My Last Duchess by Robert Browning DNA What

‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning

DNA – What do you associate with the following terms: • Wife • Husband • Relationship Brainstorm your ideas in your book CHALLENGE Is there room for a sense of possession within a relationship?

To Begin The title of the poem to be studied today is ‘My Last Duchess’. Who do you think the narrator of the poem will be? Who is ‘the Duchess’? Discuss the idea with a partner. The Duchess named in the poem was probably Lucrezia di Cosimo de’ Medici. At 14 she married Alfonso II d’Este, who was the fifth Duke of Ferrara, which probably makes him the Ferrara of the poem. They married in 1558 but by 1561 she had died. There were strong suspicions that the Duke had poisoned her.

Robert Browning (1812 – 1889) was an English poet and playwright. Browning began his career as a playwright but soon realised that his expertise lay in writing long, dramatic poems. He developed the form of poetry known as the dramatic monologue for a Victorian audience and became one of the most loved Victorian poets.

The Brownings Robert Browning married the older poet Elizabeth Barrett in 1846. They had met in 1845 and conducted their courtship in secret, knowing that Barrett’s father would disapprove. During this period, Barrett wrote the famous Sonnets from the Portuguese, a series of love poems to Browning. When they married in 1846, Elizabeth Barrett’s father disinherited her. He had done this to all of his children who chose to marry. The couple moved to Italy and lived there until Barrett died in 1861. They had one son.

The Story Read the poem and try to figure out what is going on. Who is the narrator talking about? What has happened between them? What action has been taken by the end of the poem? Think not only about what you know, but how you know it. What lines of the poem tell you these things? Discuss your ideas with the class. PAPER 2 – WRITING CHALLENGE retell the story as a news report – how might a journalist report on the murder in the story? PURPLE BOOKS ‘My Last Duchess’ is a poem written in the first person. It is a dramatic monologue in which one character tells a lengthy story. The narrator speaks to an envoy of a Count who is there to contract a new marriage for the Duke. The Duke (Ferrara) shows the envoy a painting of his last wife and the rest of the poem is a subtle warning about what happens to those women who disappoint him.

Paper 2 Writing Task – ON PAPER Using the details from the poem write a newspaper report about the suspicious death of a famous/well know person (can be the Duchess of Ferrera or someone else). Show me your skills at writing an article. Show me you can paragraph, use a range of punctuation, use a variety of sentence structures. Show me you can maintain a formal tone and clearly convey information to a reader. Remember to cover – who, what, where, when, how and why Your content can be fabricated – you will have to make it up in the exam!

The Narrator – The Duke What impression of the narrator and his feelings do we get from the following lines: Read the poem. The Duke thinks he is very smart – yet he probably doesn’t realise how much of his own personality he gives away in the telling of his story. • ‘My gift of a nine-hundred-yearold name’ • ‘none puts by/ The curtain I have drawn for you, but I’ • ‘she smiled, no doubt, /Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without/ Much the same smile? ’ • ‘I gave commands; / then all smiles stopped together. ’ What is the narrator telling us about his feelings for this woman? Why does he do what he does?

The Duchess What impression of the Duchess and her feelings do we get from the following lines: • ‘twas not/Her husband’s presence only, called that spot/ Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek’ • ‘She had/ A heart – how shall I say? – too soon made glad, / Too easily impressed; ’ • ‘but thanked/ Somehow – I know not how – as if she ranked/ My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name/ With anybody’s gift’ What is the narrator telling us about this woman? How does he feel about her?

Structure The poem ‘My Last Duchess’ uses a regular rhythm throughout. It is in the old form of rhythmic verse known as iambic pentameter. Find out what iambic pentameter is and see if you can spot this in the poem. Are there any stanzas? What does the regular rhythm represent? Are there any irregularities? What type of rhyme scheme is present? How does this affect the poem as a whole? The poet speaks directly to the envoy and we hear the words as if we are eavesdropping on their conversation – is this effective for this type of poem or not?

Structure The poem is a dramatic monologue whose narrator shows extreme control of the conversation (the entire thing is in iambic pentameter). The rhyming couplets also express this essential control over his subjects and his story but the use of enjambment by Browning hints at deeper passions and hidden anger. He calmly explains to the envoy for his next bride that he had his previous wife killed – the calmness of his nature mirrored in the regular rhythm of the poem. The confession of murder in the middle of the poem is framed by the Duke discussing his painting collection. We are not at first aware of who he is speaking to. It is only at the end, after learning of the fate of the Duke’s first wife, that we find out he is telling the story to the envoy sent to create a new marriage contract for the Duke. This colours all the previous information we have been given. Was the story a confession, as we might have assumed previously, or a warning about the type of behaviour expected of the Duke’s new wife? The poem ends with the Duke calmly moving on and discussing the rest of his art collection as if nothing untoward has been said.

Structure The confession of murder in the middle of the poem is framed by the Duke discussing his painting collection. We are not at first aware of who he is speaking to. It is only at the end, after learning of the fate of the Duke’s first wife, that we find out he is telling the story to the envoy sent to create a new marriage contract for the Duke. This colours all the previous information we have been given. Was the story a confession, as we might have assumed previously, or a warning about the type of behaviour expected of the Duke’s new wife? The poem ends with the Duke calmly moving on and discussing the rest of his art collection as if nothing untoward has been said.

Language Reread the poem. Are there any words you are unfamiliar with or need help understanding? Robert Browning attempts to convey the power-hungry attitude of the Duke. He treats his wife as though she were property, to do with as he pleased. Find examples of language he uses to talk about her that is reflective of this. DNA – Word consciousness into the back of your book.

Language Look through the poem for interesting examples of language used by Robert Browning. Why does he make the word and phrase choices that he does? ‘I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together. ’ ‘the faint half-flush that dies along her throat’ Make comments on the following uses of language: ‘Just this or that in you disgusts me; ’

Context and Ideas We have already mentioned that it is a Duke whose voice we hear in the poem. The poem deals with many issues and themes, which make it comparable to other poems in the anthology. What themes do you see in the poem? Challenge layers: 1 = techniques and zooming in 2 = links between themes and layers of meaning 3 = links to other poems and context. What other themes and issues can you see in the poem? What poems in the collection might it be compared to? Demonstrate How is theme of … conveyed in ‘My Last Duchess’?

Challenge task Independent comparison task: Read the poem. Find 3 similarities and 3 differences. DEMONSTRATE: Compare and contrast themes and ideas presented in ‘Ozymandias’ and ‘My Last Duchess’. 2 paragraph minimum

Plenary Stretch your knowledge with one of the following tasks: Super Write the letter you imagine the envoy of the Count (the person the Duke tells his story to) might write to his boss outlining what has happened. Remember: his boss, the Count, has asked the envoy to contract a marriage between his daughter and the Duke.