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Elizabeth Barrett Browning Discontent

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Discontent by Elizabeth Barrett Browning Explication The sonnet “Discontent” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning pinpoints two separate types of unhappiness, discontent led by a need to show unhappiness despite superficial subject matter, and a quiet pain that with time distances one from discontent and leads to submission to the will of God and the world. Browning examines these differences throughout the poem and emphasizes the meaninglessness of discontent and the distance brought by pain to show why the human race gravitates toward the superficial, until time forces a calm upon it. The structure of “Discontent” creates a dichotomy between the quiet of pain and submission to the will of the world and the shifts in attention move the human race …show more content…

In this sea, true pain is compounded, weighing each individual down into the sea and distancing themselves from the shores of the human race and the superficial discontent associated with it. In this state of mind, the complaints tossed about by humans as they run through life are silenced and brought to a calm, despite the furor that was associated with these complaints. The pain that weighs individuals down cannot be surfaced to show their true unhappiness on the shore, instead of expressing the tiny things that irk each individual. However, this expression of true pain brings with it more than a freedom from petty discontent. In the sea, humans can see the true threats to their livelihood, the stormy main, but must stay submissive, unable to say or do anything about what passes by them. Browning employs this metaphor to discuss the powerlessness on both sides of the shore: the land is a shallow expression of the pains of the world, and the sea shows the depth of true pain and humans’ helplessness to intervene in any notable …show more content…

Discontent is treated as a pest, an overblown complaint when the world doesn’t fully embrace and individual, leading them to run past it and find some other small disappointment. It buzzes along, until time brings something worth complaining about, but that is instead a weight that sinks an individual deeper into the sea. This true pain is treated as a concept that must be recognized as a God-given gift and punishment, as shown by the choice of “transfix”, both to pierce and to mesmerize, as it leads to another fate, submission, which brings both acceptance about a world that we cannot change and an end to the meaninglessness of discontent. This abstract discussion of the nature of unhappiness and the acceptance of pain over the emptiness of discontent shows the sacrifices needed to become aware of true human nature beyond the

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