My Last Duchess Flashcards
Starts the poem with a negative connetation
“My last dutchess painted on the walls”
Plosive sound
Telling us about her death
“Half-flushed that dies along her throat”
Harsh “d” sound
Trying to impress his guest by using his name
My gift of a nine-hundred-year-old name”
Telling us he had her assasonated
“I gave commands
Then all smiles stopped together”
Could be a metaphor for him controlling his new (future) wife.
“Notice Neptune…
Taming a sea-horse”
Important word “taming”
Who wrote the poem?
Robert Browning
What was the poem inspired by?
The Italian Renassance
When was the poem published?
1842
Who was “Ferrara”
Duke Alfonso II of Ferrara
Explain the Form and Structure of the poem?
Dramatic monologue
Iambic pentameter - this mimics his conversational tone and his power
Whole poem is in rhyming couplets - shows his desire to controll everything
Enjarmbment and caesura (especialy when talking about his wife) shows how he can’t controll everthing (his wife) and his anger about it
This creates an unstable chariter who is power hungary
The single stanza is ment to be threatening, it shows his obsession for power and how he can’t organise his thoughts.
Poem builds up to a kind of confession, before ending in a cyclical structure
Attitudes and feelings?
Pride/Arrogance
Jealoucy - of his wife (power of man)
Power - had a painting if his wofe made so he can controll her
Poems to compare?
Power - Ozymandias
Abuse of Power - Checking out me History, London
What happened to the Ferrara’s wife?
Died under suspisious circumstances in 1561
Name dropping to show his wealth?
“Frà Pandolf”
Start of the poem?
“That’s my Dutchess painted on the wall”
Plosive sound
“My”
