An explication by Anh Thu Pham a nd Amy Chen Time Period and Style Victorian This poem is composed as a dramatic monologue a format that Browning is best known for The aforementioned Duke of this poem is based on the real Duke of Ferrara Italy Alfonso II whose first wife died just ID: 722005
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Slide1
My Last Duchess
By Robert Browning
An explication by
Anh
-Thu Pham
a
nd Amy ChenSlide2
Time Period and Style: Victorian
This poem is composed as a dramatic monologue, a format that Browning is best known for. The aforementioned Duke of this poem is based on the real Duke of Ferrara, Italy, Alfonso II, whose first wife died just three years
of marriage.Slide3
THAT’S
my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now: Frà
Pandolf’s
hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will’t
please you sit and look at her? I said 5
“
Frà
Pandolf
” by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I) 10Slide4
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the first Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ’twas not Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps 15
Frà
Pandolf
chanced to say, “Her mantle laps
Over my lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half-flush that dies along her throat:” such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough 20
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad.
Too easily impressed: she liked
whate’er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.Slide5
Sir
, ’twas all one! My favor at her breast, 25The dropping of the daylight in the West, The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
She rode with round the terrace—all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech, 30
Or blush, at least. She thanked men,—good! but thanked
Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody’s gift. Slide6
Amy ChenSlide7
Who’d stoop to blame
35 This sort of trifling? Even had you skill In speech – (which I have not) – to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, ‘Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
Or there exceed the mark’ – and if she let
40
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
Her wits to yours, for sooth, and made excuse,
--
E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose Never to stoop.
Amy ChenSlide8
Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without45
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive.
Will’t
please you rise? We’ll meet
The company below then. I repeat,
The Count your master’s known munificence
50
Is ample warrant that no just pretence Of mine for dowry will be disallowed; Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though, 55 Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!Amy ChenSlide9
Annotated Poem – Amy Chen
Amy ChenSlide10
AP Prompt
Organizing the essay by structure: The Duke welcomingly describes his last duchess to the marriage broker but gradually reveals the murder and shifts back to a normal tone as if nothing shocking happened.Thesis: Browning utilizes a dramatic monologue to reveal the sociopathic characteristics of the speaker in Victorian poem, “My Last Duchess”.
Amy ChenSlide11
Topic Sentences
1. Browning starts the poem with a false persona about the speaker, which contrasts with the end of the poem to create a dramatic effect.2. The Duke’s passive aggressive tone displays his lack of trust in the Duchess and finally reveals his dignified solution to ending their marriage.
3.The Duke’s carelessness towards the murder at the end of the poem further underscores his sociopathic mindset.
Amy ChenSlide12
References
Browning, Robert. My Last Duchess Ferrara. Champaign, Ill.: Project Gutenberg, 199. Print.
"What are the Features of Victorian Period Poetry."
Enotes.com
. Enotes.com. Web. 21 Jan. 2015. <http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-features-victorian-period-especially-tennyson-176141>.
Amy Chen