Browning, "The Lost Mistress": Free AP English Literature

Poetry AnalysisAbout 40 minutes · scored 0 to 6

In the following poem by Robert Browning, published in 1845, the speaker addresses a woman who has just told him that their romance is over.

Robert Browning, "The Lost Mistress" (1845)

All 's over, then: does truth sound bitter

As one at first believes?

Hark, 'tis the sparrows' good-night twitter

About your cottage eaves!

5And the leaf-buds on the vine are woolly,

I noticed that, to-day;

One day more bursts them open fully

– You know the red turns gray.

To-morrow we meet the same then, dearest?

10May I take your hand in mine?

Mere friends are we, – well, friends the merest

Keep much that I resign:

For each glance of the eye so bright and black

Though I keep with heart's endeavor, –

15Your voice, when you wish the snowdrops back,

Though it stay in my soul forever! –

Yet I will but say what mere friends say,

Or only a thought stronger;

I will hold your hand but as long as all may,

20Or so very little longer!

Read the poem carefully. Then, in a well-written essay, analyze how Browning uses literary elements and techniques to convey the speaker's conflicted response to the end of the relationship. In your response you should do the following: respond to the prompt with a thesis that presents a defensible interpretation; select and use evidence to support your line of reasoning; explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning; and use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument. 6 points

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