Robert Browning's Women and Roses explores the idea of dreams regarding 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 in the repressive Victorian era, through 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 Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayBrowning describes love as personal. It begins with the clear statement —“I dream of a tree of red roses”— which, through the personal pronoun, portrays love as a private and liberating experience, and ending with another first-person pronoun —“to me”—emphasizes the 'exclusivity of love. However, this tone easily becomes possessive when Browning explores the preservation of women in art – “carved in stone”. While conservation has beneficial connotations, the act of containment involves objectification. This is further explored in My Last Duchess as the Duke says that "no one pulls back the curtain but me" to suggest complete possession; not only did the Duke own the Duchess when she was alive, but he also owns her portrait now that she is dead. At the end of the poem, the speaker says that "I will make an Eve, I will be the artist who began it" which suggests that the speaker owns 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 about evolution and would lead to the idea of a "mitochondrial Eve" who was the first woman to pass down DNA through mothers . Browning then suggests that the speaker sees himself as the founder of all women in all humanity. Furthermore, just like God, the speaker appears outside of time. The fact that he imagines himself possessing three women, representing all women in time, implies that he exists in eternity to fulfill his fantasy. This is similar to the situation in A Grammarian's Funeral since, to achieve the Grammarian's goal of total knowledge, he believes that "What time is it?" Browning here explores the idea that love exists outside of time and is totally liberating; it is not limited by social pressures or limitations. Browning also portrays women as only relevant for their beauty. The polysyndetonic liquids and participles present in “Living and loving and loving today” suggest life and youth and then, with “the multitude of girls” having the double meaning of women and virgins, they seem to celebrate fertility. However, while Browning initially appears to enjoy and love the freedom and youth of these women, the speaker later suggests that he only enjoys fantasizing with these figures; they are born exclusively to realize that fantasy: "Beauties not yet born". The irony is, though, that because the speaker has sex with more "maidens" and then seems to get rid of them, fewer of them exist for him. With such actions, the love he can nurture deteriorates. This destructive nature continues through the metaphor of flower pollination. “The bees pass him by unmolested” provides an image of men as bees, fertilizing women but also sucking the life out of them. While it may seem like men are fulfilling a need, by their objectification of women they corrupt and blacken love. This theme of nature is also addressed in Due in Campagna in “Feathered grasses everywhere… the ghost of Rome from its death” with the image of excessive growth; while enjoying the beautiful countryside, like fertility, everything dies, especially if it is not truly respected and loved. This conception therefore also suggests the fragility of love, which is parallel to the”,.
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