'The Laboratory' by Robert Browning.

'The Laboratory' by Robert Browning is said to have been influenced by the 17th Century famous serial killer Madame de Brinvillier who had killed women she had seen to be love rivals, thus it is easy to comprehend were the poem has been influenced from. 'The Laboratory' is about a woman who has gone to the 'devil's-smithy' to seek out a man who's 'trade' is to make 'sweet' 'poison' which she intends to kill her love rival 'Pauline' and other women who pose as threats- such as 'Elise'. She therefore metamorphosis' into the saying 'a woman scorned', as she is trivialised by Pauline and her previous lover which results in her wrath.

The form Robert Browning often uses for his poems (such as 'My Last Duchess' or 'Porphyria's Lover') is the dramatic monologue. This is a first person narrative in a poem which presents the reader with a psychological portrait of the narrator.  The reader therefore can understand an event from the narrators perspective which thus helps them to understand why they feel justified in committing an immoral action- such as killing women with poison. In 'The Laboratory' the woman feels justified in killing her love rival Pauline, as she and the woman's previous lover have made her feel like an insignificant 'minion' by making a mockery out of the narrator. The line 'He is with her, and they know that I know... while they laugh' highlights the narrator could be jealous or angry, even resentful to the couple, however, she does not intend to kill the man but only to give Pauline a gruesome death which should take 'thirty minutes' and she will 'drop dead'. Alternatively, her revenge over the man could be highlighted when the narrator imagines Pauline's death and the reaction of the man who is 'sure to remember her dying face' as a warning to never treat her so poorly again.

In addition the poem is structured in twelve quatrains (four lines per stanza) which each have a rhyming couplet of AABB, creating an atmosphere of order as the narrator controls what happens in the laboratory-due to her payment of 'jewels' and 'gold' to the poison maker. She even offers her body 'you may kiss me, old man. on my mouth if  you will!' showing there are no limitations or lengths she won't go to to get her revenge. This would have shocked Browning's original Victorian readership, as proprietary was the cornerstone of society where women were expected to act presentable and respectable as image was viewed as everything. Furthermore the poem uses an anapestic tetrameter rhyme scheme, this is a dactyl (One strong stressed syllable followed by to weak syllables) used four times in a line, but there are points in the poem where Browning has purposely strayed from the rhyme scheme, such as 'could I keep them one half minute fixed, she would fall shrivelled; she fell not; yet this does all', where he is has employed caesura to break the pace which emphasises certain parts such as 'she fell not' which could highlight the narrators disappointment or it can show how the disruption in rhythm is due to her thoughts being lost (which regularly occurs at points) and therefore the order  of the stanza has gone (as she controls what happens, or what is said in the dramatic monologue).

This is contrasted with moments of enjambent such as the second stanza, '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!', which is one sentence long making the narrator sound as if she is hysteric. This could be interpretted as the narrators paranoia, as it is possible she has imagined them 'whispering' in her mind. However once again caesura is used at the end of the enjambent, '-I am here', which highlights a striking contrast between moods of hysteric and calm which further serevs to heighten the tension in the poem. 'I am here' may also be a reminder to the reader on where the narrator is and why she is at the 'devil's-smithy' and showing the dramatic irony on how the couple mock the narrator yet she mocks them as she has the upper hand.

The narrator displays signs of an unstable mind and a decent into madness, this can be viewed through her topics of revenge in each stanza which regularly change as her thoughts lack consistency. For example in the sixth stanza the narrator  speaks the effects of the poison and how Pauline's body will turn a 'light pastile' corpse colour as her body slowly dies from her 'head and her breasts and her arms and her hands' will 'drop dead'- ending with alliteration using the line 'drop dead' to give a bluntness and finality to her death. But then in the seventh stanza she asks the question to the unseen audience (the poison maker) 'Quick-is it finished', changing the tense from future to present instantaneously which may signify her mind's inability to grasp thoughts for a long periods of time as it flickers from one subject to another, Paiuline and her ex-lover to the posion being presently made. Her madness is further communicated in moments when she speaks to herself-'better sit thus and observe thy strange things'- which produces a sinister atmosphere to the reader as a deadly poison is essentially being given to an unstable woman and she is enjoying the moment and takes pleasure in watching the poison being created which will give Pauline a violent and painful death not that she bid-ed the poison making to 'spare' Pauline' or any of her victims. Or it could highlight that power has corrupted ands destroyed her mind, as the poem is based on upperclass people who attend 'dance[s]' at the 'King's', and women like Pauline who are 'not little' due to being well fed. This may have been Browning jabbing at Victorian society as the upper class were obsessed with social status and power- however Browning softens the message by placing his poems in a different time period or different country -'ancien regime' which is France before the French Revolution, which his readers would have been aware of-so that he does not cause direct offence to the readers.

How is the story told in Part 2 of 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'.

Part 2 of the 7 part narrative ballad begins through the use of pathetic fallacy-'still hid in mist'- to maintain the tensioned atmosphere that was created at the end of part 1, when the Mariner had 'shot the Albatross'.

With the Albatross gone 'woe' occurs as bad events happen (such as the drought) to show the Mariner had done a 'hellish thing'- by destroying the Albatross which according to superstition, is a sailors good luck omen. The remnants of superstitious belief could therefore highlight the crew still faintly hold societies influence, however the longer the ship is out to sea and sails further away from harbour the crew become more hostile towards the Mariner and commit- what could be seen as- primal actions such as hanging the dead Albatross 'about [the Mariner's] neck'.

In a classical narrative ballad form, each stanza would have four lines in an iambic pentameter rhyme scheme. Alternatively in the third and fourth stanza, this form is altered. This is a effective structural device used by Coleridge to draw the reader's attention to specific lines, such as 'I had killed the bird' which is a key focal point of the story and is therefore emphasised as the main action which carries the story along. Coleridge creates the alteration by disrupting the iambic pentameter rhythm by employing the use of caesura (which is sing punctuation to disrupt the rhyming pace) to highlight the Mariner's actions have caused suffering for 'all averred' (his shipmates). This may highlight Coleridge's purpose of creating a didactic tale which teaches his audience about action and consequence which will ultimately leave them 'sadder and wiser' at the end of the tale-just like the wedding-guest.

Coleridge also uses repetition of the weather-for example 'the breeze to blow' which is mention twice at the end of a rhyming sentence in the third stanza- to emphasise the Albatross' death has caused the harsh weather. It could be viewed that the reason why the lines are repeated is to show the Mariner's guilt for causing 'the breeze to blow' and the 'fog and mist' which is unavoidable as the harsh weather is a constant plight. Yet, in the fourth stanza, the proverb of the weather changes from 'brought' to 'bring'. This may signify the change of responsibility of the weather by his crew mates as they tell the Mariner he was 'right' for shooting the bird after the weather diminished and the 'glorious Sun uprist'. The capitalisation of 'Sun' may signify a religious meaning like God is also spelt with a capital to signify importance, which could connote that God is intervening and trying to help the Mariner and his crew although the Mariner killed one of his creations. Furthermore in the glossary (a later edition by Coleridge) it tells the reader that the crew have 'justi[fied]' the Mariner's sin and therefore they become 'accomplices in the crime', this could structurally foreshadow that something awful will later occur (such as part three when all of the Mariner's crew die) as those who sin will be punished so they can go through the process of repentance and then later redemption.

The fifth and sixth stanza are a contrasting doubling of one another. In the fifth stanza, Coleridge uses alliteration- the 'furrow followed free'- to make a fictive sound to create imagery in the readers head or a ship bursting through the sea heading 'northward' into the 'pacific ocean' until it reaches 'the line'. The line has significance as it not only represents the equator but it could also represent purgatory. If the poem is viewed through a spiritual interpretation, it then explains the strange events such as the 'sails dropt down' due to the 'becalmed...breeze' which results in the ship being stranded in the sea and not being able to move as they are stuck in a liminal state which may be the reason why there is the 'silence of the sea' which could represent the silence of God who cannot be heard in purgatory.

From the ninth to the fifteenth stanza, Coleridge creates a monotonous tension by repeptiting the line 'day after day, day after day' to show a long length of time has passed whilst in stagnation. The iambic pentameter rhythem has been disregarded as the stanza has a lack of fluency creating a monotone effect- this idea is furthered through the image of 'a painted ship upon a painted ocean' which signifies the feeling of an eternal entrappment. And in the tenth stanza, a paradoxical effect is made as the men suffer a drought upon the sea- this may be critised as a harsh punishment as they are surrounded by water 'everywhere' yet there is not a 'drop to drink'. Once again, if this poem is viewed by a spiritual interpretation, the men are in a spiritual dessert that rids them on their sin so they have the chance to be redeemed through reptentance.