The Laboratory by Robert Browning

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The Laboratoryby Robert Browning

• GCSE LITERATURE
• Commentary on the poem

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MUST Read and understand the poem The Laboratory
(D)SHOULD Annotate the poem, identifying
literary devices (C )COULD Identify the
layers of meaning (B)
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What do you think of?
The Laboratory?
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Experimentations
Medicines
The Laboratory
Scientific
A chemist
The best one
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The Laboratory by Robert Browning ANCIEN
REGIME I Now that I, tying thy glass mask
tightly, May gaze thro these faint smokes
curling whitely, As thou pliest thy trade in this
devils smithy Which is the poison to poison
her, prithee? II He is with her, and they know
that I know Where they are, what they do they
believe my tears flow While they laugh, laugh at
me, at me fled to the drear Empty church, to pray
God in, for them! I am here. III Grind away,
moisten and mash up thy paste, Pound at thy
powder, - I am not in haste! Better sit thus, and
observe thy strange things, Than go where men
wait me and dance at the Kings.
IV That in the mortar you call it a gum? Ah,
the brave tree whence such gold oozings come! And
yonder soft phial, the exquisite blue, Sure to
taste sweetly, - is that poison too? V Had I but
all of them, thee and thy treasures, What a wild
crowd of invisible pleasures! To carry pure death
in an earring, a casket, A signet, a fan-mount, a
filigree basket! VI Soon, at the Kings, a mere
lozenge to give, And Pauline should have just
thirty minutes to live! But to light a pastile,
and Elise, with her head And her breast and her
arms and her hands, should drop dead!
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VII Quick is it finished? The colours too
grim! Why not soft like the phials, enticing and
dim? Let it brighten her drink, let her turn it
and stir, And try it and taste, ere she fix and
prefer! VIII What a drop! Shes not little, no
minion like me! Thats why she ensnared him this
never will free The soul from those masculine
eyes, - say, no! That to pulses magnificent
come-and-go. IX For only last night, as they
whispered, I brought My own eyes to bear on her
so, that I thought Could I keep them one half
minute fixed, she would fall Shrivelled she fell
not yet this does it all!
X Not that I bid you spare her the pain Let
death be flt and the proof remain Brand, burn
up, bite into its grace He is sure to remember
her dying face! XI Is it done? Take my mask off!
Nay, be not morose It kills her, and this
prevents seeing it close The delicate droplet,
my whole fortunes fee! If it hurts her, beside,
can it ever hurt me? XII Now, take all my jewels,
gorge gold to your fill, You may kiss me, old
man, on my mouth if you will! But brush this dust
off me, lest horror it brings Ere I know it
next moment I dance at the Kings!
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The time is the Ancien Regime..
Where the people associated with the King meet
A time of privilege for the aristocrats
France in the 18th century
A time for love affairs at court
But in a laboratory
A lady is plotting to murder her rival
POISON
Away from the court..
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Annotate the text

• What can you infer and interpret?

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The Laboratory by Robert Browning ANCIEN
REGIME I Now that I, tying thy glass mask
tightly, May gaze thro these faint smokes
curling whitely, As thou pliest thy trade in this
devils smithy Which is the poison to poison
her, prithee? II He is with her, and they know
that I know Where they are, what they do they
believe my tears flow While they laugh, laugh at
me, at me fled to the drear Empty church, to pray
God in, for them! I am here. III Grind away,
moisten and mash up thy paste, Pound at thy
powder, - I am not in haste! Better sit thus, and
observe thy strange things, Than go where men
wait me and dance at the Kings.
IV That in the mortar you call it a gum? Ah,
the brave tree whence such gold oozings come! And
yonder soft phial, the exquisite blue, Sure to
taste sweetly, - is that poison too? V Had I but
all of them, thee and thy treasures, What a wild
crowd of invisible pleasures! To carry pure death
in an earring, a casket, A signet, a fan-mount, a
filigree basket! VI Soon, at the Kings, a mere
lozenge to give, And Pauline should have just
thirty minutes to live! But to light a pastile,
and Elise, with her head And her breast and her
arms and her hands, should drop dead!
Devils workshop
Plosive p
Mmmmm - alliteration
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Informal 2nd person
Establishes relationship- she is the social
superior
As thou pliest thy trade in this
devil's-smithy-- Which is the poison to poison
her, prithee?
Pray thee -please
Establishes victims gender
Repetition of poison makes it more sinister
A polite request about a sinister action
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A dactylone strong stress followed by 2 weak
stresses
weak stress
The rhythm of the poem, written in dactyls,
helps here
strong stress
He is with her and they know that I know Where
they are, what they do they believe my tears
flow While they laugh, laugh at me, at me fled to
the drear Empty church, to pray God in, for them!
-- I am here.
The repetition also makes her seem excited
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Shes fascinated by the process and asks questions
She points at things
Questions - show curiosity
That in the mortar -- you call it a gum? Ah, the
brave tree whence such gold oozings come! And
yonder soft phial, the exquisite blue, Sure to
taste sweetly, -- is that poison too?
Notice how beauty and good things are linked to
death and poison
Browning describes the scene through the eyes of
the lady and what attracts her attention. This is
how he creates her character
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VII Quick is it finished? The colours too
grim! Why not soft like the phials, enticing and
dim? Let it brighten her drink, let her turn it
and stir, And try it and taste, ere she fix and
prefer! VIII What a drop! Shes not little, no
minion like me! Thats why she ensnared him this
never will free The soul from those masculine
eyes, - say, no! That to pulses magnificent
come-and-go. IX For only last night, as they
whispered, I brought My own eyes to bear on her
so, that I thought Could I keep them one half
minute fixed, she would fall Shrivelled she fell
not yet this does it all!
X Not that I bid you spare her the pain Let
death be flt and the proof remain Brand, burn
up, bite into its grace He is sure to remember
her dying face! XI Is it done? Take my mask off!
Nay, be not morose It kills her, and this
prevents seeing it close The delicate droplet,
my whole fortunes fee! If it hurts her, beside,
can it ever hurt me? XII Now, take all my jewels,
gorge gold to your fill, You may kiss me, old
man, on my mouth if you will! But brush this dust
off me, lest horror it brings Ere I know it
next moment I dance at the Kings!
Blosive b
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Some gothic qualities in the poem
An evil plot
A deranged narrator
A story of a murder
A sinister setting
madness
secrets
Which other poems in the anthology have some of
these qualities?
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The Inspiration?
The Poison Affair, in French history, was a
scandal implicating a number of prominent persons
at the court of King Louis XIV. It began with
the trial of Marie Madeleine d'Aubray, marquise
de Brinvilliers (c.163076). She conspired with
her lover, Godin de Sainte-Croix, an army
captain, to poison her father and two brothers in
order to secure the family fortune and to end
interference in her adulterous relationship.
Her husband escaped the same fate by his
willingness to comply with officials. An
investigation was made, and the marquise fled
abroad, but in 1676 she was arrested at Liège.
The affair greatly worked on the popular
imagination, and there were rumours that she had
tried out her poisons on hospital patients. She
was beheaded and then burned. The Brinvilliers
trial attracted attention to other mysterious
deaths. Parisian society had been seized by a fad
for spiritualist séances, fortune-telling, and
the use of love potions. Some of the quack
practitioners undoubtedly also sold poison
(called inheritance powders at the time) after
their arrest they furnished the police with lists
of their clients, who often were guilty merely of
having their palms read or of buying an
aphrodisiac, and accused them of complicity in
their crimes.
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Summarise what you now know about the poem

• What is it about? (Content)
• What themes are covered?
• What tone does the poem have?
• What literary devices have been used?
• How effective is the poem for the reader?

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Summarise what you now know about the poem

• What is it about? A woman planning to kill a love
  rival in revenge
• What themes are covered? Anger, revenge, hatred,
  death, loss
• What tone does the poem have? Angry, aggressive,
  bitter, desperate
• What literary devices have been used?
  Enjambement, metaphor, simile, alliteration,
  rhyme, dark imagery
• How effective is the poem for the reader?

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MUST Read and understand the poem The Laboratory
(D)SHOULD Annotate the poem, identifying
literary devices (C )COULD Evaluate the
similarities and differences between the novel
and the poem and identify the layers of meaning(B)