Transcript My Last Duchess

Angelique Jones &
Dieynaba Diong
D3 English IV Honors
“My Last
Duchess”
by Robert
Browning
Introduction
The author of “My last Duchess” is Robert Browning. Browning was born on May 7,1812
in Camberwell,England. As a young child , Browning was bright and he was heavily
influenced by his artistic and scholarly father. He learned to speak many different
languages as a child and by the age of 12, he wrote his first poem “Incondita”.In 1828
Browning atteneded The University of London, but soon left to learn and write at his
own pace. Browning published many peoms and wrote plays anonymously but for
the most part, they were unsuccesful. In 1846, Browning married fellow poet Elizabeth
Barrert and during their marriage he wrote his best peoms in her honor. Browning lived
under his wife’s light as a poet. Browning was awarded honorary degrees by Oxford
University in 1882 and the University of Edinburgh in1884 and on his death in 1889 his
last his final volume of verse, Asolando, was published.
Historical Background
My last duchchess was published in 1842. 1842 just so happened to be apart of the era that
many poets clamied to be the era of novels. Many people didn’t like poems as much during
this era. In addtion, this was also the “Victorian Age” , the age under the rule of Queen
Victoria. Brownings peoms are the complete oppostie of the sweet love sounding poems
and that is was set him aside from other authors. Browning’s inspiration for "My Last Duchess"
was the history of a Renaissance duke, Alfonso II of Ferrara, whose young wife Lucrezia died
in suspicious circumstances in 1561. Robert Browning takes history and turns it into an
gateway for readers to experience drama and suspense. Browning hints at the real-life
Renaissance back-story by putting the word "Ferrara" under the title of the poem as an
epigraph, he removes the situation from most of its historical details.
Brief Summary of Poem.
In my last Duchess, the Duke is looking for a new wife and the Duke has to entertain an
emissary who has come to negotiate the Duke’s marriage to the daughter of another
powerful family. As he tours his home with the emissary, the Duke stops by the portrait of a
beautiful young woman. The Duke reminisces about the process of watching the portarait
being made and then he goes into reminiscing about the actual woman. He begins to
describe her beauty but the converstaion turns left when he starts to describe her
behavior. He says that she flirted with everybody and she didn’t appreciate the gift of his
last name. As the conversation continues, the readers sees that the Duke was the cause
of her death because he says that “he gave commands; then all smiles stopped
together”. The Duke then moves forward and continues to his tour, as if his revelation
about his last Duchess is irrelevant.
Thesis Statement
In his poem, Robert Browning uses a dramatic monologue to create a suspenseful
storyline. Robert Browning’s lines in the poem are continuous from line to line and her
colorful diction makes a horricfic, psychopath seem like a victim.
Theme and Tone
The two most important themes of My Last Duchess is power and jealousy.
One of the themes of My Last Duchess is power because the Duke believes
that he has power over everyone and everything. In in 55, the Duke says
that he needed to control her just as Neptune would (“taming a seahorse”).In addition, jealousy was a theme in the poem. The Duke was
jealous the his Duchess flirted with anyone and that she didn’t appreciate
“My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name”. Some words that allude to the
themes are trifling, disgusts me, munificence, & Taming
Figurative Language
and Poetic Devices.
Browning uses figurative language to allow the audience to experience to poem as the
emissary. Browns figurative language such as “That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,
looking as if she were alive”(line 1).
Another example is in lines 54-56 “Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,taming a
sea-horse, thought a rarity, which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!”; Browning used
this line to compare his dominance to his wife to Neptune’s dominance over his sea-horses.
As far as poetic devices, Browning uses a dramatic monologue, which creates a dramatic
climax throughout the poem.
Poem Interpretation
In lines 21-24, “Sir, ’twas not Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek” the Duke is basically implying that his wife is
promiscuous. He feels that she is too easily impressed by other men and
that makes him dislike her.
In lines 42-43, “E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose
Never to stoop”, The Duke feels it is beneath him to address his wife of his
concerns. He feels that he would be stooping beneath him and that she
should hurry up and change her attitude.
Conclusion
In his poem, Robert Browning uses a dramatic monologue to create a
suspenseful storyline. Robert Browning’s lines in the poem are continuous
from line to line and her colorful diction makes a horricfic, psychopath
seem like a victim. Literary devices such as mood, theme, and figurative
language plays a huge role in poems like My Last Duchess; it allows the
audience to experience the intended emotion that the author wanted to
evoke in the reader. It also allows the reader to truly understand the
purpose and meaning of the text and it allows us to enjoy and appreciate
not only the poem, but the author’s creativity as well.
Works Cited
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Robert Browning’s Poetry." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, n.d. Web.
25 Apr. 2013.
Robert Browning." - Poets.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/182>.
"My Last Duchess Themes." Shmoop. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr.
2013.