AURORA LEIGHStudy Guide (Book
1) Directions: Answer any 8 of the 10 questions
below.
What is the speaker's project, in this poem? (l.1-9)
That is, why does she write? What are her aims? Context note: Differentiating writing as "art" from
writing as mass production was a recurrent theme in
Victorian literature, due to the unprecedented growth of
"popular" fiction. Generally speaking, "art" (original
creative production) is defined as a masculine pursuit
and "mass culture" (derivative reproductions) as a
feminine one. How might this affect our reading of the
poem?
How did Aurora's mother die and how does this impact
her worldview? (l. 29-60)
How, according to the speaker, is father-love
different from mother-love? How does her father meet (and
fall in love with) her mother? (l. 60-91) Note: Omitted lines here (l. 92-146) tell of her early
childhood. Her grieving father takes her to live quietly
in the Italian mountains. Their home is guarded/haunted
by an eerie portrait of her deceased mother, painted (or
at least sketched) sometime between her death and her
burial. Following "Her Mother's Portrait," the omitted
lines (l. 174-250) tell of her father's death when she is
13 years old (13 usually a significant age in
coming-of-age narratives). Up to that point, he has given
her a substantive moral and intellectual education. On
his deathbed, he urges her to "Love, my child, love,
love." Soon after, she is forcibly dragged away from her
Italian home, out on a boat bound for England.
How, according to the speaker, is England different
from Italy? (l. 251-269)
What are Aurora's impressions of the aunt who adopts
her? (l. 270-309) What is Aurora and her aunt's first
meeting like? (l. 310-336) Why does the aunt hate
Aurora's mother? (l. 337-357) How do Aurora and the Aunt
treat each other? (l. 359-391)
What kind of education does Aurora receive at her
aunt's house? Why do you think Browning goes to such
lengths to describe it? (l. 392-455)
Why are the works of women "symbolical," according to
Aurora? (l. 456-465)
How does Aurora cope with the misery she feels? (l.
466-498) Note: The omitted lines here (l. 499-814) begin by
introducing her cousin, Romney Leigh, a few years older,
whom her aunt hopes she'll marry. Also talks about the
consolation she finds in nature (compare to Wordsworth)
and in books, especially the impassioned Greek and Roman
classics her father had introduced her to (an antidote to
those her aunt makes her read. Reads for memory (of her
father), hope (for the future), beauty. Challenges
popular assumptions that there are (morally and
aesthetically) good and bad books
What does Aurora find in the attic and how does this
affect her? (l. 833-854)
According to the speaker, what is the work of the
poet, especially in an industrial age? (l. 855-880)
