The Strange Case of  Dr Jekyll 
                         and Mr Hyde

  By Robert Louis Stevenson

“All human beings, as we meet them, are commingled out of good and evil: and Edward Hyde, alone, in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil“ 

I consider this as my favorite story because i do believe that human beings have their good and bad side and both fight against each other to be in the light. However, we cannot control our bad part.

There is evil in all us and this evil is also part of ourselves. In the readind Dr Jenkill wanted to discover this part, but at the end he cannot control it. This is our shadow that we hide from the rest of the world. A part of us that we hide and do not show.

Porphyria's Lover 

by Robert Browning

"Porphyria worshipped me; surprise 

Made my heart sweel, and still it grew"

True love make people lose their minds, and perhaps, this crazy feeling can lead to obssesion and dependency. Also, love make people do crazy things that later they might regret. This poem seems to be pretty dark, for the love described it follows a dark path. The men seems to be obesssed with her that even when she is dead he performed inimaginable acts with her. This poem, I consider, shows the fact that loving can lead to madness, and for some this madness is understood as true love. 

A Man's Requirements

By Elizabeth Barret Browning

"Thus,if thou wilt prove me, Dear, Woman's love no fable.
I will love thee-half a year- As a man is able"

Women in Victorian times were considered as inferior if they are compared to men. They did not have the chance to give their opinios or ideas, even telling their likes and dislikes. In this poem, women are shown as an object that can be sold to men, for women have to fullfill all the requirements to get married. When men choose a wife, they not only have to look pretty to be selected by them but also be perfect as men want them to be. I believe that due to the fact the author is a woman, she criticizes in a sacarstic manner, the way women were treated in this period.

My last Duchess 
by Robert Browning

"Too easily impressed; she liked whate'er"

The poem showed the reality that women lived in the Victorian era. Women's goal was to get married and have children. When women got married, their husband owned all properties and money, and women depend financially on men. I consider that women were seen as objects, and in the haunting season, there were like paintings that people see, judge and take the best that they like. 

One part of the poem said that the girl was pleased with everything and all makes her happy. Therefore, women were easy to please because perhaps they never said what they dislike since they had to show they were happy all the time. If they dislike something, they did not have the right to share it. In conclusio, women were seen as objects that one went to the store and pick the best one.

Dover Beach

by Matthew Arnold

"Ah, love, let us be true 

  To one another! for the world, which seems

  To lie before us like a land of dreams..."

This poem has a sense of calmness, so while I was reading, I traveled to this beach. I could imagine what the author narrates. At the beggining, it was difficult to understand the poem. However, after readig it 3 times, I could analyze the poem. Also, at the end, I realized that the author was with his love. Therefore, perhaps the poem is about two lovers in ther honeymoon in the beach; enjoying their love. Two lovers enjoying and loving each other in the beach; it seems very romantic.

The Forsaken Merman 

by Matthew Arnold

"But cruel is she!
She left lonely for ever
The kings of the sea"

Before analyzing the poem, I did some research about the author, so I realized that he believed in science rather than Cristianity. Also, in his works, he related the stories with the Victorian era. In this case, this poem is related to Cristianity, which he critized it.

I can interpret the poem like this: Margaret lived happy in the sea with her family; she did not want it to go back to the land. However, because of her cristian duties, as she said "she must go," she went leaving her family in the sea. She never came back to the sea. This shows that sometimes people leaves everything behind for religion. Also, the poem shows women empowerment in the Victorian era in which women had to obey her husband and submit to him. However, in the poem, she empowered herself, and decided to do something for herself. As the poem shows, she lives in the sea; so she left her home to live with the merman, and sacrifice herself to live in the sea, but then she returned to his home and never came back to the sea. She decided to do what she really wanted.

I enjoy reading this poem, for I can imagine the sea, the merman very clearly. The author explains and gives many details. Therefore, reading this poem was an enriching experience. 

 Break, Break, Break

by Alfred Lord Tennyson

"Break, Break, Break

     To their haven under the hill"

When you lose someone you love, you feel that your heart breaks a little. This poem was created by the author when his friend Arthur Henry Hallan passed away. As the author sees the sea and some thoughts come to their mind. In this case, I consider that he starts remembering his friend, and all the moments he spent with him. In fact, the memories and thoughts are the only ones which remain when a person passed away.

It is interesting what it says in stanza 4 line 3-4 "But the tender grace of a day that is dead will never come back to me" I understand this part of the poem and I agree with it because as the tender grace of a day will never come back the time or moments you spend with a beloved person wil never come back. For this reason, we should live the present with the people we love as if it were the last day of our lives.