Analysis of ‘A Face’ by Robert Browning

How to Recognise your Murderous Tendencies

If one could have that little head of hers Painted upon a background of pale gold, Such as the Tuscan’s early art prefers! No shade encroaching on the matchless mould Of those two lips, which should be opening soft In the pure profile; not as when she laughs, For that spoils all: but rather as if aloft Yon hyacinth, she loves so, leaned its staff’s Burthen of honey-coloured buds to kiss And capture ’twixt the lips apart for this. Then her lithe neck, three fingers might surround, How it should waver on the pale gold ground, Up to the fruit-shaped, perfect chin it lifts! I know, Correggio loves to mass, in rifts Of heaven, his angel faces, orb on orb Breaking its outline, burning shades absorb: But these are only massed there, I should think, Waiting to see some wonder momently Grow out, stand full, fade slow against the sky (That’s the pale ground you’d see this sweet face by), All heaven, meanwhile, condensed into one eye Which fears to lose the wonder, should it wink.

Dear readers,

Welcome to our first post. We are going to explore the human psyche by delving into the world of Robert Browning, a poet known for his dramatic (irony) monologues, a form of poetry that allows one to perceive the world through a single lens.

Browning’s dark and alluring poems appeal to readers of all ages because the evils exposed by Robert Browning in and about the Victorian Era are universal and immortal.

A Face is a poem from the collection Men and Women that focuses on the fleeting nature of beauty. Our darling speaker is a prolific artist who is obsessed with a certain woman and tries his level-best to ‘preserve’ her by any means possible.

Requirements-

• A beautiful face

• Golden hair

• Matchless lips

• Lithe neck

• Fruit shaped chin

• An artist with a passion for beauty

• A good understanding of Renaissance painters

• A maiden

• The Title-

A poem’s title is the best place to start when trying to understand any poem as it often tends to reveal a great deal about the poem before having even read it.

‘A Face’ is a very interesting title as it refers to only a single part of the human body, one that is often associated with beauty. However, there is no mention of a person, just ‘A Face’.

Does this mean that the speaker is unable to see beyond outer appearances?

Is beauty truly that important?

And why is that the focus of this poem?

It is possible that the poem focuses on a woman, as their worth is often reduced to their beauty. Further, it is rather dismissive as it is just ‘a’ face, something that is easily forgotten.

This also reveals the manner in which the speaker views other people, as the poem is entirely from his point of view. His fixation with ‘a face’ may indicate that he is a shallow and conceited man, influenced by society to such an extent that he is unable to see the worth of a person.

A Face- not the face; a blank canvas, Browning will paint the picture for the reader, Browning has control over how the face is pictured (men always have control), so the reader doesn’t associate anything with the face

• Meter-

The meter of a poem reveals its tone. This poem is an iambic pentameter, which means that there are ten syllables or five feet in each line of the poem. It is important to note that the number of syllables remains constant throughout the poem which may be indicative of the controlling nature of the speaker. He wants everything to be in a certain manner, according to his wishes, he goes as far as trying to control the actions and emotions of a woman, presumably his lover, to ensure that she is and remains perfect. Even her portrait must be in a certain manner to be deemed perfect.

So, it is not surprising or shocking that the speaker has total control of the poem’s meter- it is according to his wishes

One may even claim that it is perfect as no imperfections(break in the meter) are present.

Poetry like art is immortal and often depicts beauty, perhaps that is why the speaker wants it to be perfect, hence the themes of perfection and the role of art are brought out by the meter.

It is ironic that the poet has made use of an iambic pentameter in the poem as they are generally used to create a conversational tone, thereby soothing the readers and bringing them into a comfortable rhythm. This greatly contrasts with the speaker’s words and his thoughts which are frightening. His soothing facade increases the impact of his thoughts on the poem, perhaps it is a commentary on life in general- people like the speaker are present everywhere in this life, fake niceties are akin to the meter as they are facades, one has to dig deep to find their true colours.

• Rhyme scheme-

ABABCDCDEEFFGGHHIJJJJI

The rhyme scheme of a poem is of utmost importance as it decides the rhythm, hence contributing to the tone and pace of the poem. In this poem, the rhyme scheme is quite regular for the first 8 lines- ABABCDCD- the poet might have chosen this to emphasis on how the speaker of the poem tries to control every single aspect of ‘Art’ (in this case poetry) in an attempt to make it perfect.

However lines 9-22 are very different to the previous 8 because the rhyme scheme changes drastically.

Lines 9 and 10 rhyme(this and kiss)- the same end rhymes link the idea of possession together which are prevalent (capture being the key word).

Lines 11 and 12 rhyme as well- these two lines reveal the dark and murderous thoughts of the speaker who sees such beauty in the woman(presumably his lover) that he wishes to ‘preserve’ her beauty for all eternity. Even though he is painting a picture of her (which immortalises her beauty) he wants preserve her being in that very moment-pure and eternal

This sense of possession is apparent by the rhyme scheme as he takes possession of two lines to describe the way he could murder her

However the most interesting are lines 18,19,20 and 21 as all four rhyme

In these lines, the speaker describes the ascension of Mary in all her perfection and glory- the fact that he has stressed on Mary and her purity could mean that he sees the woman in front of him equivalent to Mary herself, a rather shocking statement in itself.

• Enjambment

The poem is riddled with run-on lines, more commonly known as enjambments. An enjambment is noticeable from the very first line of the poem.

Enjambments indicate heightened emotion which readers interpret as the speaker’s intense love for a woman.

The excessive use of enjambments increases the pace of the poem. It conveys the feeling that the speaker needs to capture the beauty before time brings about a change in the face.

It is rare to find lines which end with a punctuation mark indicating the completion of a thought. The abundance of run-on lines makes those lines without enjambment more significant during an analysis.

End-stopped sentences traditionally represent a cool and calculating mind but their effect in the poem, A Face, is deeper and more terrifying.

There exists a recurring pattern in the structure of the poem where each end-stopped sentence is followed by a sinister word, thought or idea.

• Caesura

The punctuation of the poem gives the reader much insight into the emotions of the speaker and the tone of the poem.

The punctuation is not regular or periodic but this would be expected if we accept the punctuation as a symbol for human emotion. This could be a reflection of the idea that emotions run deep and anyone can just as easily be in the depths of despair of the throes of joy.

We notice a certain attempt at restraint in the punctuation which is not altogether successful. The speaker gets lost in his emotions twice in the poem (as indicated by excessive punctuation and caesura)- when speaking of the face’s beauty and when describing Correggio’s Assumption of the Virgin. This means that the effect of the beauty of both on the speaker was the same or at least comparable.

A second way to interpret punctuation in the poem is to view punctuation as a representation of time.

The speaker’s pace seems to increase in those parts of the poem where caesuras are present. The caesuras could symbolize time flying and the speaker chooses to chase time in an attempt to battle change. But time is out of his control and so is the punctuation.

• Imagery

Robert Browning in his ultimate wisdom manages to craft the perfect face in the minds of the reader through the extensive use of imagery.

He does not limit himself to visual imagery; instead, the speaker uses visual, auditory, tactile, and even gustatory imagery to create a complete picture of the ideal woman while conveniently excluding any non-physical attributes.

Browning’s use of dramatic irony plays a significant role here as it warns the reader that the representation of a woman is incomplete and that the speaker is not quite as perfect as he believes himself to be.

• Alliteration

Through Browning’s brilliance, the speaker uses alliteration to emphasize a woman’s physical beauty.

He uses contrasting phonetics (alternating between a smooth dream-like quality of ‘m’ alliteration and the harshness of plosive sounds through ‘p’ alliteration) to reflect the effect of the woman’s beauty on his mind or body, an idea that contains sexual connotations.

The alternating between hard and soft sounds may also be representative of the speaker’s own thoughts- shifting from fast-paced, emotion-filled lines on the beauty of the face and slower, calmer, darker tones of a psychopath.

In the last line of the poem, we feel the effect of ‘w’ consonance.

The consonance leaves readers questioning, countering the finality of the end-stopped sentence.

This question lingers and can be applied to many different instances. It could be the poet’s ultimate question of whether the artist’s means justify his end. It might be Browning’s way of saying that the speaker’s journey is still incomplete- he has yet to achieve perfection. It may even be Robert Browning questioning the truth of his own philosophy.

• Symbolism-

When we speak of symbolism in the poem, A Face, it is clear that the speaker considers the woman’s face, her beauty to be a symbol of her entire being. The woman in this poem is reduced to her physical appearance. The regressive beliefs of the Victorian Era did not give a woman much freedom to express her nature and the people as a whole were mostly visual aestheticians.

The artist reiterates his wish that the face is placed on a background of pale gold twice. In the speaker’s mind, gold and the face are at the same level and thus gold becomes a symbol of the woman’s worth in the eyes of the artist. The artist views the woman’s beauty as a marvelous and rare material possession like gold. To him, beauty is something to be captured and frozen in time. This ideal may sound beautiful at first but is horrifying when the fact that the woman is given no control or power sinks in.

• Allusion-

There are many biblical allusions in the poem which may be reflective of the time period it was written in. The Victorian period is often described as grand but morally strict. There was a lot of emphasis on religion and living a morally upright life. The speaker himself could be a direct allusion to God as he seems to create beauty (through art) and immortalises whatever the art has captured. He controls every aspect -the woman, her painting, nature and even the poem. He tries to attain perfection, which is arguably a direct reference to God who is seen as the eternal perfect being. He even compares the woman in the poem to Mary and tries to change her- in a way he is recreating her in an attempt to make her perfect, similar to how God himself created Mother Mary, a perfect and pure being.

The direct allusion to Mary may have been inserted to appeal to Victorian audiences as she sets the gold standard that every woman should aspire to be. The woman is pure and perfect which may have pleased Victorian readers to the extent that they seemed to have forgiven the way in which the speaker is presented as God and the fact that Browning is using him as a medium to air his grievances with the victorian age. Angel faces and massed are other words that are direct biblical references related to the ascension of Mary.

The hyacinth flower mentioned in line 8, symbolises peace and beauty. Hyacinths also represent constancy- the speaker is striving so hard to keep the beauty of the face constant that he loses perspective and his moral compass.

The mention of the hyacinth emphasises the importance of the 8th line which is the last line that follows the regular rhyme scheme. The poem becomes chaotic from then on.

The flower, hyacinth, may be an allusion to the Greek myth involving Apollo, the God of the Sun, and a young boy, Hyakinthos. Apollo captures the boy’s spirit in the form of the hyacinth after his untimely death. Similarly, the artist wishes to capture the woman’s beauty before it changes.

• Dramatic monologue-

Browning often uses the dramatic monologue form in his poems which allows him to take on a persona and explore their perspectives. In this poem he explores the character of an entitled misogynistic man, possibly a painter who wants to control everything around him, including other human beings. By using this form, Browning may be critiquing society for all its social mores and expectations from other people.

In a nutshell, Browning’s poem, A Face, is about capturing and preserving beauty or, in a more abstract sense, perfection. This ideal seems beautiful and truly pure to guide one’s life when studied without the context of the poem. When we put the philosophy into the context of the poem, the picture formed is horrifying. The readers are made to understand that the speaker wishes to preserve the subject of his painting and the only way to prevent any change is to murder her. This thought appears to be fleeting but is reflected in the abstract title which is similar to a blank canvas, the strict metre, the mixture of calculative end-stopped sentences and passionate enjambments, the contrasting phonetics and many more literary devices. The speaker’s obsession with art also raises many questions, what is the true function of art? Does art truly capture beauty? In this poem it does not seem to as the woman’s portrait becomes a symbol of her capture, rather than of her beauty. This may also lead to other questions about the speaker as he seems to think that he is entitled to control another human being, ignoring the fact that it is wrong. While that in itself is frightening, one may see people like him even today. Is he just a product of society then? Or is there something more dangerous linked to this?