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Love in A Life - Notes

The poem "Love in a Life" by Robert Browning describes a speaker's desperate search for his lost lover throughout their large, maze-like home. Over the course of the entire day, the speaker hunts from room to room but is unable to find her, as she always seems to have just left each room before he arrives. Though frustrated by his futile search as night falls, the speaker remains determined to continue exploring every hidden space, closet, and alcove of the home in hopes of being reunited with his beloved. The poem explores the fear and obsessive desperation that comes from the threat of losing one's love.

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Eram Iftikhar
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319 views3 pages

Love in A Life - Notes

The poem "Love in a Life" by Robert Browning describes a speaker's desperate search for his lost lover throughout their large, maze-like home. Over the course of the entire day, the speaker hunts from room to room but is unable to find her, as she always seems to have just left each room before he arrives. Though frustrated by his futile search as night falls, the speaker remains determined to continue exploring every hidden space, closet, and alcove of the home in hopes of being reunited with his beloved. The poem explores the fear and obsessive desperation that comes from the threat of losing one's love.

Uploaded by

Eram Iftikhar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Love in a Life

BY  RO BE RT BR OWN IN G
I
Room after room, The first three lines are quite short, but extremely
powerful and assertive. The speaker’s tone in these lines is determined and confident. He knows
he’s going to find the person he’s looking for.  i. room after room: suggestive of a thorough
search- desperation and anguish-search is repetitive and perhaps even endless- maze like
quality to the house
I hunt the house through ii. Hunt: an intense search- reveals the poet
exhausting all his efforts in looking for the beloved- is even aggressive as if looking for prey
We inhabit together. iii. Inhabit together: suggests that he was
married to the woman whom he is so desperately looking for- together shows a strong bond
between the partners
Heart, fear nothing, for, heart, thou shalt find her— iv: heart, fear nothing: direct
address to the heart- a consoling voice- attempt at remaining hopeful
v. shalt: suggestive of a strong
determination- not just hope expressed but a resolve
Next time, herself!—not the trouble behind her vi: herself: a reflexive pronoun
suggesting the hope finding the poet’s beloved- the exclamation indicating poet’s strong
conviction vii. Trouble: here suggestive of
remnants, smell- impressions of the beloved- suggestive of the beloved being all over the place,
a reminder to the poet through everything – hence curtain- couch’s perfume

Left in the curtain, the couch's perfume!


As she brushed it, the cornice-wreath blossomed anew: cornice: an ornamental
moulding round the wall of a room just below the ceiling viii. Brushed:
suggestive of mere touch of the beloved enough to give life to wreaths- her presence in poet’s
life held immense value- hence his maddening hunt as suggestive of in line 2

Yon looking-glass gleamed at the wave of her feather. Yon: that/those/over there
Ix: looking glass gleamed: just as other items in the speaker’s home remind him of hs beloved’s
touch /memory in them, similarly a mere wave/gesture is enough to make the glss scintillate

II
Yet the day wears, tone even more dejected-continues
tiresome efforts to search for his lover i. yet: suggestive of the contrasting
situation: hope versus reality
And door succeeds door; ii. Day wears: indicates a day’s long
search which shows the infutility of the search
I try the fresh fortune— iii. Fresh fortune: alliteration –
suggests renewed attempts with a belief in good luck
Range the wide house from the wing to the centre . iv. Wing to the centre: A wing
is part of a building – or any feature of a building – that is subordinate to the main, central
structure- an addition structure- speaker uses this to give the reader an idea of the width of the
house- create an image of search over an extended area- supported by the word ‘wide’
Still the same chance! she goes out as I enter. V. same chance: indicates the same
futile attempt and unsuccessful effort
Spend my whole day in the quest,—who cares? Vi: spend my whole day: indicates
the poet’s sole purpose and focus is to look for lady love vii: who
cares:
But 'tis twilight, you see,—with such suites to explore, vii: ‘tis twilight: indicates the
whole day being spent
Such closets to search, such alcoves a small space in the room/corners or passageways in the house
to importune! Make repeated forceful requests for sth viii. Suits, closets, alcoves: as if in a descending
order

Structure:

Love in a Life’ by Robert Browning is a short two stanza poem that is separated into two sets of
eight lines, or octaves.

Themes:

-tells of a speaker’s seemingly endless quest to find his lover within the numerous rooms of their
shared home.

-The mysterious "Love in a Life" explores the fear of losing one’s beloved. The poem’s speaker
searches for his lost lover through a vast, maze-like house, but she always seems to have just
left each room before he enters. Even as the day grows darker and there are seemingly endless
hiding places left to explore, the increasingly frantic speaker vows to continue his search.
Readers never learn whether the speaker finds his beloved in the end, nor why she’s so elusive
in the first place. Many take the poem as a metaphor for the fear of losing a lover to death or
illness. Above all, however, the poem illustrates the obsessiveness and desperation that may
stem from being separated from one’s love.

TONE

This poem is written as two parts. The first part speaks about him not wanting to care about his
next woman's past. The second part speaks of him wanting to learn about everything else since
there is so much to learn

 Stanza 1- determined, passionate, longing


  Stanza 2- frustrated,

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