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Teachers' Resource Web Study Questions on Robert Browning "Caliban upon Setebos" and Other Poems "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's" 1. Describe the progression of the Bishop's dying requests -- how well does he understand his situation? 2. Ruskin, as indicated in the Norton note, mentions several "late Renaissance" qualities brought out by Browning's poem: find some instances of them. 3. Characterize the Bishop's religious faith -- how seriously do you take his quotations from the Bible at several points in the poem? 4. What sorts of things seem to have animated the Bishop's life, and how does he imagine the afterlife? "Caliban upon Setebos" 1. How did Setebos create the world in which Caliban lives, and how does he deal with his creatures? Has Setebos, according to Caliban, worked out his relationship to his creatures? 2. What qualities does Caliban possess in common with the God (Setebos) who is the subject of his speculations? In what ways does Caliban differ from Setebos? 3. What is "the Quiet"? What power does it have, according to Caliban, over Setebos? 4. At what resolution or understanding, if any, does Caliban finally arrive concerning his relation to Setebos? *Edition: The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Vol. 2. 7th. edition. Ed. Meyer Abrams et al. New York: Norton, 2000.
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