My Last Duchess
My Last Duchess 'My Last Duchess' is a poem written by Robert Browning in 1845. It's a first person narrative of a duke who is showing the ambassador around his palace and negotiating his marriage to the daughter of another powerful family. As they are walking through the palace, the duke stops and looks at the beautiful portrait of his lovely last duchess. The duke speaks his thoughts about the girl, and as the poem progresses we begin to realize that his last duchess had been murdered. "...I gave commands, then all smiles stopped together," This metaphorical sentence tells us that his commands were the ones that caused her death and her 'stop of all smiles together'. The reason behind this is that she was flirtatious with all men because "she liked whate'er she looked on, and her looks went everywhere". The language techniques used in this poem emphasize the Duke's Last Duchess's flirtatious character. They also hint to us the themes of murder, jealousy, suspicion and the Duke's psychopathic character. The word 'I' is quite often used. "The curtain I have drawn for you, but I..." This means that the poem is a dramatic monologue. The metaphor used in the middle of the poem hints to the audience that he has great passion towards her. "My favour at her breast, the dropping of the daylight in the West". Here the Duke tells us that he believed he had a seat at her heart.
'My Last Duchess'
AMDG Andrew Baird L5- 'My Last Duchess' 'My Last Duchess' by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue in which the Duke of Ferrara is discussing the matter of a dowry with an emissary sent by a Count. The use of dramatic monologue allows the poet to subtly reveal the personality of the persona to the reader. The language used by the speaker allows the poet to evoke strong emotions in the reader, something I intend to prove. The reader is given an early insight into the personality of the Duke in the very first line of the monologue: 'That's my last Duchess painted on the wall' This early impression portrays the Duke as a very sophisticated man with a wealth of knowledge in art. This impression is continued when he mentions the very artist who painted the Duchess, 'Fra Pandolf'. However, even at this early stage there are some hints that the Duke may not be all that he claims to be- the use of the word 'My' is very possessive, perhaps suggesting that the duke sees the Duchess as no more than an object. Furthermore the use of the word 'Last' implies that there have been many Duchesses and that the eponymous individual is just the most recent, suggesting that the Duke may be dishonest. This aspect of the persona's character is confirmed later in the monologue, when the Duke says: 'She liked whate'er she looked on And her looks went everywhere' Here the Duke is challenging
My Last Duchess.
Nancy Kuo Introduction to Literature Journal 4 0 Apr. 2003 My Last Duchess This is a monologue of a duke of Ferrara, who is introducing a painting of his last wife to a person or some people. Through the painting, the duke reminds her beauty and trifles of hers. The duke speaks arrogantly and shows his jealousy about the duchess and then he murders her. After that, he is going to marry a new wife. This poem is somewhat a confess but even looks like an invitation to the duke's intimate friend. Through this kind of monologue, all I can see is the words of the only side of the duke, which is full of mad and jealousy words. It easily makes me become one of the listeners, the "you", in this poem, and I can smell some chauvinisim in it. The duke must love very much as we can see from these lines, "......that pictured countenance/The depth and passion of its earnest glance(7,8)." She must have bright eyes, and her cheeks are also charming. "...it was not her husband's presence only, called that spot/Of joy into the Duchess' cheek(13-15)." Then I would think the duke is very rich and he married a very beautiful woman; he paid to the painter(s) for her portrait. Maybe the duke is old or very ugly but the duchess is very young. She is not fond of staying with her time with the duke and she has a heart to play around. The duke can't put up with that and killed her. The
My Last Duchess by Robert Browning.
English B30 Essay Sumeet Choksi Mr. Armstrong English 30B May 9, 2007. My Last Duchess by Robert Browning That's my last duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf's hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands. Will't please you sit and look at her? I said "Frà 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 as 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' cheek: perhaps Frà 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 joy. 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
Poems From Other Cultures
Poems From Other Cultures Introduction Both of the poems I have studied have a similar theme. The people who the poem are based on are being treated badly and are fed up at being treated like dirt. They have been treated badly for so long eventually they begin to hate the people who are mistreating them, and want to get some pay back for the way they have been treated over the years In each poem the person who is being treated does something about it. In Charlotte O'Neil's song the servant quits her job and leaves the mistress who treated her with no respect high and dry. Charlotte then immigrates to another country and leaves the trouble behind her. In the poem nothing changed. A black man is being treated badly by the white folk. He is being discriminated against because of the colour of his skin. In the concluded part of the poem the black man gets his own back on the whit people by breaking the glass of an inn he was not welcome in because of the colour of his skin. Both of the poems have powerful endings Paragraph Two The Mistresses life is full of riches she lives in Luxury. The mistress lives in a majestic mansion were she is waited on hand and foot. The lady is extremely wealthy. In thee era this poem was scripted women did not have very influential roles in the working world with very few having a job. Therefore, the rich lady is probably living off somebody
Venus and Adonis
The poem opens with a description of Adonis's physical beauty, "rose-cheeked", this clashes with the accepted norms of a love sonnet. Traditionally a sonnet would be praising a woman's beauty rather than the other way round. Venus says he is "sweet above compare, stain to all nymphs" and " more white and red than doves or roses are". What is notable about this is Shakespeare's reference to Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophil and Stella as Sidney often uses the colours red and white to refer to female beauty "Marble mix'd red and white do interlace". One interpretation could be that he deliberately means to perhaps use it to signify a blushing innocent. I think it is vital to realise that Shakespeare did model his poem on earlier adaptations of Ovid's Metamorphoses for instance Thomas Lodge's Scillaes Metamorphosis which was the first Elizabethan erotic minor epics based on Ovid. Adonis appears to be an unconventional male, not strong and aggressive, rather he is sweet and delicate. He constitutes the characteristics of a woman in love by being effeminate, he is "more lovely than a man". Adonis blushes, revealing his apparent sexual innocence which in turn makes him more sexually desirable to Venus. An interesting parallel is with the story of Narcissus and Echo. Narcissus avoided sexuality, like Adonis and eventually dies as he cannot leave his reflection. Is this Shakespeare
