course guidelines path one calendar class discussion path two calendar essay prompts reference pages


ornamental line

Dueling Interiorities

"'And long we try in vain to speak and act
Our hidden self, and what we say and do
Is eloquent, is well--but 'tis not true!" (ll.64-66).
Matthew Arnold's "The Buried Life" (1852)

Points for Reflection

J. Clare's "I Am" (1845; 1848)

  1. Does Clare maintain a consistent rhyme pattern across all three sestets?
  2. What seem to be the causes of the narrator's distress?
  3. Why might the narrator personify his woes?
  4. To what end does clare employ enjambment?
  5. Does this poem conclude more upbeat than it began?


M. Arnold's "The Buried Life" (1852)

  1. Does our narrator enjoy the witty bantering in which he and his love regularly engage?
  2. Why have so many poets joined Arnold (ll.10-110) in suggesting that one can read another's soul in their eyes? Do you agree?
  3. By "men" (l.16), does Arnold mean humankind in general, or males in particular?
  4. What might Arnold mean by the claim that "the same heart beats in every human breast" (l.23)?
  5. According to the narrator, why (ll.30) does Fate hide the “river of our life” (l.39) from us?
  6. Does Arnold identify in lines 59-66 a problem shared by the sexes?
  7. Under what conditions do humans presumably, briefly, know themselves and speak truly (ll.77-90)?
  8. Consider the careful wording of line ninety-six.
  9. Does this poem upend or validate the notion that romantic love is a powerful force for good? 
  10. What does this poem suggest about the scope of individual self-knowledge?


C. R. Rossetti's "Winter: My Secret" (1857; 1862)

  1. What is the dominant tone of this poem?
  2. Why does the narrator withhold information from the auditor?
  3. Why does the narrator dislike spring?
  4. How would it change the poem if we knew exactly what the narrator was keeping back?


D. G. Rossetti's "Jenny" (1848, 1870)

  1. What tone does the narrator's opening alliteration establish, and what do Jenny's two fondnesses signal about her (ll.1-2)?
  2. In what pastime did the narrator and Jenny occupy themselves prior to sitting down?
  3. What about Jenny makes her appear innocent?
  4. What type of "grace" does the narrator discover in "Poor shameful Jenny" (l.18)?
  5. The narrator assumes Jenny's mind is revolving around what?
  6. What can we determine about the narrator's own character and situation?
  7. The narrator observes that, until recently, his current environment seemed familiar and comfortable (ll.37-42). What has altered his perspective?
  8. What does the narrator imagine Jenny has temporarily escaped as she rests in his lap?
  9. Does the narrator let Jenny continue resting--instead of sitting up to drink with him--out of kindness?
  10. Why might the narrator invoke Matthew 6:25-29 in lines ll.100-110?
  11. Is the narrator considering Jenny's body when he ponders the state of her lilies, roses, leaves, and "naked stem of thorns," or something more intangible (ll.111-20)?
  12. The narrator presumes that--excepting the occasional memory of an innocent, rural past--nothing wrings a tear out of Jenny except "passion" (ll.121-34). Why would "passion" cause her to cry?
  13. What does "bale" (l.133) mean in this context?
  14. How many times does the narrator attempt to interrupt his morbid musings about Jenny's life trajectory?
  15. According to the narrator, how would Jenny respond if he spoke aloud what he's thinking?
  16. Why is the narrator appalled by the thought that Jenny sleeps like any other woman (ll.177-84)?
  17. What possible fate does the narrator envision befalling Jenny (l.228)?
  18. Does this narrator agree with Browning's "Fra Lippo Lippi" who, in RB's poem, declares that a painter who captures beauty in art can "take the Prior's pulpit-place, / Interpret God to all of you!" (ll.310-11)?
  19. Does the narrator find it easy to envision a restful heaven that compensates for the "lifelong hell" experienced by Jenny?
  20. To whose erring heart does the narrator refer in line 251?
  21. Does the narrator think it likely that proper women and women like Jenny can understand and show compassion for one another?
  22. Why compare lust to an insolvable riddle, akin to a toad trapped within a stone (ll.276-97)?
  23. Why allude to Jesus's Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) in ll.315-16?
  24. Is the fact that the rose pinned to Jenny's dress has not yet entirely wilted provide us with a hopeful symbol of renewal (ll.323-25)?
  25. How is it that the narrator can see Jenny's face when her head lies sideways on his knee, facing away from him?
  26. What kind of pet does Jenny have in her room?
  27. To what does "grim web" refer?
  28. What does the narrator imagine filling Jenny's dreams?
  29. Why would it be important to "hide Priapus to the waist" in order for this fertility god, one of Aphrodite's sons, to be considered "an eligible deity" (ll.370-72)?
  30. Is the description of Jenny later awaking on her own to shake gold out of her hair a beautiful, poignant image with which to close the poem?
  31. The narrator seems caught between mocking Jenny for counterfeiting love and censuring himself for his own shameful, lustful thoughts and actions (ll.381-87). Does he see a way forward and out of his predicament?

a portrait of a woman with an abstract gold gown which blends in with the gold background of the rest of the painting. The woman has dark brown hair in an updo, and her hands are clasped in front of her chest.
Adele Bloch-Bauer 1 (1907)
Gustav Klimt


Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu