Narrative Methods Used by Tennyson in Mariana
Narrative Methods used by Tennyson in Mariana
“Mariana” is about the stagnation of a woman after she is abandoned by her lover and she continues to wait for his arrival. The epigraph from the start of the poem tells us that the poem is an expansion from “Measure For Measure”. Specifically the scene in the play where Mariana is in her moated grange, this gives us the setting of the poem and the character involved. This line describes Mariana desperately waiting for her lover (Angelo), who has abandoned her upon the loss of her dowry. Just as the epigraph from Shakespeare contains no verbs, the poem lacks narrative movement. Instead, the poem serves as an extended depiction of being melancholy and living in isolation.
Setting is the first narrative method I am going to look at, Tennyson expands upon the “moated grange” in the epigraph and uses adjectives like “broken”, “rusted”, “unlifted” and “weeded” which imply that the house has been abandoned for some time. This is a metaphor for Mariana’s situation as she has been abandoned and left to rot by her lover. There is also evidence of her being stuck in a stagnating limbo like state. The “flitting of the bats” shows us that she is not the only thing in the grange and there is other life there, this shows she is not fully isolated. This image of “night fowl’s crow” contrasts well with the silent and stagnated atmosphere within the house.
The refrain is the structural basis of “Mariana”. Overall the poem is generally chronological because the only real change shown is each day ending and a new day beginning, “the night is dreary”, “dew”, “the day is dreary” and “thick-moted sunbeam” all show time passing. This emphasizes the stagnation of Mariana as because she fails to make any real change in her life throughout the whole poem. The final stanza does not actually bring conclusion to the story but this is means that if a person wishes to find a conclusion they must read “Measure For Measure”, which the epigraph
“Mariana” is about the stagnation of a woman after she is abandoned by her lover and she continues to wait for his arrival. The epigraph from the start of the poem tells us that the poem is an expansion from “Measure For Measure”. Specifically the scene in the play where Mariana is in her moated grange, this gives us the setting of the poem and the character involved. This line describes Mariana desperately waiting for her lover (Angelo), who has abandoned her upon the loss of her dowry. Just as the epigraph from Shakespeare contains no verbs, the poem lacks narrative movement. Instead, the poem serves as an extended depiction of being melancholy and living in isolation.
Setting is the first narrative method I am going to look at, Tennyson expands upon the “moated grange” in the epigraph and uses adjectives like “broken”, “rusted”, “unlifted” and “weeded” which imply that the house has been abandoned for some time. This is a metaphor for Mariana’s situation as she has been abandoned and left to rot by her lover. There is also evidence of her being stuck in a stagnating limbo like state. The “flitting of the bats” shows us that she is not the only thing in the grange and there is other life there, this shows she is not fully isolated. This image of “night fowl’s crow” contrasts well with the silent and stagnated atmosphere within the house.
The refrain is the structural basis of “Mariana”. Overall the poem is generally chronological because the only real change shown is each day ending and a new day beginning, “the night is dreary”, “dew”, “the day is dreary” and “thick-moted sunbeam” all show time passing. This emphasizes the stagnation of Mariana as because she fails to make any real change in her life throughout the whole poem. The final stanza does not actually bring conclusion to the story but this is means that if a person wishes to find a conclusion they must read “Measure For Measure”, which the epigraph