Essay Questions

What is the protagonist's dream about in "Dreams"?

In "Dreams," the protagonist has a disturbing and surreal dream on the night of her wedding. The narrator describes that in this dream, "all the men she had known in her relatively short life had been presented to her in a series, like credits at the end of a film. They were all in wheelchairs, but such wheelchairs. Suspended on thin strong ropes they gave their occupants the opportunity to swing back and forth against a clear blue sky. The men involved had looked to her like strange trapeze artists or happy preschool children on playground swings."

Why does Robert Browning believe that he will die?

In "The Death of Robert Browning," the eponymous protagonist Robert Browning believes that he is "likely going to die soon." We learn that he believes this not "because of his advanced years of the state of his health," but because he had observed certain "symbols," which suggested his imminent death.