Browning- Johannes Agricola

Question 1

There’s heaven above- and night by night

Answer 1

Sapitial deixis places speaker at deicitic centre, highlighting narcissism
Establishes religious lexis
Anaphora establishes routine and continuity

Question 2

Rhythm

Answer 2

Iambic tetrameter, links to themes of insanity

Question 3

Rhyme scheme

Answer 3

Irregular, shows uncertainty and growing insanity

Question 4

Form

Answer 4

Dramatic monologue creates first person narrative perspective, offers psychological insight

Question 5

I lie where I have always lain/ God smiles as he has always smiled

Answer 5

Same verb in different tenses highlights constancy of heaven
Anaphora of ‘always’ highlights God’s omniprescence
Temporal deixis creates sense of permanency

Question 6

Thus rooted me, he bade me grow, / Guiltless forever, like a tree

Answer 6

Past participle verb creates sense of permanency but also ironic because of semantic field of nature and growth
Simile of man and tree

Question 7

That buds and blooms nor seeks to know/ The law by which it prospers so

Answer 7

Plosives in combination with pastoral imagery highlights how natural law is all speaker needs
Monosyllabic highlights plosives

Question 8

All hideous sins, as in a cup, / To drink the mingled venoms up

Answer 8

Semantic field of evils suggests possibilities of hell, serves as a warning
Plural nouns highlights decay and macabre tone

Question 9

And bargain for his love, and stand, / Paying a price, at his right hand?

Answer 9

Plosives show passions and emotion
Rhyming couplet highlights insanity of blind belief
Rhetoric implies comparison