Appreciation of a poem: My last duchess by Robert Browning
Appreciation of a poem: My last duchess by Robert BrowningThe poem my last duchess is about a duke. He has recently lost his wife and the poem conveys that he had something to do with it. Perhaps not that he killed her but that he may have had something to do with it, it comes across that he got some one to kill her for him. It also seems that he killed her because he was jealous of the way she was with other men. "She thanked men good!" We know that the Duchess died suspiciously and that the Duke is in the process of looking for a new wife. He is speaking to a messenger about a painting of his now deceased wife. The Duke, of course, is casting himself in a favourable light and is presenting his best side. He wants to make it look as if his wife was cheating on him and was
I liked this poem because of the issue it concerns. Browning uses many techniques in this poem. He was jealous of her, and the way she was with other men. He is now interested finding another wife. The style and structure of the poem adds to the effect of the poem, My last duchess is written as a dramatic monologue, this format suits this poem particularly well because the speaker comes across as very controlling, especially in conversation he seems jealous that he was not able to control his former duchess' smiles for himself. This poem interested me because it has some historical reference to the marriage of Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara and his wife, He married his first wife, 14-year-old Lucrezia, a daughter of the Cosimo I de' Medici, in 1558 and three days later left her for a two-year period. It enhances the irony of the speaker's later comment that he does not have "skill / In speech" (lines 35-36). She died, 17 years old, in what some thought suspicious circumstances. The enjambed lines indicate the control that the speaker is exerting on the conversation and give the feeling that the speaker is rushing through parts of the poem. He also seems to direct the actions of the person he is addressing with comments such as "Will't please you rise?" (Line 47) and "Nay, we'll go / Together down, sir" (lines 53-54). The duchess smile was what the duke liked the most about duchess he feels that the painter accurately captured the smile and the happiness of the Duchess.
Common topics in this essay:
AA BB,
Duchess Duke,
Robert Browning,
Duke Ferrara,
,
poem duchess,
duchess duke,
wife poem,
|
Acceptance Essays
