art literature

[hope3fully]

mariana tennyson it is so poignant

[boxtops]

what is it?

[sandyRoe]

a pome?

[boxtops]

a flim?

[sandyRoe]

I am aweary, aweary
I would that I were dead.
It's not exactly one of those you'd see in the inspiritional verse sections

[boxtops]

Oh my goodness - perhaps I won't look.

[SJmacleod]

This is said by Mariana of the Moated Grange. Her lover has left her because the death of her brother has left her impoverished, and so he will not marry her.

Tennyson got the inspiration for this poem from shakespeare's 'Measure for Measure'.

The Duke of Vienna leaves the government of his city in the hands of a supposedly upright judge, Angelo.

When Claudio, a young man accused of sleeping with his betrothed is brought before him, Angelo sentences him to death. However, Angelo makes it plain that he will commute this sentence if Isabella, Claudio's sister, a novice nun, sleeps with him. Isabella refuses, but the duke, in disguise, proposes that Angelo needs to be fooled.

He is deluded into thinking that Mariana, brought into Vienna especially for the purpose, is Isabella, sleeps with her, and is then charged with his corruption. He is made to marry Mariana.

Whether this is a happy ending to Mariana's story is in grave doubt.
Claudio is pardoned, and the Duke decides that he will marry Isabella nd make her his Duchess. Significantly, when he has announced this, Isabella remains silent.

How's that for potted Shakespeare?