http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wON8-glDb0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1WEevgr1og

My Last Duchess

Robert Browning

Robert Browning

• Father loved art and literature; Mother pursued music and nature •  Browning started reading by age five

 • Wrote first poem by age six

 • Read from his father's rare book collection

o aquired a broad range of different literatures • Married Elizabeth Barret, a famous poet

Dramatic Monologue

• Dramatic monologue in poetry, also known as a persona poem, shares many characteristics with a theatrical monologue: an audience is implied; there is no dialogue; and the poet speaks through an assumed voice—a character, a fictional identity, or a persona.

The Last Duchess

That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolf's hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands. Will't please you sit and look at her? I said "Fra 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) And seemed 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's cheek: perhaps Fra 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 For calling up that spot of you. 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. Sir, 'twas all one! My favor at her breast, The 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, 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. Who'd stoop to blame This sort of trifling? Even had you skill In speech--(which I have not)--to make your will Quite clear to such a one, and say, "Just this Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss Or there exceed the mark"--and if she let Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse --E'en then would be some stooping; and I choose Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt Whene'er I passed her; but who passed without 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 Is ample warrant that no just pretense Of mine 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, Taming a sea horse, thought a rarity, Which claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!

Poem’s Background

• The monologue is spoken through the character: Duke of Ferrara

• The location is in Italy• And the environment is aristocratic

Summary of Poem

• This poem is modeled after Alfonso II, a Spanish nobleman, and his wife who mysteriously died

• In this poem the Duke holds a picture of his deceased wife behind a thick curtain

• He looks upon her beautiful picture and recounts the life they shared

• He describes his wife as gentle, humble, and innocent.• But instead of seeing her beauty, he sees her

imperfections• At the end of the poem, we have learned she died

mysteriously, and The Duke is in search of a new wife.

Analysis of “My last Duchess”

• At the beginning of the poem when the Duke is first introducing the painting he states: “Strangers like you that pictured countenance, the depth and passion of its earnest glance”(7).

• By the Duke referring to the painting as, it, it is implied that the Duke has developed more of a relationship with the painting, than the woman this painting represents.

• Later in the Poem the Duke describes his wife’s imperfections

• “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”(28).

• The Duke blames her for not seeing any difference between being the wife of a great man or any other simple pleasure. He believes she gave all men the kind of respect that only a man with his family’s rank deserves.

• Near the end of the poem, the Duke implies the Duchess’s death

• “Oh sir, She smiled, no doubt Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together” (45).

• When ‘the smiles stopped’ the audience can assume that either the Duke restricted the Duchesses behavior in a way that dampened her life, or he may have ordered her assassination

Common Themes

• Pride- throughout the poem it is understood that in this hierachial society- people can be seen as objects which can be bought and owned.

• Art- Twice in this poem art is mentioned: the picture itself, and the statue of Neptune taming the see horses.

Poetic Style

• “My Last Duchess” is written in a rhymed iambic pentameter

• The poem uses rhymed couplets: every two lines ends with a rhyme

• Iamb- a cadence used in the english language that consisits of two syllables: an unstressed followed by a stressed

• Pentameter- there are five groups of iambs in a line of poetry; each group is called a foot

Questions

• Why is the Duchess not smiling in the painting

• What do you think caused the Duchess to blush forming a “spot of joy?”

• Why do you think, the Duchess is described as having a passionate glance?

Answers

• She is not smiling because, the Duke stole her smiles away

• The poem insinuates the Duchess is blushing because she in the company of her lover. Her passionate glance might have been in result of the painter who is a rival for her love.

Other depictions of the duchess:

"Notice Neptune, though, Taming a sea horse, thought a rarity, Which claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!" (line 54-56)

Works Cited• Ruby, Mary K. “The Last Duchess, Robert Browning.” in Poetry for

Students. Vol. 17. Detroit: Gale Research, 1998. 164-169.  • "Robert Browning." LitFinder Contemporary Collection. Detroit: Gale,

2007. LitFinder. Gale. NORTH ALLEGHENY SCHOOL DISTRICT. 12 May 2009 http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=LITF&u=pl2552.

 • "Explanation of: 'My Last Duchess; Ferrra' by Robert Browning."

LitFinder Contemporary Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2007. LitFinder. Gale. NORTH ALLEGHENY SCHOOL DISTRICT. 12 May 2009 <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/start.do?p=LITF&u=pl2552>.