copyright 2007 the laboratory by robert browning 1845

Copyright 2007 www.englishteaching.co.uk

The Laboratory by Robert Browning 1845


The Laboratory is about a jealous woman/narrator who thinks her lover is cheating on her.

She asks a chemist to make a poison to kill her lover’s mistress.

The main themes of this poem are:

Love, Hate, Jealously, Killing


Stanza One

Now that I, tying thy glass mask tightly,

May gaze thro’ these faint smokes curling

whitely,As thou pliest thy trade

in this devil’s smithy-

Which is the poison to poison her prithee?

This describes the persona (character) putting on her mask so she doesn’t poison herself and asking…

What is the best poison to poison her please?


Alliteration- two or more words starting with the same letter

Find two examples of alliteration from stanza one.


Stanza Two

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 woman/narrator is paranoid and this is shown by the use of repetition.

She is consumed by anger and jealousy tried to find comfort in God by praying for them but instead she went to the Laboratory.


Repetition- used to emphasise an emotion Find two examples of repetition that shows

how the persona feels


Stanza Three

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 King's.

Stanza three uses onomatopoeia to describe how the poison is made. The persona feels calm and relaxed. She is almost mesmerised by the making of the poison.


Onomatopoeia – words that sound like their action Find two examples of onomatopoeia that

describe the making of the poison


Stanza Four

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?

The woman/narrator uses a metaphor to describe the poisonous tree- she calls it brave.

The colours show how excited she is and she uses the word exquisite which means beautiful and precious.


Metaphor- compares images not using as or likeFind an example of a metaphor


Stanza Five

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 filligree-basket!

This stanza shows how the character is becoming more and more excited at the potion maker’s power. She uses a metaphor to describe the power.

The rhyme scheme makes the poem sound like a song- this contrasts the themes of the poem


Rhyme- makes the poem sound like a song. Find the metaphor

that makes the potion- maker sound powerful

Find four words that make the poem sound happy and carefree


Stanza Six

Soon, at the King's, a mere lozenge to give

And Pauline should have just thirty minutes

to live! But to light a pastille,

and Elise, with her head

And her breast and her arms and her hands, should drop dead!

She will give Pauline, her lover’s mistress a sweet which will kill her in 30 minutes.

But she doesn’t stop there – she also wants to kill Elise. This shows her deep mistrust of her lover and her growing paranoia.


Theme- Confusion & ParanoiaFind a quote that suggests the

woman/narrator is confused.What word is repeated that suggests

her desire to kill?


Stanza Seven

Quick -- is it finished? The colour's too grim!

Why not soft like the phial's, enticing and

dim? Let it brighten her

drink, let her turn it and stir,

And try it and taste, ere she fix and prefer!

In this stanza, the woman/narrator is dismayed when the potion is ready. She complains the colour is too dark.

She soon becomes excited when she envisages how the poison will hurt the mistress


Theme- Colours

Why is she upset the poison is ‘grim’ rather than ‘bright’?

Explain your answer using Point Evidence & Explain


Stanza Eight

What a drop! She's not little, no minion like

me-- That's why she ensnared him: this never will free

The soul from those masculine eyes, -- say,

'no!' To that pulse's

magnificent come-and-go.

In this stanza she is describing the other women. The mistress is larger and more powerful than herself. Minion means small and pathetic almost slave like.

She believes her lover has no choice because he is ‘ensnared’ (trapped).


Stanza Nine

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 not all!

She saw them together last night and she tried to kill the other women with her eyes but it did not work.

This shows how deeply jealous and paranoid the woman/narrator is.


Stanza Ten

Not that I bid you spare her the pain! Let death be felt and

the proof remain; Brand, burn up, bite

into its grace-- He is sure to

remember her dying face!

Alliteration is used in this stanza to reflect the anger felt by the woman/narrator.

She is so bitter and jealous that she wants her lover to remember the mistress’s ‘dying face’


Alliteration

Find the examples of alliteration used and explain what emotion it expresses


Stanza Eleven

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 fortune's fee-- If it hurts her, beside, can it ever hurt me?

In this stanza the woman/narrator is so excited by the thought of killing that she believes the other poison can not harm her- only kill the other women


Evidence

What evidence can you find to explain how the potion has made the women feel powerful


Stanza Twelve

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

King's!

The woman/narrator is so pleased with the maker of the poison, she offers him ‘all her jewels’.

The rhyme of ‘brings’ and ‘kings’ shows her excitement. The poem ends with the reader knowing the woman/narrator is off to the dance with her poison.

copyright 2007 the laboratory by robert browning 1845

Documents

best poison

carefree copyright

poem sound happy

uses onomatopoeia

examples of onomatopoeia

examples of repetition

persona character

brave tree