What is the poem in the laboratory about by Robert Browning?
This poem, set in seventeenth-century France, is the monologue of a woman speaking to an apothecary as he prepares a poison, which she intends to use to kill her rivals in love.
What is the purpose of the poem the laboratory?
Major Themes in “The Laboratory”: Jealousy, death, and revenge are the major themes of this poem. The poem centers on the revengeful attitude of a woman who intends to kill another woman. She is filled with hatred and wants to kill the lady. For that purpose, she is making poison that can help her achieve her goal.
What happens in the poem laboratory?
In a mere forty-eight lines the poem gives us this story in incredible and vivid detail. We enter into the mind of the speaker, seeing her raging jealousy, her raging sense of betrayal, and now her fascination with the work of the chemist in his laboratory as he creates the poison that she thinks will end her troubles.
Who is the voice in the laboratory poem?
The poem is narrated by a young woman to an apothecary, who is preparing her a poison with which to kill her rivals at a nearby royal court. She pushes him to complete the potion while she laments how her beloved is not only being unfaithful, but that he is fully aware that she knows of it.
Which is the poison to poison her prithee?
Which is the poison to poison her, prithee? Empty church, to pray God in, for them!
What is the tone of the laboratory?
Despite the dark subject manner, the tone of the poem is gleeful and energetic; Browning’s character is like a pantomime villain, and we see her excitement mount as she witnesses the grisly process.
How many stanzas are in a lab?
twelve
If you count them up, you’ll see that there are twelve four-line stanzas in this poem. All that even spacing helps give the poem a calm, controlled feeling, even though the lines turn out to be about blood and guts and poison and grisly death.
What is the meter of the laboratory?
Form and meter This poem is written in mostly written in anapestic tetrameter, which is consists of two unstressed syllables, followed by a stress. It creates here a staccato rhythm which suggests the adrenaline-fuelled energy of the Speaker.
What are some of Robert Browning’s poems?
The Laboratory. By Robert Browning. Although the early part of Robert Browning’s creative life was spent in comparative obscurity, he has come to be regarded as one of the most important poets of the Victorian period. His dramatic monologues and the psycho-historical epic The Ring and the Book (1868-1869), a…
Is the laboratory by Robert Browning based on a true story?
Robert Browning was a Victorian poet, famed for writing dramatic monologues, of which The Laboratory is a fine example. This poem is based on a true story from seventeenth-century France, where the now infamous Madame de Brinvilliers, poisoned several members of her own family.
What is the inspiration for the poem The laboratory?
The Poem’s Inspiration. The Laboratory is set in seventeenth century France where a woman is speaking to an apothecary – he prepares a poison that she intends to use to kill her rival in love.
How does Browning use enjambment in her poems?
Whilst the language of Browning’s other poems depicts the male narrator’s voices as collected, cold and remorseless, the voice of the woman is excitable, rambling and displaying a level of emotion not present within the men, a gendered stereotype mirrored through the use of enjambment.