What are the narrative techniques used by Tennyson in “Mariana”

Alfred Lord Tennysons poetry, Mariana, con stress tos the story of a jilted charwoman from Shakespeares Measure for Measure. The epigraph of the poem Mariana in the moted grange is taken from a reference of this play, and the muniment proficiencys deep down the poem combined with the context of the isolation of the flake choke us an appreciation into the melancholy that not yet the reputation of Mariana feels, notwithstanding perhaps also Tennyson himself. Arguably the close to prominent report technique utilize by Tennyson is the tomography within the powm which is an outward manifestation of Marianas inward melancholy.The monotonous glooming flats outside of her house reflect her vivification she is going nowhere now that she has been jilted and apparently has no paying attention to In addition to this, images of isolation prevail passim the poem, The lonely protected grange. This foster adds to the belief that Mariana is cut off from the vibrancy of human bre eding. Tennyson is particularly clever with this narrative technique giving the description of an inanimate object, such(prenominal)(prenominal) as the moated grange using an human emotion, it allows the reader to reflect this shade onto the calibre of Mariana, which further gives insight to the solitude that her cite is feeling.The vision passim is of vital importance, due to the detail that we learn nothing of the physical visual aspect of her, yet the bleak desolation of the landscape which she lives in allows the reader to confinement this image onto her character and gives an insight towards the inner turmoil and isolation that the character is feeling. In addition, the image of decay is one of the most obvious forms of imagery throughout, and further reflects the fact that Marianas life is wasting away waiting for a man. . The quotationWith blackest moss the flower plots, Were thickly crusted one and all.suggests the bringing close together that the melancholy Marian a has been feeling has not been a short term thing. The fact that the usually verdure moss has turned black raises the question that Mariana may be wallowing, and perhaps even enjoying her melancholy, due to the fact that it highlights the amount of time she has been in such a state. This quotation further shows the short letter between what her life could have been, and how she is living now. The mention of flower-plots indicates that her life could have been flourishing and fill with colour, if she allowed it to be so, yet it is simply dark andbleak. This imagery of colour is entwined throughout the euphonys, with consistent references to blackend waters and the rounding gray.A ball over piece of imagery which contrasts this darkness is the poplar tree tree with silver greengnarled bark This is a dominant image throughout the poem, and has been interpreted to be a phallic image of the man who abandoned Mariana, and is inveterate to haunt her life even after he has left. This inte embossmentingly reflects the carriages of the time. throughout Tennysons poetry there are interpreters of feminism, and critique of the attitudes towards woman at the time. This reflects the prim idea that a woman can all be complete with a man in her life, and the life of a woman without a husband is dreary.The sheer melancholy within the poem could perhaps be a further jibe from Tennyson well-nigh society at this time, indicating that he believes that the idea that women should live like Mariana if they dont have a husband is utter nonsense. A further technique used by Tennyson to regulate the story within Mariana is the use of the structure. The verse structure abab cddc efef is almost encircling, with the central quatrain having a rhyming couplet in the middle, such asAnd wild winds bound within their cell, The shadow of the poplar fellThis emphasises the psychological constraints of Marianas depression and depicts further the stasis of her life. The couplet in the m iddle is trapped, unable to escape due to the constraining verses, which clearly reflects the attitude that Mariana has to life. In addition to this, the verse form is unique to Tenyson and does not follow the traditional verse forms of other poetry, further adding to the idea that Mariana feels alone in life, and that there is nobody that is able to sympathise with her situation. Tennyson uses other language techniques such as onomatopoeia develop the story of Mariana, and is further used to reflect her character. The most brilliant example of this isThe doors upon their hinges creakd The blue fly birdsong in the pane the mouse Behind the mouldering wainscot shriekdThe density of the onomatopoeia within this section suggests nightmarish and crazy sounds, and screams of despair, and create, as Ebbatson phrased a landscape of inertia and loss, which correlates with the emotions of the character. Furthermore, this quotation offers a stark contrast to the rest of the poem. Tennyson use s powerful words such as shriekd and creakd which are a harsh difference to the rest of the poem, which is mainly compiled of unchanging verbs such as fell. The abundance of inactive verbs throughout the poem further reflects Marianas idleness, and unfeignedly emphasises the onomatopoeia within this verse to reflect the dramatic sounds made from outside. Pathetic fallacy is a further narrative techniqueAnd wild winds bound within their cell,This is another example of the way Tennyson uses the surroundings to reflect character Marianas consciousness is really a wild wind, but she chooses to keep it imprisoned and trapped within their cell, adding to the perception that she is actually enjoying her melancholy. The alliteration of wild winds consequently accentuates the havoc of her consciousness, and gives the reader further insight into the character. A final technique used by Tennyson is repeating, which is present throughout the poe,. Perhaps the most obvious form of repetition is the refrain, which is repeated at the end of each verseShe only said, My life is dreary He cometh not she said She said, I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were deadThe fact that this is at the end of it gives an insight into the monotony of Marianas life, yet it also has an issuance of creating annoyance towards the character of Mariana. Evidently as this is the only thing that she can say, it may see that she is wallowing in her sadness, and further adds to the impression that Tennyson gives off throughout the poem about the feminist aspect. The use of direct speech within this refrain is the only part in the poem where we get a direct spot of Mariana. It is therefore more immediate than the rest of the devices used to describe her character in the poem, and could perhaps evoke sympathy. However, it is not only the refrain which is repeated.The repetition of feminine rhymes such as dreary/aweary reflectthe feminine nature of the character, and the drawn out nature of these words and the unstressed syllable at the end reflect the languorous nature of the poem and create an effect of infinite weariness. Furthermore, the dramatic change of the final two lines of the refrain in the last stanza offers perhaps the only change to the stasis of the poem, which is a further narrative technique, and the final line Oh God that I were dead shows that Mariana has come to the closing that she is fed up of living a lfe of shadows and nothingness.In summary, Tennyson uses an abundance of narrative techniques to tell the story of Mariana. Whilst it is essentially a poem of stasis, the methods such as imagery and repetition cleverly give the reader a deeper insight into the character featured in the poem, and have an interesting message about Victorian society concealed within them.