The Laboratory
by Robert Browning 1845
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The Laboratory is about a jealous
woman/narrator who thinks her lover is
cheating on her.
She asks a chemist to make a poison to kill her
lover’s mistress.
The main themes of this poem are:
Love, Hate, Jealously, Killing
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Stanza One
Now that I, tying thy
glass mask tightly,
May gaze thro’ these
faint smokes curling
whitely,
As thou pliest thy trade
in this devil’s
smithyWhich is the poison to
poison her prithee?
This describes the
persona (character)
putting on her mask so
she doesn’t poison
herself and asking…
What is the best poison
to poison her please?
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Alliteration- two or more words
starting with the same letter
Find two examples of alliteration
from stanza one.
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Stanza Two
He is with her; and they The woman/narrator is
paranoid and this is
know that I know
shown by the use of
Where they are, what
repetition.
they do: they believe
She is consumed by
my tears flow
anger and jealousy
While they laugh, laugh
tried to find comfort in
at me, at me fled to the
God by praying for
drear
them but instead she
Empty church, to pray
went to the
God in, for them! -- I
Laboratory.
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Repetition- used to emphasise an
emotion
Find two examples of repetition that shows how the
persona feels
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Stanza Three
Grind away, moisten and
mash up thy paste,
Pound at thy powder, - I am not in haste!
Better sit thus, and
observe thy strange
things,
Than go where men
wait me and dance at
the King's.
Stanza three uses
onomatopoeia to
describe how the
poison is made. The
persona feels calm and
relaxed. She is almost
mesmerised by the
making of the poison.
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Onomatopoeia – words that
sound like their action
Find two examples of onomatopoeia that describe the
making of the poison
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Stanza Four
That in the mortar -- you call
it a gum?
Ah, the brave tree whence
such gold oozings come!
And yonder soft phial, the
exquisite blue,
Sure to taste sweetly, -- is
that poison too?
The woman/narrator uses a
metaphor to describe the
poisonous tree- she calls it
brave.
The colours show how
excited she is and she uses
the word exquisite which
means beautiful and
precious.
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Metaphor- compares images not
using as or like
Find an example of a metaphor
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Stanza Five
Had I but all of them, thee
and thy treasures,
What a wild crowd of
invisible pleasures!
To carry pure death in an
earring, a casket,
A signet, a fan-mount, a
filligree-basket!
This stanza shows how the
character is becoming more
and more excited at the
potion maker’s power. She
uses a metaphor to
describe the power.
The rhyme scheme makes the
poem sound like a songthis contrasts the themes
of the poem
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Rhyme- makes the poem sound
like a song.
Find the metaphor
that makes the
potion- maker sound
powerful
 Find four words
that make the poem
sound happy and
carefree

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Stanza Six
Soon, at the King's, a mere
lozenge to give
And Pauline should have
just thirty minutes to live!
But to light a pastille, and
Elise, with her head
And her breast and her
arms and her hands, should
drop dead!
She will give Pauline, her
lover’s mistress a sweet
which will kill her in 30
minutes.
But she doesn’t stop there –
she also wants to kill Elise.
This shows her deep
mistrust of her lover and
her growing paranoia.
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Theme- Confusion & Paranoia
Find a quote that suggests the
woman/narrator is confused.
What word is repeated that suggests her
desire to kill?
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Stanza Seven
Quick -- is it finished? The
colour's too grim!
Why not soft like the
phial's, enticing and dim?
Let it brighten her drink, let
her turn it and stir,
And try it and taste, ere
she fix and prefer!
In this stanza, the
woman/narrator is
dismayed when the potion
is ready. She complains
the colour is too dark.
She soon becomes excited
when she envisages how
the poison will hurt the
mistress
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Theme- Colours
Why is she upset the poison is ‘grim’ rather
than ‘bright’?
Explain your answer using Point Evidence &
Explain
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Stanza Eight
What a drop! She's not little,
no minion like me-That's why she ensnared
him: this never will free
The soul from those
masculine eyes, -- say, 'no!'
To that pulse's
magnificent come-and-go.
In this stanza she is describing
the other women. The
mistress is larger and more
powerful than herself.
Minion means small and
pathetic almost slave like.
She believes her lover has no
choice because he is
‘ensnared’ (trapped).
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Stanza Nine
For only last night, as they
whispered, I brought
My own eyes to bear on
her so, that I thought
Could I keep them one half
minute fixed, she would fall,
Shrivelled; she fell not; yet
this does not all!
She saw them together
last night and she tried
to kill the other women
with her eyes but it did
not work.
This shows how deeply
jealous and paranoid
the woman/narrator is.
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Stanza Ten
Not that I bid you spare Alliteration is used in this
stanza to reflect the
her the pain!
anger felt by the
Let death be felt and
woman/narrator.
the proof remain;
Brand, burn up, bite
She is so bitter and
into its grace-jealous that she wants
He is sure to remember
her lover to remember
her dying face!
the mistress’s ‘dying
face’
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Alliteration
 Find the examples of alliteration used
and explain what emotion it expresses
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Stanza Eleven
Is it done? Take my mask off!
Nay, be not morose
It kills her, and this
prevents seeing it close:
The delicate droplet, my
whole fortune's fee-If it hurts her, beside, can it
ever hurt me?
In this stanza the
woman/narrator is so
excited by the thought of
killing that she believes the
other poison can not harm
her- only kill the other
women
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Evidence

What evidence can you find to explain how
the potion has made the women feel powerful
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Stanza Twelve
Now, take all my jewels, gorge
gold to your fill,
You may kiss me, old man,
on my mouth if you will!
But brush this dust off me,
lest horror it brings
Ere I know it -- next
moment I dance at the
King's!
The woman/narrator is so
pleased with the maker of
the poison, she offers him
‘all her jewels’.
The rhyme of ‘brings’ and
‘kings’ shows her
excitement. The poem
ends with the reader
knowing the
woman/narrator is off to
the dance with her poison.
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