duchess by Robert Browning, Poem at 39 by Alice Walker and La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats. The natures of the love described in the three poems vary substantially, from having possessive to romantic to familial qualities this too will be considered in this essay. In the dramatic monologue, My Last Duchess, (written by Robert Browning in the 1800s) a Duke describes a painting of his late wife to an anonymous guest and consequentially reveals more about their relationship than he was likely to have initially intended. Browning deliberately turns the reader against the Duke by revealing only limited minutiae and by depicting a pompous man who abuses his hierarchical authority. At first glance, the authority in the relationship between the Duke and Duchess appears to be fully monopolised by the Duke. After all, the Duke is alive, affluent and admired. However, with a deeper understanding of the many allusions and connotations incorporated throughout the poem, one realizes that the Duchess has and had a great deal of discreet influence which the Duke is far from capable of ever obtaining. The diction used by Browning forces the reader to view the Duke as desperately arrogant, and of a lesser ranking than he himself appears to recognise and accordingly act upon. This ostentation is evident in the phrases my gift of a ninehundred-years-old name and I choose Never to stoop. By referring to the Dukes family name as a gift, Browning elucidates a disagreeable, vain and conceited persona to the reader.

However, his nine-hundred-years-old name proves the Dukes royalty and hierarchical ranking. Also, the decision to Never stoop, displays an ability to choose whether or not to lower himself, and suggests some presence of hierarchical authority to make such decisions. These effective indications of authority result in the recognition of the Dukes power by the reader, prior to the Duchesss, less conspicuous, power. Brownings intentions of presenting the Duke as an unkind figure in the poem is further reinforced by the Dukes association of his inherited silver-spoon with how he expects to be valued, even by the only woman to whom this granted authority should not interfere with his wife. Although discreet, the deliberate arrangement of the poems syntax to turn the reader against the Duke is potent; resulting in a defensive and watchful attitude from the reader. The Duke emanates self-satisfaction by questioning, Whod stoop to blame This sort of trifling? Although a rhetorical question, the notion that the Duke recognises and misuses his royal ranking becomes clear through the implication of the trifling of others as trivial and petty. This also suggests the exploitation of the Dukes inherited power to the extent where it damaged his love life and the life of his lover. In this case, love was not only ultimately about power, but power was the ultimatum for his lover. From lines 36 to 47, the poems syntax is peppered with punctuation. To the reader, this would likely indicate hesitation, edginess and implicit tension. The phrase she smiled, no doubt, wheneer I passed her; but who passed without much the same smile? This grew, I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together, is of particular importance as it implicitly explains a vital element of the poems theme (the murder of the Duchess), and acts as a turning point in the Dukes monologue. The likely lacunae as a result of the Dukes cautious speech leave the reliability of his account up for debate, weakening the credibility of the Dukes monologue. The reader is then left to draw their own conclusions based on the implicit statements and probable omission of detail, and so the true nature and fate of the Duchess remains cryptic.

Nevertheless, the Duchess still manipulates some of the power in the relationship, as she has the unspoken supremacy to influence the Dukes insecurities by forcing him to veil her portrait behind a curtain she holds this power without trying. The Duke explained to his anonymous guest that none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I, probably without realizing that his paranoia gives the deceased Duchess the upper hand by having control over his mind. However, rather ambiguously, the Duke simultaneously has power by cloaking her behind a curtain, and holding the power to hide the Duchess from society as he had always wished he could have done whilst she was alive. In addition, the Duchess had the unintentional power to evoke jealousy in the Duke something many would assume to be a nearly insurmountable task, as the Duke presents himself with such a self-important air, and as a bearer of a multitude of material possessions. This is shown through the Dukes use of spiteful language throughout the piece, which include officious and disgusts. This diction is used by the Duke to describe the men who exceed[ed] the mark with his wife. Similarly, the repetition of the word too in the lines 22 and 23 implies the discomfort and jealously provoked by the Duchess ways. This jealousy would imply the likely obsessive love the Duke had for the knowledge of simply possessing the Duchess (as opposed to loving she herself), much like he would for an inanimate object. In addition, the profound lack of love the Duke displays for his late wife brings the reader to question the Dukes motives. Why marry, overpower, and ultimately quell a woman who enkindles little to no emotional affection? The Duke is depicted to treat his Last Duchess as an inanimate object in a variety of seemingly habitual ways, and as a result, their relationship appears to lack love. One would derive few justifiable reasons for such ill-bred behaviour, however one could assume that an emotion as compelling as love would not contribute significantly to a relationship so unequally upheld. The reader may also assume that the Duke suffers from some form of internal conflict (such as anxiety, paranoia or insecurity) due to the possessive power the Duke simply would

not compromise; even after circumstances urged him to concede. If this were the case, the alluded poor mental health would be well masked by the Dukes spirited words and proud air, as he choose[s] Never to stoop. The objectification of the women in his life becomes obvious through the phrases My Last Duchess and depth and passion of its earnest glance. The reference to his spouse as My reflects the sense of ownership the Duke assumes over the Duchess. Also, when referring to the Duchess fleeting look, the Duke uses its as opposed to her. As if referring to the Duchess as an article instead of a person is not twisted enough, the very phrase is also an oxymoron, where the words depth and passion contradict quite profoundly with the word earnest. This contradiction sparks both doubt and curiosity in the reader, yet weakens the ethos of the Dukes account. Furthermore, the Dukes description of the Duchess revolves around only two extremely superficial elements; her looks and wrong-doings. This provides a reader with no more than the appearance of the Duchess, and a likely biased approach to her flaws. These two elements are shallow and desultory and inform not much more than what one would unveil if they were to speak about an inanimate object, further emphasising the seeming lack of emotional importance of women to the Duke. One could resolve that the Duke is simply blinded by power, to the point where even love is petty and superfluous. To stress the point further, the Duke appears to be too inordinately interested in the monetary aspects of marriage for any relationship of his to be deemed sound. He mentions that just no pretence of mine for dowry will be disallowed, just prior to when he was to meet his potential bride; yet he speaks not of anything about the lady herself, but of the monetary sum he will receive after they wed. Not only does this indicate a void of emotion towards his new lover, but it also alludes to the lack of emotional attachment to his Last Duchess for how would one speak so carelessly and casually of remarriage after the death of a genuine companion?

Although obscure, the Duke never mentions the name of his Last Duchess, and only ever refers directly to her with analogous elusiveness. One may conclude that this is an outcome of the lack of love, as the memory of her may be nebulous, he has a lack of respect for her, or perhaps she provided him with no sentimental significance. Instead of addressing the Duchess by name, the Duke only ever refers to her as Duchess or her. This combination of evidence of the objectification of the Duchess, unnatural conversation and the negative light in which Duke is presented represents a probable independence of love from power in this case, and the apparent lack of ordinary love in the relationship. If love is ultimately about power, this absence of typical love would justify the inequality in non-hierarchical authority in the illustrated relationship. Contradictorily, there is considerable evidence which supports the ardent love the Duke did have for the Duchess, for example; twas not Her husbands presence only, called that spot of joy into the Duchess cheek and bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard for her. Both quotations are incited by jealousy, and often blind jealousy is an undying corollary of zealous love. Also, conflictingly, the lack of the mention of the Duchess name could be ambiguous, and be prompted by love. Possible justification for the omission of her name include, perhaps it pains the Duke to address her personally or the guilt from ending her life restrains him from referring to her as he might once have when she was alive. Overall, the Dukes speech comes across as artificially phlegmatic, overly ostentatious and unsurprisingly uncommitted. All considered, the portrayal of the twisted love the Duke had for the Duchess is prevalent even after Brownings inclusion of deliberate contradictions and the Dukes elusiveness when discussing his emotions. This is effective as it implies an unnatural sense of peculiar love, whilst simultaneously still ensuring the reader is aware that love, in a queer form, is present. It appeals to the readers emotions as love is one of the strongest forms of endearment common to all.

Browning carefully crafts this common ground to captivate the reader and provoke thought in an unorthodox way found rarely in poetry especially during his time. Browning also published Porphyrias Lover in 1836. Also a monologue, Porphyrias Lover depicts a fair lady who stops by a mans cottage to take shelter from a storm, and consequentially they appear to fall in love with one another. However, due to societal strictures, their relationship is forbidden and, to preserve the moment, before the fair lady realises their relationship cannot last, the man strangles her by wrapping her hair around her neck. The man then remains with her body, acting as if she were still alive, preserving the moment. There are uncanny similarities between My Last Duchess and Porphyrias Lover. As they are written by the same poet, it is not surprising that both poems are dramatic monologues, and that they involve love and power as key elements. However, the love in the poems both share a peculiar storyline as a manipulative male figure in a relationship murders the female in an attempt to protect them from society. The male figures in both poems also go on to behave as if the dead females were still alive. Like My Last Duchess, Porphyrias Lover also employs the common ground of love as a mutual connection to the reader, once again in an atypical way which was rare at Brownings time. Though this correlation between the two poems appears too pronounced to be merely coincidental, Brownings love life showed no apparent signs of such tales resembling reality. He maintained a romantic relationship with poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning for over fifteen years; it was ended by Elizabeth Brownings death due to lung health issues. As a consequence, one may conclude that poetry was Robert Brownings escape, his gateway to a life unlike his own. This is likely as both poems involve a drastic measure taken by a male figure against society, and the portrayal of beautiful women as the female roles in the relationships. As one of the foremost Victorian poets, one can assume that poetry played a large part in Robert Brownings seemingly ordinary life.

If thou must love me (Sonnet 14) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is a poem written from a females perspective on how she so desires to be loved for more than what she is at face value, or for loves sake only. As Robert Brownings wife, this supports the concept that poetry was a significant part of both of their lives, and that they both expressed love through writing in unalike and abstract ways. If thou must love me (Sonnet 14) is very deep, yet straightforward to understand, as Elizabeth Browning (like Robert Browning) appeals to the mutuality of love by describing what so many yearn a sound and genuine relationship. The poem takes a lyrical feel as one reads it, and one deduces a balance and parity in the ideal relationship she describes. The poem opens with the line If thou must love me, let it be for nought. At first encounter, the reference to nought appears to refer to a feature which is oppositional to the more superficial elements of a relationship (as mentioned by Browning: looks, smile and laugh). However, from a different standpoint, nought may represent power and the perfect balance of it. Most would assume that a harmonious balance of power in a relationship is an equilibrium which is equal. Browning implies an ideal balance of power in a relationship would simply be one in which both parties are comfortable with, whether that be as equals or not. This is reminiscent of the idyllic love most would pursue one in which both parties agree with the outcomes they wish from the relationship. This mutuality between love and power implied in the poem supports the dependence of those rudiments on one another, linking back to how love is, continually, ultimately about power. John Keats published La Belle Dame Sans Merci in 1819, and it is one of his more popular ballads. The control in La Belle Dame Sans Merci is very one-sided at any given time, although the control appears to shift. In this ballad, the love begins traditionally and agreeably, however takes a drastic turn and results in being ultimately about power , as the female leaves the knight so haggard and so woe-begone. The power in this ballad is characterised by a love that inflicts both pleasure and pain. It vaguely bears a resemblance to the situation Keats was in

himself, at the time. With impending death by lethal tuberculosis and his resilient love for neighbour Fanny Browne, the portrayal of a full beautiful, mystical female and a dying, waning knight poses a similarity to his life too exact to be merely credited to coincidence. This similitude to reality accentuates the remorsefulness of the ballad and the helpless desperation for love and life itself, when put against uncontrollable forces such as infectious disease or, possibly, mystical beings. The supernaturalism of the Belle Dame is explicitly specified in the phrase I met a lady a faerys child. This prevents the relationship from being socially acceptable, similarly to the relationship portrayed in Porphyrias Lover. This forbidden love would grow, to be the root cause of the dismal fate of the knight, of which was foreshadowed in the first stanza of the poem, in the phrase knight-at-arms, Alone and palely loitering? no birds sing. The deliberate placement of this stanza at the beginning of the poem indicates Keats intentions to let the reader know that the poem will end grimly, and that they would later discover an imbalance in power would be the cause of the knights demise. It is plausible to compare this illustrated situation to Keats battle with tuberculosis. The Belle Dame appears to be a femme fatale. These are evil women who cause suffering to men of power by exploiting their great beauty and sensuality. This becomes apparent in the phrase pale kings, and princes too, Pale warriors, death-pale were they all; They cried La Belle Dame sans Merci Thee hath in thrall! Once again, the idea of a femme fatale is an archetypal, well-known example of where love is ultimately about power or the abuse of the both. On the surface, this seems a justified conclusion, considering the explicit mention of the men the femme fatale had taken advantage of in the past. Incompatibly, Keats simply does not offer the reader enough clear information on this mystical woman for one to make a solid conclusion. Several inconclusive phrases leave the ballad ambiguous, and the statement of the femme fatales treachery is referred to in a dream. And sure in language strange she said I love thee true is an example of a very ambiguous and unclear phrase, as the knight contradicts

himself by referring to her words as strange, yet he is sure that the lady declared her love for him. This is both inconclusive and confusing to the reader, and clouds the theme of the ballad. Nonetheless, the manipulative dominance a full beautiful woman has over an infatuated man is phenomenal enough to drive one towards death. Similarly to My Last Duchess, the ballad is written tersely and is devoid of extensive detail. The phrase the sedge has withered from the lake, And no birds sing is repeated in the first and last stanzas of this ballad. One develops a nuance of forlornness and desolation from this repeated phrase, reminiscent of the fundamental tone of the ballad. The repetition is effective as a technique to emphasize, however, when the phrase stands alone, one discovers it is simply a description of typical late autumn weather. However, ambiguously, the withering of vegetation and the absence of birds songs are both symbols of bleakness and eerie vacancy. This ambiguity is likely to be intentional, as further indication of late autumn is mentioned in the sentence, The squirrels granary is full, And the harvests done. The theme of desolation is a continued underlying constituent throughout the ballad, stressing the powerlessness this unrequited love has rendered the knight-at-arms. Keats deliberate crafting of the description to simultaneously illustrate both desolation and setting causes the reader to subconsciously recognise the lack of power upheld by the knight throughout the ballad. Unlike the Duke in My Last Duchess, his position as a knight-at-arms does not provide him with any hierarchical power instead, arguably, it is the reason of his demise as femme fatales target men of power. Both My Last Duchess and Poem at 39 involve a person reflecting upon a deceased loved one. However, the similarities end there, as the tone, mood, characters, age, setting and conveyed denotation all differ immensely. Power does not contribute greatly to the rudimentary theme of Poem at 39, however, as it accompanies all manifestations of love, power is still present.

The lack of sentence complexity is maintained throughout Poem at 39, and contributes to the establishment of a natural, story-like style, as if the poem is a manifestation of speech, or perhaps a train of thought. I wish he had not been so tired when I was born is a sentence that is both short and has a colloquial and familiar feel. No allusions or ambiguities would be derived from this sentence; the intended significance of the diction is clear and direct. This simplicity applies to the whole poem, wherein there is a prevalent absence of literary techniques applied, and maintenance of clear denotation. However, this absence is not a factor that degrades the impact of the poem; in fact, it arguably strengthens the poem. The phrasing is neither forced nor artificial, and the poems conversational ease appeals to the reader as similar to how they would speak to a friend. This goes on to emphasize the insignificance of power depicted in this familial relationship. Alice Walker is an African-American activist, poet and author, famous for her award-winning book, The Colour Purple. Another of her published books is By the Light of My Fathers Smile. As the youngest of eight children, Walker, of all siblings, would inevitably have the least time to spend with her parents, as they would be busy, and pass away sooner in her life than any of her brothers and sisters. At 39 years of age, Alice Walker was a single mother. She may have yearned for a fatherly figure in her daughters life at the time, and this may have sparked nostalgic thoughts about her own father. In Poem at 39, Walker recalls her life with her father, expresses regret on not fully appreciating the time she had with him, and predicts how he would react if she were with him now. The love between Alice Walker and her father is, evidently, familial however the poem takes on a regretful and reflective tone. This nostalgia is sensed in the opening stanza How I miss my father. I wish he had not been so tired when I was born. The use of the verbs I miss and I wish overtly describes this solemn regret, and in Poem at 39, the regret is for the lack of affection she shared with her father when she had the chance. This longing for something clearly unattainable is also seen in the war poem, Disabled, by

Wilfred Owen. In Disabled, an injured war veteran without limbs explains how his life had taken a turn for the worse after the loss of his limbs in war. This wistfulness is seen in Owens poem in the phrase In the old times, before he threw away his knees. The element of regret is a judiciously employed technique to evoke pathos in the reader in order to do justice to the worthy accounts depicted in Poem at 39 and Disabled. Regret may be viewed as a weak emotion; in context, the protagonist would be a feeble victim to the passage of time. This powerlessness to time is a pivotal factor affecting the love Alice Walker expresses for her deceased father; reinforcing the idea that love is ultimately about power. To conclude, through the analysis of literary works which depict varying extents and forms of love, one discovers that power is a regular constituent of the intended denotations. The use of ambiguous phrases and subtle allusions regularly result in inconclusive and unsound deductions of the dependence of love and power on one another. Nonetheless, one can infer from the fundamental meaning of the similarities between My Last Duchess, La Belle Dame Sans Merci and Poem at 39, that love is influenced heavily by power, regardless of whether the love is romantic, familial or longing. All in all, the three poems unite to provide a mutual connection between the features of love and power in a wider myriad of literary works. Word Count - 3946