Poem - My Last Duchess Flashcards
An iambic pentameter and rhyming couplets gives the reader a sense that…..
The author is in control
This poem is about a real Duke: Duke Ferrara from the 17th century. What is the relevance of this?
The 17th century was a time period when women’s sexuality was dangerous
This poem is about a controversial marraige. How does this relate to author Robert Browning?
Browning also had a controversial marriage.
What is the significance of his “last Duchess painted on the wall”?
She can no longer be slutty and sleep around with other men - annoying him. This is because she is a painting and paintings aren’t real.
This poem has little imagery. Instead it has lots of…
Characterisation
This poem has lots of ambiguity. For example…
How many other duchess’s?
This poem could be the recollection of events told by an unreliable/biased and vain narrator. One way we see this is by the narrator identifying himself as powerful.
This is conveyed in tone and the meaning of poem (can’t find suitable quote)
This poem is a dramatic monologue. What does this actually mean? (four answers)
Spoken to big audience
About power over people
Narrator creates for himself an inaccurate (made-up) persona
Live action imagery
What is the main point of this poem, why and to who is he saying this stuff to.
He is reciting this poem to a servant of a Count. He is doing this because he wants to marry the Counts daughter. 👰🏻
This quote is talking about the Count’s daughter. It shows the Duke’s power and also how his previous, cheating, duchess affected him.
“His fair daughters self” … “is my object”
This poem has lots of this sort of punctuating technique
Caesurae
This quote shows how much the Duke likes art other than paintings. It also shows how his power can be very permanent.
cast in bronze
Why did Robert Browning write poems?
Browning often used his poems, particularly monologues like this, to criticise society
This quote alludes to the Duke’s suspicions of what his wife is up to. He doesn’t know what she gets up to with men.
She thanked men-good! But thanked somehow - I know not how
This quote shows how important and powerful the Duke was in his time
My gift of a nine-hundred -years-old name
In this quote, the Duke expresses how he thinks she should concentrate on important things like social status rather than nature
The bough of cherries some officious fool broke in the orchard for her
This quote shows the dukes jealousy and angry. He describes one of his wife’s admirers as …
Some officious fool
This quote indicates that she is below the Duke and therefore should listen to him.
Stoop to blame
This verb draws more attention to the social hierarchy.
Ranked
The Duke is portrayed as this god, whilst she is presented as one of his subjects
Duke = Neptune
She = sea-horse
Neptune is god of sea, so he controls her
What does the Duke allude to in lines 43-47?
That he stopped his wife talking to other men, but doesn’t say how he stopped her.
This quote clearly shows the gap between the Duke and Duchess
‘Twas not her husbands presence only [that made her happy]
This creates a dark and sinister mood from the beginning of the poem
As if she were alive
There are many possessive pronouns throughout My Last Duchess
“My” and “mine”
