The main idea that the poem tries to express is the contrast between Reason and Feelings. With this poem Robert Browning makes a critic to Reason, symbolized by words and language, and a defence of Feelings, regarding emotional relationships.

She, the speaker, claims for the stop of thinking, that is, she wants her lover to stop speaking and start acting. There are lots of examples that tell the reader about the attitude of  the Woman. For instance, in verse 1 “let’s contend no more”, she begins by asking for peace, she wants calm, and that calm can be achieved by silence. “Hush and hide the talking” in verse 11 because there is a “creature stalking”. She wants no words for that night, she doesn`t want him to tlak to her, then she wants real evidences, she wants acts like “hold” in verse 21 and “fold” in verse 23, this way she wants her lover to demonstrate real love, through acts instead of words.

She makes a criticism to Reason in the fourth stanza, saying that there is nothing as “false” as the “truth”. She makes that contradiction to take the reader to her way of thinking and convince him of the defence of Feelings. The speaker uses the Biblical image of the “serpent” in verse 15, tempting the woman from the tree and, reminding the man that evil is always present and dangerous, and it can take them to wrong ways by the arm of the Speaking, which she wants to avoid. This way she links the Speech with Evil. She advises her lover to get away from those dangerous places “where the apple reddens” and get far from the snake. Stanzas 4 and 5 are related to Religion because they make  reference to the episode of Adam and Eve. She asks for him to “be a God” in verse 21, making a contrast with verse 23 where she wants him to “be a man”. She wants both realities, divine and human, linking the divine and the real world by the image of her lover, and the same happens in stanza 8 where she wants to unite “flesh and spirit”

“English poet, noted for his mastery of dramatic monologue.” ROBERT BROWNING

The voice of the poem is expressed by a Woman who speaks to her lover. The voice of the man is not present in the poem, an essential feature to create a Dramatic Monologue, where the main character speaks with no physical listener. This kind of writing is characteristic for the Victorian period, and it is often used by authors like Robert Browning. This gives the oportunity to the poet to express his thoughts, ideas and feelings through an invented, or even real character, giving him voice and personality, which can differ from the poet’s own personality.

“he techniques he developed through his dramatic monologues—especially his use of diction, rhythm, and symbol—are regarded as his most important contribution to poetry, influencing such major poets of the twentieth century as Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, and Robert Frost” The academy of american poets.

With this kind of poems the author shows his constant insecurity towards his feelings, towards his couple. He is not sure about what the reaction is going to be, that is one of the reasons he asks for silence and wants no words anymore. “Hay razones para atribuir a esa disonancia interna la permanente inseguridad que padeció Browning a lo largo de su vida y que marcó el tono fundamental de sus versos”. Algunas notas sobre Robert Browning.

The rhyme of the poem is structured abab cdcd, and it is divided into 10 stanzas of four lines each. The first and the third verse of each stanza contain 6 syllables, and the second and the fourth have 3 syllables. The poet repeats the structure on and on and the ear of the reader gets acostumed to it. This way the reader creates his own expectations about the reading of the poem, the rhythm is fast and light. The sentence of the first line of each stanza needs the second verses to be complete, to have full meaning and to fulfill the expectations of the reader.

The structure of the poem is visibly round since the author begins the poem by asking the man to go to sleep, she devlops her purpose through the poem by making him start acting, and it ends with the same requirement of the beginning, to “fall asleep”.

The title is very important for the understanding of the poem. A WOMAN’S LAST WORD makes reference to the last Will of a woman, her last expression dedicated to her lover, the last advises she wants to make are dedicated to her lover, to their relationship. With her last word she wants her couple to get the right way, to escape from temptation, to “bury sorrow”, to have a better future from that very moment because next night, “to-morrow”, they are going to lie together in peace.

To conclude, the darkness of this kind of poems makes the reader realize how dificult and hard the life of the poet must have been, psychologically speaking. In hard times like the 18^th Century “he did not always realize how obscure were his references and allussions.” Poetry Connection.

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