The Lady and the Painter by Robert Browning
Lady Blanche accuses a painter of degrading a woman by paying her to pose naked. He defends his reverence for the model and rebukes Blanche for wearing wild birds' wings, contrasting the model's service to art with the killing of harmless creatures for fashion. Blanche replies that he is joking.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Dramatic Poetry, Satirical Poetry · 325 words
First lines
_She._ Yet womanhood you reverence, / So you profess! / _He._ With heart and soul. / _She._ Of which fact this is evidence! / To help Art-study, -- for some dole / Of certain wretched shillings, -- you / Induce a woman -- virgin too -- / To strip and stand stark-naked? / _He._ True. / _She._ Nor feel you so degrade her? / _He._ What / -- (Excuse the interruption) -- clings / Half-savage-like around your hat? / _She._ Ah, do they please you? Wild-bird-wings! / Next season, -- Paris-prints assert, -- / We must go feathered to the skirt: / My modiste keeps on the alert.
Genres
- Dramatic Poetry — Rhymed verse presents a direct exchange between a lady and a painter about nude modelling and feathered clothing.
- Satirical Poetry — The painter turns Blanche's accusation of degradation against her bird-wing ornaments, while she dismisses his rebuke as a joke.
Tags
nude modelling · painting · feather fashion · animal cruelty · moral hypocrisy · dialogue
What this Textopian page supports
The Lady and the Painter is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Browning, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Browning
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Dramatic Poetry, Satirical Poetry
- Length: 325 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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- Work identity for The Lady and the Painter by Robert Browning
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