Annotations of Robert Browning's "Caliban Upon Setebos"

Our group's goal with our annotations was to provide a variety of notable information covering linguistic, historical, and cultural elements, as well as facts about William Shakespeare's The Tempest itself, since the poem focuses on the character Caliban. In this way, we hoped even a first-year English undergraduate without in-depth knowledge of this play would be able to read Browning's poem and understand all of the constant references to specific characters and their dynamics. Furthermore, we annotated pieces of vocabulary that an average reader might not have stored in their mental dictionary. We highlighted certain connotations we considered relevant to gaining a better understanding of the narrator Caliban's psychological state and perspective on the being he considers his God and creator, Sycorax, as well as Caliban's general understanding of godhood and power. Ultimately, rather than overwhelm the reader with annotations, we strove to achieve a balance of diverse information to hopefully make "Caliban Upon Setebos" accessible to anyone seeking to study the poem at a university level.

Groups audience: