My Last Duchess by Robert Browning
- Created by: randall04
- Created on: 28-10-19 11:07
View mindmap
- My Last Duchess by Robert Browning
- context
- This poem is set in 1564 and is based on the real-life Duke Alfonso II who ruled Ferrara, Italy in the latter half of the 16th century.
- In the poem, he’s talking about his first wife Lucrezia de’ Medici, 3 years after she died under suspicious circumstances shortly after marrying the Duke.
- in the poem the duke is showing an emissary around the house (who has been sent by a count whos daughter will marry the duke)
- Browning was a fan of romantic poets such as shelley
- he was heavily influenced by the Italian renaissance and lived in Italy for a large part of his life
- form and structure
- it is written as a dramatic monologue
- however through the use of enjambment he highlights the dukes loss of control over his confession and his humiliation via the duchess
- in iambic pentameter with rhyming couplets conveys his control over the narrative (due to its rigid form)as well as the duchess
- however through the use of enjambment he highlights the dukes loss of control over his confession and his humiliation via the duchess
- in iambic pentameter with rhyming couplets conveys his control over the narrative (due to its rigid form)as well as the duchess
- one long stanza conveys the dukes control and how it may be never ending like he wants his power to be
- however through the use of enjambment he highlights the dukes loss of control over his confession and his humiliation via the duchess
- it is written as a dramatic monologue
- quotes
- thats my last duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive
- the use of my conveys how the duke owns the duchess- possibly a celebration of her death, ominous tone
- a heart- how shall i say? too soon made glad, Too easily impressed
- judges the duchess , rhetorical question highlights the lighter tone of him trying to be polite, trying to avoid showing his jealousy and rage, meaning he is in conflict with himself, raises questions of infidelity
- (since none puts by The curtain i have drawn for you ,but I)
- brackets aside shows how it is a privileges to see the duchess in this way, in a way he was exercising his power and control over the messenger , irony in the fact he feels as if he needs to show off his power
- I choose/Never to stoop
- the dukes controling nature is revealed more so here, it could be a warning to his next duchess
- I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands/ As if alive
- he reveals he had her killed,a painting being described as if alive would be compliment but here it carries darker implications
- thats my last duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive
- context
- Notice Neptune,though/Taming a sea horse, thought a rarity, / Which Claus of Innsbruk cast in bronze for me
- a symbolic image of domination , sea god is taming something much less powerful then himself representing what the duke failed to do and could only complete in extreme measures
- me is the last word in the poem much like my was one of the first, highlights how the poem is about the ownership of women as art objects only good when owned
- duke views himself as a god like figure
- a symbolic image of domination , sea god is taming something much less powerful then himself representing what the duke failed to do and could only complete in extreme measures
Comments
No comments have yet been made