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Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister

Explore the themes, language, and context of Browning's poem. Dive into the speaker's bitterness, jealousy, and use of Latin words. Unpack the imagery of flowers and the speaker's corrupt nature portrayed through them.

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Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister

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  1. Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister What do we know about this poem? What does the title tell us?

  2. First Reading: Vocabulary check: find three words you don’t understand/know and use the dictionary to find out what they mean • In whose voice is this written? • What is the poem about? • What kind of character is the persona of the poem?

  3. C – Context “swine’s snout” = c19th term. No other indication of context time-wise. What was going on in society that might have relevance? Link to: religion and church Cf. The Bishop Orders His Tomb at St. Praxted’s Church

  4. L - Language You have been given two stanzas to study in your group. Use the questions to help you pick out and comment on Browning’s use of language. Be prepared to share your ideas with the class as you will become ‘the expert’ on your stanzas for a second group.

  5. Gr-r-r--there go, my heart's abhorrence!Water your damned flower-pots, do! What? your myrtle-bush wants trimming?Oh, that rose has prior claims— Needs its leaden vase filled brimming?Hell dry you up with its flames!

  6. At the meal we sit together;Salve tibi!I must hearWise talk of the kind of weather, Sort of season, time of year:Not a plenteous cork crop: scarcelyDare we hope oak-galls, I doubt;What's the Latin name for "parsley"?What's the Greek name for "swine's snout"?

  7. Whew! We'll have our platter burnished, Laid with care on our own shelf!With a fire-new spoon we're furnished,And a goblet for ourself,Rinsed like something sacrificialEre 'tis fit to touch our chaps--Marked with L. for our initial!(He-he! There his lily snaps!)

  8. Saint, forsooth! While Brown Dolores Squats outside the Convent bankWith Sanchicha, telling stories,Steeping tresses in the tank,Blue-black, lustrous, thick like horsehairs,--Can't I see his dead eye glow, Bright as 'twere a Barbary corsair's?(That is, if he'd let it show!)

  9. When he finishes refection,Knife and fork he never laysCross-wise, to my recollection,As do I, in Jesu's praise.I the Trinity illustrate,Drinking watered orange pulp--In three sips the Arian frustrate;While he drains his at one gulp!

  10. Oh, those melons! if he's ableWe're to have a feast; so nice!One goes to the Abbot's table,All of us get each a slice.How go on your flowers? None double?Not one fruit-sort can you spy?Strange!--And I, too, at such trouble,Keep them close-nipped on the sly!

  11. There's a great text in Galatians,Once you trip on it, entailsTwenty-nine distinct damnations,One sure, if another fails;If I trip him just a-dying,Sure of heaven as sure can be,Spin him round and send him flyingOff to hell, a Manichee?

  12. Or, my scrofulous French novelOn grey paper with blunt type!Simply glance at it, you grovelHand and foot in Belial's gripe;If I double down its pagesAt the woeful sixteenth print,When he gathers his greengages,Ope a sieve and slip it in't?

  13. Or, there's Satan!--one might venturePledge one's soul to him, yet leaveSuch a flaw in the indentureAs he'd miss till, past retrieve,Blasted lay that rose-acaciaWe're so proud of!Hy, Zy, Hine...'St, there's Vespers!Plena gratiaAve, Virgo! Gr-r-r--you swine!

  14. L – Language • The poem uses a lot of exclamation marks. Find some examples. What does this suggest about the speaker? • The poem uses a lot of question marks. Find some examples. How are they used? (i.e. is the speaker asking genuine questions?) What does this suggest about the speaker? • Find some examples of language which creates a tone of anger, bitterness or jealousy. • What is the effect of having the speaker use both non-verbal sounds and Latin words? • Can you find any examples of sibilance (/s/) or ‘soft’ alliteration in the poem? What is the effect of this?

  15. I – Imagery Flowers and Plants The speaker's rival and nemesis, Brother Lawrence, is an avid gardener, and the poem takes place in the cloister, or the open garden area at the centre of the monastery. The speaker works in his complaints about Brother Lawrence around remarks about his flowers. In poetry, flowers are generally associated with beauty and innocence, but the speaker wants us to believe that Brother Lawrence is actually a corrupt, hypocritical monk. How do the references to flowers help create the impression that it's actually the speaker, who wants to "blast" the "rose-acacia," who is corrupt?

  16. Line 2: The first reference to flowers has the speaker telling someone – we don't yet know whom – to "water [his] damned flower-pots." Why curse the flower-pots? Could this be hyperbole? Watering flowerpots seems like an inoffensive act: what effect does this have on our opinion of the speaker’s rage? • Line 5: Why could "trimming" be seen as a metaphor for the ideal "monkish" behaviour? • Lines 6-7: Brother Lawrence stops the trimming to refill the vase of a flowerpot. Roses are often associated with sex and beauty, and the speaker notes that Brother Lawrence stops his repressive "trimming" in order to refill a vase of beautiful roses. For what could this be a loose metaphor? • Line 16: "Swine's Snout" is actually a common name for the dandelion, although the speaker is making a double entendre, or pun, insulting Brother Lawrence by calling him a pig face ("swine"=pig). How does this affect our view of the speaker? • Line 24: The "lily" referenced here is a metaphor for innocence and purity. How do we know the speaker is delighted that the illusion of Brother Lawrence's innocence and purity is "snapped," or broken? • Lines 47-48: The speaker admits that he sneakily "nips" the buds of Brother Lawrence's flowers. We often use the expression "to nip [something] in the bud,": what could this ‘nipping’ be a metaphor for? • Line 63: The speaker uses alliteration in this line with the repetition of the "g" sound ("gathers his greengages"). Greengages are a type of fruit related to the plum. What is the effect of this? • Line 69: This is a line that many readers and critics have argued about: is the speaker talking about "blast[ing]," or killing, a literal "rose-acacia" that Brother Lawrence has planted, or is the "rose-acacia" supposed to stand in symbolically for Brother Lawrence himself? (Some critics have even argued that the speaker has become so wrapped up in his angry passion that he loses track of the direction of his sentence partway through, and says "rose-acacia" because it's the first thing he sees. (He's still looking out into the cloister garden, so there are flowers galore). What do you think?

  17. F - Form • Dramatic Monologue: • Experimental, hybrid poetic form that combines elements of drama and the theatre with more traditional, lyric poetry. Dramatic Lyrics. • The speaker of the poem is never Browning himself. It’s a character he has created. In this case, the speaker is a Spanish monk who seems to be rather psychologically unstable. • Browning was experimental in that he played with different poetic forms and explored the psychology of all kinds of different people, allowing them to reveal their innermost being through their own speech. • Why is this not, strictly speaking, a dramatic monologue?

  18. S - Structure How many stanzas? How many lines? What rhyme scheme? Gr-r-r--there go, my heart's abhorrence! (A)Water your damned flower-pots, do! (B)If hate killed men, Brother Lawrence, (A)God's blood, would not mine kill you! (B)What? your myrtle-bush wants trimming? (C) Oh, that rose has prior claims— (D)Needs its leaden vase filled brimming? (C)Hell dry you up with its flames! (D) What is the effect of this?

  19. S - Structure The meter of the poem = the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables per line e.g. iambic pentameter How many times this happens in one line (how many ‘feet’ per line) (pentameter = 5 times) The type of ‘foot’ (specific sequence of syllables) referring to stressed/unstressed sounds (iambic = an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable: i-AM)

  20. S - Structure The meter of the poem = the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables per line Trochaic tetrameter Four feet per line A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable: TRO-chee “What? Your myr-tlebush wants trim-ming?” [TRO-chee TRO-chee TRO-chee TRO-chee] This sometimes switches to iambic tetrameter: “Wa-teryour dam-nedflower-pots, do!” [i-AM i-AM i-AM i-AM] And sometimes a line lacks a complete foot: “Oh, that rose has pri-or claims” [TRO-chee TRO-chee TRO-chee TRO-] What is the effect of this?

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