Telephone conversation

1.

Soyinkas Telephone Conversation depicts a conversation between a white lady and an African American
man which casts a harsh light on the racism and prejudice which grips society.

The title reveals the fact that two people are talking on the phone, so the beginning of the poem is on a positive
note: The man is searching for a house and the land lady has named a considerable price, and the area where it is
located is an impartial and not racially prejudiced. Also the man could enjoy his privacy as the land lady does not
live under the same roof. The African man is ready to accept the offer, but maybe there has been a similar incident
in his past, for he stops and admits to her that he is black, saying he prefers not to waste the time travelling there if
shes going to refuse him on that bounds.
There is silence at the other end; silence which the black man thinks is the reluctant result of an inbred sense of
politeness. However he is wrong because when she speaks again, she disregards all formalities and asks him to
explain how dark he is. The man first thinks he has misheard but then realizes that that is not true as she repeats
her question with a varying emphasis. Feeling as if he has just been reduced to the status of a machine, similar to
the telephone in front of him, and asked to choose which button he is, the man is so disgusted that he can literally
smell the stench coming from her deceptive words and see red everywhere around him. Ironically he is the one who
is ashamed by the tense and awkward silence which follows, and asks for clarification thinking sarcastically that the
lady was really helpful by giving him options to choose from. He suddenly understands what she is trying to ask,
and repeats her question to her, stating if she would like him to compare himself with chocolate, dark or light? She
dispassionately answers and his thoughts change as he describes himself as West African Sepia as it says in his
passport. The lady remains quite for a while, not wanting to admit to her ignorance, but then she gives in to
curiosity and asks what that is. He replies that it is similar to brunette and she immediately clarifies that thats dark.
Now the man has had enough of her insensitiveness. He disregards all constraints of formality and mocks her
outright, saying that he isnt all black, the soles of his feet and the palms of his hands are completely white, but he
is foolish enough to sit on his bottom so it has been rubbed black due to friction. But as he senses that she is about
to slam the receiver on him, he struggles one last time to make her reconsider, pleading her to at least see for
herself; only to have the phone slammed on him.
Wole Soyinka uses two main literary devices to drive home the message of the poem. The first of the two is

imagery. Right at the beginning, the imagery used to describe the mental image the man has of the woman:
lipstick coated, gold rolled cigarette holder piped, just from listening to her voice shows one that he thinks that
she is, socially speaking above him, from a higher social class. Then when he hears her question regarding how
dark he is, he is so humiliated and angry that he sees red everywhere. The imagery of the huge bus squelching the
black tar is symbolic of how the dominant white community treats those belonging to the minor black one.The next
most evident use are that of irony. In the beginning of the poem, the African says that he has to self-confess
when he reveals his skin color to the lady. The color of his skin is something that he has no control over, and even if
he did, it is not a sin to be dark skinned, so the fact that the man feels ashamed and sorry for this is ironical and
casts light on how ridiculous racism is that one should apologize or be differentiated against solely because of the
color of ones skin. Also, it seems almost comical that anyone should be so submissive when he has actually
committed no mistakes. On the other hand, the lady is continuously described in positive terms, suggesting that
she is of a good breeding and upper class. Even when the reader finds out that she is a shallow and racist person
who exhibits extreme insensitivity by asking crude questions, the man seems to think that she is considerate; and
her clinical response to his question shows only light impersonality. The repeated and exaggerated assertions of
the womans good manners and sophistication drip with irony as her speech contradict this strongly. Also the basis
of the woman rejecting to lease her house to the man is because of the prejudiced notion that African Americans
are savage and wild people. This idea is completely discredited by the ironical fact that throughout the poem the
man retains better manners and vocabulary than the woman, using words such as spectroscopic and rancid,
whereas she does not know what West African Sepia is and is inconsiderate in her inquiries. Using irony in this
manner, Soyinka proves how absurd it is to judge the intellect or character of a man depending on the color of his
skin only.
The poem deals with a foul subject, that of racism and prejudice, in a lighthearted, almost comical manner. A most
important device which Soyinka has used to highlight this sense of racism, which was previously widespread in
western society, is that of

the telephone. Had the person been speaking face to face with the lady, this whole

conversation would never have taken place. She would have either refused outright, or would have found a more
subtle way of doing so. The whole back and forth about how dark the man is wouldnt have occurred. Thus the
telephone is used to make the issue of racism clear and prove how nonsensical it really is.
Written in an independent style and delivered in a passively sarcastic tone, this poem is a potent

comment on

society. Soyinka might be speaking through personal experience, judging by the raw emotions that this poem
subtly convey: those of anger, rage, shame, humility and an acute sense of disgust at the apathy and inhumanity of
humans who wont judge a book by its cover but would turn down a man for the color of his skin. In todays world,
racism might be a dying concern; but that does not mean that discrimination against other minorities has been
completely eradicated. Despite the progressing times, people continue to harbor prejudices and illogical suspicions
about things they do not understand: may it be others ideals, religions or traditions and customs. Thus this poem
remains a universal message for all of us, as Soyinka manages to convey just how absurd all prejudices are by
highlighting the womans poor choice of rejecting the man, just because he does not share the same skin color.

2.

Telephone Conversation is a favorite, both for its excellent use of rich language and the timeless message
it conveys. Nigerian poet Wole Soyinka uses irony to depict the absurdity of racism in his poem, "Telephone
Conversation.

[IRONY: the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning. The essential feature of
irony is the indirect presentation of a contradiction between an action or expression and the context in which it
occurs. In the figure of speech, emphasis is placed on the opposition between the literal and intended meaning of a
statement; one thing is said and its opposite implied]
The speaker of the poem, a dark West African man searching for a new apartment, tells the story of a telephone
call he made to a potential landlady. Instead of discussing price, location, amenities, and other information
significant to the apartment, they discussed the speaker's skin color. The landlady is described as a polite, well-bred
woman, even though she is shown to be shallowly racist. The speaker is described as being genuinely apologetic for
his skin color, even though he has no reason to be sorry for something which he was born with and has no control
over. In this short poem, we can see that the speaker is an intelligent person by his use of high diction and quick
wit, not the savage that the landlady assumes he is because of his skin color. All of these discrepancies between
what appears to be and what really is create a sense of verbal irony that helps the poem display the ridiculousness
of racism.
"The price seemed reasonable, location / Indifferent"-The first sentence of the poem includes a pun that introduces
the theme of the following poem and also informs us that things are not going to be as straightforward as they
appear. "The price seemed reasonable, location / Indifferent"-If we read over these lines quickly, we would assume
that the speaker meant "Being neither good nor bad" by the use of the word indifferent. But, indifferent is also
defined as "unbiased." This other definition gives the sentence an entirely different meaning. Instead of the
apartment's location being neither good nor bad, we read that the apartment's location is unbiased and impartial.
However, we quickly learn in the following lines of the poem that the location of the apartment is the exact opposite
of unbiased and impartial. The speaker is rudely denied the ability to rent the property because of bias towards his
skin color. This opening pun quickly grabs our attention and suggests that we as readers be on the lookout for more
subtle uses of language that will alter the meaning of the poem.
After this introduction, the speaker begins his "self-confession" about his skin color. It is ironic that this is called a
self-confession since the speaker has nothing that he should have to confess since he has done nothing wrong. He
warns the landlady that he is African, instead of just informing her. "Caught I was, foully" he says after listening to
the silence the landlady had responded with. I hate a wasted journeyI am African. Again, the word caught
connotes that some wrong had been done, that the speaker was a criminal caught committing his crime. By making
the speaker actually seem sorry for his skin color, Soyinka shows how ridiculous it really is for someone to apologize
for his race. To modern Western thinkers, it seems almost comical that anyone should be so submissive when he
has committed no wrongdoing.
ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT? Her goodness is seemingly confirmed later on when the speaker says that she
was "considerate" in rephrasing her question. Her response to the caller's question included only "light /
Impersonality". Although she was described as being a wealthy woman, she was seemingly considerate and only
slightly impersonal. The speaker seems almost grateful for her demeanor. Of course, these kind descriptions of the

woman are teeming with verbal irony. We know that she is being very shallowly judgmental even while she is
seeming to be so pleasant. The landlady, on the other hand, is described with nothing but positive terms. The
speaker mentions her "good-breeding," "lipstick coated" voice, "long gold-rolled/Cigarette holder," all possessions
that should make her a respectable lady. These words describing her wealth are neutral in regard to her personal
character, but allow that she could be a good person. After recording the all-important question, "How dark?" the
poem pauses for a moment and describes the surroundings to give a sense of reality that shows that the ridiculous
question had really been asked. The speaker describes the buttons in the phone booth, the foul smell that seems to
always coexist with public spaces, and a bus driving by outside. His description gives us an image of where the
speaker is located: a public phone booth, probably somewhere in the United Kingdom. The "Red booth," "Red pillarbox," and "Red double-tiered / Omnibus" are all things that one might find in Leeds, the British city in which Soyinka
had been studying prior to writing this poem. In addition to the literal images that this description creates, a sense
of the anger running through the speaker's mind is portrayed by the repeated use of the word red. This technique is
the closest that the speaker ever comes to openly showing anger in the poem. Although it is hidden with seemingly
polite language, a glimpse of the speaker's anger appears in this quick pause in the conversation. In the end, the
landlady repeats her question and the speaker is forced to reveal how dark he is. "West African sepia," he says,
citing his passport. She claims not to know what that means. She wants a quantifiable expression of his darkness.
His response, feigning simplicity is that his face is "brunette," his hands and feet "peroxide blonde" and his bottom
"raven black". He knows that she just wants a measure of his overall skin-color so that she can categorize him, but
he refuses to give it to her. Instead he details the different colors of different parts of his body. As it was meant to,
this greatly annoys the landlady and she hangs up on him. In closing, he asks the then empty telephone line,
"wouldn't you rather / See for yourself?" The speaker, still playing his ignorance of what the lady was truly asking,
sounds as though he is asking whether the landlady would like to meet him in person to judge his skin color for
herself. The irony in this question, though, lies in the fact that we know the speaker is actually referring to his black
bottom when he asks the woman if she wants to see it for herself. Still feigning politeness, the speaker offers to
show his backside to the racist landlady. Throughout the poem, yet another form of irony is created by the speaker's
use of high diction, which shows his education. Although the landlady refuses to rent an apartment to him because
of his African heritage and the supposed savagery that accompanies it, the speaker is clearly a well educated
individual. Words like "piped", "rancid", and "spectroscopic" are not words that a savage brute would have in his
vocabulary. The speaker's intelligence is further shown through his use of sarcasm and wit in response to the
landlady's questions. Although he pretends politeness the entire time, he includes subtle meanings in his speech.
The fact that a black man could outwit and make a white woman seem foolish shows the irony in judging people
based on their skin color. Wole Soyinka's "Telephone Conversation" is packed with subtleties. The puns, irony, and
sarcasm employed help him to show the ridiculousness of racism. The conversation we observe is comical, as is the
entire notion that a man can be judged based on the color of his skin.

The Negro speaks of rivers

Our speaker introduces himself in the first line by telling us that he has known rivers and that his soul has come to
be as deep as a river. Then he explains to us just how that transformation took place. He must be one ancient man,
because he has been around for thousands of years. He used to go swimming in the Euphrates River when Earth
was very young. He lived near the Congo River in central Africa. He helped to build the pyramids in Egypt almost
four thousand years ago. He heard the Mississippi River sing when President Abraham Lincoln took a boat ride down
to New Orleans. He tells us again that he has known lots of ancient, dusky rivers, and that his soul has become as
deep as these river.

Symbolism of Rivers
Rivers have a source, or a place where they begin. Rivers flow in one direction, just like Time itself. Rivers are
powerful things. They can wear away the land around them over time. They can leave a scar on the earth itself.
Since the beginning of civilization, humans have sought to build villages, towns, and cities on the banks of rivers.
Not only are rivers pretty to look at, but they can provide transportation, they can provide for irrigation, they make
brilliant bathtubs, and many more things.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young- Our speaker went swimming and bathed in the Euphrates
River when the sun was just beginning to rise over and over again over the first human civilizations in
Mesopotamia. The Euphrates River is a river that flows south from modern-day Turkey through Iraq, and it is the
longest river in Western Asia. The land between it and its sister river, the Tigris, is thought to be the site of the
cradle of civilization. The ancient city of Babylon grew on the banks of the mighty Euphrates.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep- Our speaker was once sung to sleep every night by the
sound of the great Congo River, a river that now runs through three countries in Africa: the Republic of the Congo,
the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Angola. It is the second longest river in Africa.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it- Our speaker was once one of the peasants that helped to
build the pyramids in Egypt.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln- Our speaker has heard the Mississippi River sing. The
Mississippi River begins in Minnesota and spills into the Gulf of Mexico, running through ten states along the way.
The Mississippi River was singing on account of Abraham Lincolns visit to New Orleans. When he was 19 and 21
years old, Lincoln took a trip down the Mississippi River on a cargo boat and witnessed first-hand the horrors of
slavery.
bosom turns all golden in the sunset- The Mississippi is known as a muddy river, a catfishs paradise, on
account of the soil and dirt that gets stirred up on the rivers bottom. Our speaker has seen this muddy river
transformed into a golden river thanks to the setting sun.
I've known riversAncient, dusky rivers- Again, our speaker describes the rivers hes known as being "ancient,"
but this time he also describes them as "dusky". The word "dusky" makes us think of evening, shadows, darkness,
and dust.

Speakers Point of View

Our speaker is a wise, old man with a lot of stories to tell. We imagine him surrounded by a flock of grandchildren at
one moment, eyes twinkling, telling rich stories about ancestors and about the familys history. He also seems to us
to be like an ancient and respected professor, standing at a podium before a sea of eager students. He tells them of
all of the places he has visited and all of the world events he has witnessed. Indeed, our speaker is a world traveler,
a man with a time machine. He has seen the birth of civilization, he has helped to build the pyramids, and he has
seen the abolishment of slavery.
The speaker clearly represents more than Langston Hughes, the individual. In fact, the I of the poem becomes
even more than the embodiment of a racial identity. The poem describes, underlying that identity, an eternal spirit,
existing before the dawn of time and present still in the twentieth century. The different sections of the poem
emphasize this: the speaker actually functions on two levels. One is the human level. The first words of lines five
through eight create a picture of the speakers ancestors: bathing, building, looking, and hearing. However, the
poem also discusses a spiritual level where the soul of the speaker has been and continues to be enriched by the
spirit of the river, even before the creation of humanity. Thus, the second and third lines of the poem develop an
eternal, or cosmic, dimension in the poem.
Rivers are the major characters of this poem, and our speaker likens his soul to the rivers he has known in his
lifetime. However, we know our speaker could not have lived through over four thousand years of history. In this
way, our speaker comes to represent a community of individuals, and the rivers become a metaphor for the history,
spirit, and wisdom of Africans and African-Americans. Through this metaphor, our speaker documents a history and
a heritage.
The "rivers" mentioned are part of an extended metaphor that likens the soul of the black community to the
ancient, wise, and enduring great rivers of the earth.

Figures Of Speech
Line 1: The "rivers" mentioned are part of an extended metaphor that likens the soul of the black community to
the ancient, wise, and
enduring great rivers of the earth.

Line 2: The enjambment at the end of this line causes our eye to immediately and hungrily devour the beginning
of the following line.
Line 2: Here, the speaker uses a simile to compare the age of the rivers to the age of the Earth: "ancient as the
world."
Line 3: In this line, the rivers become a metaphor for the rivers of blood that flow through human veins.
Line 4: Our speaker uses a simile to compare the depth of his soul to that of the rivers.
Line 4 and Line 13: Again we hear the refrain in the line, "my soul has grown deep like the rivers," as it is
repeated.
Line 5: We find an allusion here to the cradle of civilization as bordered by the Euphrates River.
Line 6: We come across another allusion here to the Congo River basin in central western Africa.
Line 6: The Congo River is personified as it has lulled our speaker to sleep like a mother singing a lullaby.
Line 7: We find yet another allusion to the Nile River and to the moment in history in which the pyramids were
built.
Line 7: The speaker uses hyperbole when he says that he "raised the pyramids." We know he couldnt have built
one of the Seven Wonders of the World by himself.
Line 8: Again, we are presented with an allusion to the Mississippi River and to the moment in history when Abe
Lincoln sailed down this river, witnessing the horrors of slavery.
Line 8: The Mississippi River is personified as the speaker describes its singing.
Line 8, Line 9, Line 10: The enjambment at the end of each of these lines again creates the sense of the rivers
flow, and visually reflects the winding path of a great river.
Line 9 and 10: Here our speaker creates an image of the sun setting on the great Mississippi River, turning it to
gold.
Line 10: The Mississippi River is again personified as it is described as having a "bosom," granting it feminine,
maternal qualities.

Symbolism
Lines 1 4: Speaking for the African race, the "I" of this poem links people of African descent to an ancient, natural,
life-giving force: rivers. By asserting that he has "known rivers ancient as the world," the speaker asserts that he,
and people of African descent, have an understanding of elemental forces in nature that precede civilization. The
repetition of "rivers" and "human" lends these lines a wise, resonant tone, like that found in Biblical passages. In the
first two lines, the speaker refers to rivers as a natural force outside himself. Line 3 likens the human body to earth
by comparing rivers to "human blood in human veins." Line 4 personalizes that comparison as the speaker
compares the depth of his soul to the depth of rivers. In the space of four lines the speaker moves from historically
and symbolically associating himself and his people with rivers to metaphorically imagining rivers as part of his
blood and soul. Rather than one human relationship to rivers emerging as true or primary, each of these
associations intertwines.
Lines 5 7: Line 5 lets the reader know that the "I" is no mortal human speaker, but the mythic, timeless voice of a
race. In lines 5 through 7, the speaker establishes the race's ties to great, culturally rich civilizations along famous
rivers in the Middle East and Africa. The Euphrates River was the cradle of ancient Babylonia. The Congo was the
cradle of ancient Central Africa. The Nile was the site of ancient Egyptian civilization. The speaker's actions show
that he reveres the river and depends on it for multiple purposes. He bathes in the water, builds his hut next to it,
listens to its music as he falls asleep, and is inspired by the river when, as a slave in Egypt, he builds the great
pyramids. These actions reinforce the notion that people of African descent have ancient spiritual and physical ties
to nature.

Lines 8 10: Here Hughes draws an analogy between the ancient rivers alongside which Africans founded
civilizations, and the Mississippi, the river on which several American cities were built. The sun's transformation of
muddy water to gold provides an image of change. The change may represent the improved status of African
Americans after the Civil War, hope for future changes, or the power of the poet to transform reality through
imaginative language. Line 8 personifies the river by giving it the human capacity to sing. The river's singing
invokes both the slave spirituals and songs of celebration after the slaves were freed. Line 9 also personifies the
river by endowing it with a "muddy bosom."
Lines 11 - 13The poem closes with the phrases that opened it. The speaker's language completes a cycle that
mirrors the river's eternal cycling of waters around the earth and the African race's continuing role in human history.
By enacting the circling of time and rivers, the speaker again associates himself with those elemental forces. The
phrase "dusky rivers" refers literally to rivers that appear brown due to mud and cloudy skies. Figuratively, the
phrase again likens rivers to peoples of African descent, whose skin is often called "dusky" or dark. The final line
reaffirms the speaker's sense of racial pride, of continuity with ancient, advanced civilizations, and of connection to
life-giving, enduring forces in nature.

Interpretation
"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" by Langston Hughes vividly addresses the rich history of African American people. The
poem's symbolism presents the relationships between rivers and African American life. The structure of the poem
provides unity to the history of African Americans. Hughes' use of imagery also donates a great deal of broad details
to understand African Americans' background.
"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" has symbolism that relates rivers to the foundation of African American life. The
structure of the poem emphasizes the order of the phrases, so that it can flow smoothly. The use of the contraction,
"I've," suggests that the speaker has confidence about the subject. With this assurance, he has knowledge that
makes the topic more reliable. These techniques generate coherency throughout the poem that allows the African
American history to develop successfully.
"The Negro Speaks of Rivers" outlines a building block of imagery that expresses its depth. The poem gives the
reader a deeper insight into the battles of identity between African Americans and their surrounding society. The
relationship of ancient rivers and African Americans' experiences with life defines the hidden symbolism within the
poem. The importance of the poem's structure provides solid unity for the African American history.

My last duchess

The poem begins with the poem's narrator showing to the count's emissary his collection of individually
commissioned art, at the moment when the two are stopped before a picture of the narrator's late wife. This picture
too is a commissioned work, "I call that piece a wonder, now"; but describing the portrait drifts so casually into
remembering the duchess herself that it soon becomes apparent the husband considered her no less a piece of
commissioned work forged by his orders. But in the husband's eyes, the duchess herself seemed very far from a
wonder. Rather, she is described by him as a person of constant exasperation, who dared to smile just as easily for
others and even for small pleasures in life, as for him. He feels that he lacked the skill to lesson her appropriately,
suspected she would have resisted such lessoning, and considered such lessoning as beneath his dignity in any
case: so instead, he gave orders, all smiles stopped, and now he keeps this painted smile of hers behind a
curtain, which he alone may draw. The smiles at other men may also suggest that she had affairs with others, but
the language again is deliberately kept vague, limited to painting a picture of a few moments of the duchess' joy as
filtered through the husband's resentful eyes. The net effect is that of a man who considers his late wife one

possession among many, who resents personality or generosity of spirit in his possessions that he does not totally
control, and who expects such total control as a natural thing.
Robert Brownings My Last Duchess is a dramatic monologue by the Duke of Ferrara, which highlights the
jealous and sadistic nature of his character and the mysteriousness which surrounds his late wifes demise.The
poem starts with him drawing the attention of the person whom he is talking to, who is, as one later finds out, a
messenger from the Counts family whose daughters hand the duke seeks in marriage; to the portrait of his late
wife on the wall. The duke praises the work of the painter, Fra Pandolf, who had spent a whole day slaving over the
painting to make it look so lifelike. He instructs the messenger to sit down, and goes on to describe how anyone
who has ever seen that picturesque expression on his ladys painted face, has never failed to ask him the reason
behind the passionate expression. He then thinks about his late wife, remembering that it wasnt just his company
which made her blush. He wonders that maybe it was the painter complimenting her that brought forth such a
response from her, as she thought that such attentions were all just formalities and politeness. He continues on
scorning the easily pleased nature of the duchess: she found something to praise in whatever she saw. Finding the
fact disdainful that things so simple and unworthy as the sunset or a small offering of fruit some officer made her,
could make her as happy as his gift to her, his hand in marriage and the legacy of his nine hundred year old name,
did, he admits to the messenger that he did not approve of such unreservedness. He goes on to say that no one
could really fault the duchess for her flighty nature, but even if he had the power of speech required to make his
expectations from her clear, he could not think of sinking down to her level by telling her what displeases him. He
hints at the fact that the duchess seemed to smile at everyone in the same way that she smiled at him, implying
that perhaps she was unfaithful and treacherous. Such was the exasperation and disgust of the duke at his wifes
flirtatious habits that he suggests that her death was caused at his orders. He again directs the attention of both
the messenger and the reader towards the painting and repeats himself from earlier saying that the portrait is so
accurate that it looks like as if shes standing there, alive. He then instructs the messenger to stand and come with
him to the party which has assembled below, reminding him haughtily that the magnificence of the count is enough
guarantee that anything he asks for in dowry will not be refused, but claims at the same time that it is only the
hand of his fair daughter that he seeks. While going out he points out a bronze bust showing the sea god, Neptune
taming a wild sea horse.
The main feature of this poem is Brownings artistic use of the dramatic monologue. Even though it is the duke who
is talking about the character of the duchess to the messenger, one can derive lots of facts about his own character
through the manner in which he speaks, and the way in which he describes his wife. It is not just a monologue in
name; even written on paper this poem is so overflowing with different ideas that it seems like the dukes thoughts
were running into each other as he voiced his opinion about his late wife. Apart from this, symbolism is also
used in a couple of places. First, the portrait hanging on the wall which is covered by a curtain which none but the
duke could draw is symbolic of how the controlling nature of the duke is satisfied when, if not in life then after
death, only he has any say in who should look upon his late wife. Also, the bust of Neptune that he points out to the
messenger on his way out, symbolizes how he tamed his free-spirited wife, much like Neptune tames the wild spirit
of the sea horse. Thus Browning, in a colorful and impressive monologue portrays a character that is as vile and
maniacal as the language is flowery.
The duke is shown to be an over imaginative psychopath who finds fault in the innocence of his wifes youth, and
condemns her to death. His controlling nature is evident from the start, in the way he dictates the emissarys
actions telling him when to sit and when to rise and how proud he is of the fact that no one is allowed to draw the
curtain hiding his wifes portrait but he. He has, in his imagination, reduced his once alive and lovely wife, to a mere
possession, and refers to her painting as a piece of wonder. One sees that it is not only his wife who was
dehumanized: when he talks about the painter, he praises his hands; reducing his person effectively to a mere tool
that is used for painting. Then as he continues on, one cant help but sense the intense jealousy which resides in
the dukes heart, as he scorns on how easily pleased his lady was of anything beautiful and pleasant. He cannot
stand her blushing for, and smiling at everything and everybody who pleases her. He is full of self-importance, a
trait that is tarnished and brought into question when his wife does not share his arrogance and haughty attitude.
Such is his arrogance that having a normal conversation with his wife or telling her what he expects from her is
considered by him to be below his standards. He chooses not to talk to her about her faults, which are naught but a
liveliness of nature, a happy disposition, and a yearning for life, but rather ends that which he cannot control.In this
short poem, Browning weaves a compelling tale of mystery, murder and intrigue which in equal parts disgusts and
delights the reader. One is appalled at the cruelty and madness of the duke, yet is amazed at the beauty and
majesty of the language used.

Symbolism, Imagery & Wordplay

Fr Pandolf's Painting of the Duchess Symbol Analysis: The most obvious symbol in "My Last Duchess" is the one
that the Duke spends most of his time talking about the portrait of the Duchess painted by FrPandolf on the wall
of his private gallery. Intriguingly, the Duke doesnt say much about the painting itself, except that its lifelike and
that it seems to capture the Duchesss emotional state. We dont get any sense of what pose the Duchess is in,
what shes wearing, or what the color scheme or brushstrokes. What we do learn about the painting is that its
painted directly on the gallery wall, and so the Duke has to keep it covered by a curtain so that he can control who
views it.
That Spot of Joy Symbol Analysis: When the Duchess is happy about something and we really mean anything, her
marriage, her dinner, the weather, anything at all she smiles and blushes, and the Duke describes her blush as a
"spot of joy" that appears in her cheek. The spot of joy is an involuntary signal of the Duchess's pleasure,
something that she cant control, that betrays her inner feelings to the world. The Duke thinks of it as a "spot" a
stain, a symbol of her tainted nature. The fact that her blushing is referred to as a "spot" makes it sound
blameworthy. In order to convey that he perceives the Duchess as flirtatious, the Duke comes up with a
euphemism "too soon made glad," which is a roundabout way of saying "easily pleased". Of course, that may not
be an accurate characterization of the Duchess but thats how the Duke perceives her. Since the Duchess isnt
here to defend herself, all we have to go on is the Dukes claim.
Stooping Symbol Analysis: Its important to notice that when the Duke describes something that he thinks of as
inappropriate or base for him to do, he does so by calling it "stooping." He considers himself to be on a high social
pedestal, with his "nine-hundred-years-old name" and his wealth. He cant "lower" himself, even to tell someone
that hes angry with them. Normal communication and behavior are out of the question for him, because they fall
into the category of "stooping." The Duke uses a rhetorical question to force his listener to agree with him that it
would be "stooping" to talk to the Duchess directly about her inappropriate behavior.
Neptune Taming a Seahorse Symbol Analysis: The final art object that the Duke points out to the Counts servant as
they leave his gallery is a bronze statue of Neptune, the Roman god of the sea, taming a seahorse. The Duke
emphasizes that this statue was cast for him specifically and names the sculptor, Claus of Innsbruck. As readers, we
have to consider this statue as a foil to the only other art object that we see in the gallery the portrait of the
Duchess.

Speakers Point of View

The Duke of FerraraThe speaker of "My Last Duchess" is, of course, the Duke of Ferrara. But its important to think
about him, not only as a character, but as a speaker. We need to consider his rhetoric, and syntax, and speech
patterns. We know what kind of a man the Duke is, but what kind of an orator is he? First of all, the Dukes speech is
highly formalized, using strict rhyme and meter to organize itself into iambic pentameter couplets. Hes a man who
appreciates control, and he takes pains to control his own statements. But the syntax, or sentence structure, of the
poem pulls against its rhyme scheme. The lines are paired in rhymed couplets, but these couplets are "open" that
is, the sentences dont finish at the same time the lines do. The Duke can shape his speech into couplets, but his
thoughts strain against that structure and try to break it. Theres a sense of struggle in his lines, as though hes just
barely managing to rein things in and about to lose it at any moment.

The Book of Sand

It's the story about a man who purchases a mysterious book from a Bible seller. The book is in a language the
narrator has never seen before, but the page numbers are in Arabic. It's also in the two column format of a Bible,
and says "Holy Writ" and "Bombay" on the side. (Borges 446) The seller of the book warns the narrator that once
he's seen a page, he'll never see it again. The salesman challenges the narrator to find the first page of the book,
and then the last. Each time, the man is unable to do so. The pages seem to have a will of their own. Giving what
he thinks is a fair price for such a treasure, the narrator purchases the book.

The main character studies the book continuously. He stops going out. He stops seeing his friends. He wakes up in
the middle of the night and studies the book for hours on end. He keeps an alphabetic list of the pictures he's seen
in the book, wondering how many he'll see before it repeats. The list continues to grow, and he never sees the
same picture twice. He realizes the book is monstrous, and it has tainted him. He thinks about destroying the book
by fire, but fears the "burning of an infinite book might prove likewise infinite and suffocate the planet with smoke."
Finally he thinks of the Argentine National Library. (Coincidentally this is where Jorge Luis Borges worked for many
years.) He goes to the library, and trying not to notice the height or length of the shelf, he leaves the book. Borges'
main message seems to be that too much of anything is never a good thing. In this case, everything in the main
character's life ceased to exist with the exception of the monstrous book. The narrator stopped doing things he
enjoyed and instead studied and stressed over the book. He feared to even share the book with others. It became
an obsession. Because there are a few similarities between this story and Borges' life, such as the story taking place
in Argentina, the narrator's love of books, and the mention of the Argentine National Library, it may be possible that
Borges inserted part of himself into the story.

The titular "Book of Sand" is the Book of all Books, and is a monster. The story tells how this book came into the
possession of a fictional version of Borges himself, and of how he ultimately disposed of it.

The fictive Borges in the story, like the real Borges, lives in an apartment on Belgrano Avenue (Avenida Belgrano) in
Buenos Aires, surrounded by his books: encyclopaedias, maps, sacred tomes, the world's fantasies concerning itself.
He receives an unnamed caller who initially introduces himself as a Bible salesman. Borges is by no means short of
Bibles, but, as it develops, that is not what the visitor is there to sell. The salesman, who is a Presbyterian from
Orkney, produces an octavo volume, bound in cloth, on whose spine are the words "Holy Writ" and "Bombay".

On opening the book, Borges finds that the pages are written in an indecipherable script appearing in double
columns, ordered in versicles as in a Bible. When he opens to a page with an illustration, the bookseller advises a

close look, since the page will never be found, or seen, again. It proves impossible to find the first or last page. This
Book of Sand has no beginning or end: its pages are infinite. Each page is numbered, apparently uniquely but in no
discernable pattern.

The bookseller indicates that he acquired the book in exchange for a handful of rupees and a Bible, from an owner
who did not know how to read. His conscience is clear with respect to that transaction: he feels sure of not having
cheated the native in exchanging the Word of God for this diabolic trinket. He and the fictive Borges strike a
bargain, and Borges exchanges a month's pension check plus a black-letter Wyclif Bible for the miraculous book. It
can be by no means accidental that Borges (the author, not the character) has placed into the hands of an
evangelical Presbyterian an "immediate object", the sense of which undermines plain faith in a Christian
eschatology.

One imagines that to the Presbyterian Bible salesman, God's truth is a simple truth. This simple religion was by no
means shared by the philosopher Hume, who, according to James Boswell, although the son of Presbyterians,
"...owned [that] he had never read the New Testament with attention...[and] had been at no pains to enquire into
the truth of religion, and had continually turned his mind the other way" (Boswell, p.409). According to Hume,

... evidence ... for the truth of the Christian religion is less than the evidence for the truth of our senses; because,
even in the first authors of our religion [whose texts are founded on the testimony of the apostles], it was no
greater; and it is evident it must diminish in passing from them to their disciples; nor can any one rest such
confidence in their testimony, as in the immediate object of their senses.
Borges underscores the distance between the bookseller and Hume by having his fictive persona express his "great
personal affection for Scotland, through my love of Stevenson and Hume." The salesman "corrects" him, adding,
"And Robbie Burns."

The worldly Borges ultimately proves no more able to live with the terrifying book than was the salesman. He
considers destroying the book by fire, but decides against this after reasoning that such a fire would release infinite
amounts of smoke, and asphyxiate the entire world.

Ultimately, Borges transports the book to the Argentine National Library (of which the real Borges was, for many
years, the head). "Slipping past a member of the staff and trying not to notice at what height or distance from the
door ... [he loses] the Book of Sand on one of the basement's musty shelves", the infinite book deliberately lost in a
near-infinity of books.