English 2323 - Study Questions “My Last Duchess” – Robert Browning 1. What is the setting for this poem? This poem takes place in the palace of Alfonso II who is the Duke of Ferrara in Italy. 2. Who is the Duke speaking to? The Duke is entertaining an ambassador type person who has come to arrange the marriage of the duke and a daughter of a very wealthy and powerful family. What are they both looking at? They are looking at a painting of the Duke’s last “duchess” or wife that
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Introduction to Poetry Appreciation. TAQ 2: My Last Duchess by Robert Browning is based upon Duke Alfonso II of Ferrara’s marriage to Lucrezia de’ Medici and her death at his hands. Although it has never been proven that the Duke orchestrated her death‚ she did die suspiciously at the young age of seventeen after only a year of being married to the Duke. At first glance the reader only sees this story but upon reading the poem in more depth and looking at what the form and language devices tell
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Robert Browning was an English poet whose mastery of dramatic verse‚ especially dramatic monologues‚ made him one of the foremost Victorian poets. “My Last Duchess” is one of his best known dramatic monologues in which the speaker reveals his character to a silent listener. This poem is loosely based on historical events involving Alfonso‚ the Duke of Ferrara‚ who lived in the 16th century. The Duke is the speaker of the poem. He tells us he is entertaining a representative who has come to settle
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Robert Browning is known as the Master of Psychological dramatic monologue. In "My last Duchess" the reader only hears the Duke’s story whose perverse point of view throws false accusations towards his recently deceased wife. What the reader knows about the characters is limited‚ so he must piece together the story on his own. The story the duke thinks he tells‚ of an unfaithful wife who offended his dignity‚ and the story he really tells‚ of jealousy and possessive love that leads to murder‚ engages
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Elizabeth Barrett Browning (March 6th 1806 - june 29th 1861) also known as Elizabeth Barrett Moulton-Barrett was one of the most distinguished and influential English writers of the Victorian era‚ popular in the United States and Britain throughout her lifetime. The eldest of twelve children‚ being born to wealthy plantation owner Edward Moulton-Barrett (1785-1857) and his wife Mary née Graham (1781-1828) gave mrs.Browning a privileged childhood allowing her to experience the highest education a
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Elizabeth Barrett Browning is a highly accomplished poet‚ and this in a time period in which heavy sexism made it almost impossible to do so. Browning was truly an eloquent writer‚ and in her 1857 letter to Napoleon III‚ tried to persuade him to pardon the recently exiled Victor Hugo. While Browning never actually mailed the letter‚ she takes a variety of standpoints during it‚ although‚ a reserved yet mocking tone remains throughout. Browning acknowledges sexism and panders to Napoleon so that
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Browning used repetition in her poem The Cry of the Children to show the pain‚ and suffering that children had to go through as they were forced to work. She was in distraught about the sad faces of the children who were forced to work in mines and factories‚ and decided to make a political point by writing The Cry of the Children against the enslavement of children. She uses repetition to get the thoughts in the mind of the reader to point out the signs in order to stop the enslavement of children
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plausible character within literature is one of the most difficult challenges to a writer‚ and development to a level at which the reader identifies with them can take a long time. However‚ through the masterful use of poetic devices and language Browning is able to create two living and breathing characters in sixty or less lines. When one examines these works one has to that they are quite the achievements for they not only display the persona ’s of two distinct men but also when compared show
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Sonnet 43 by Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806-1861 The poet begins by saying “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways‚” by which she starts off with a rhetorical question‚ because there is no ‘reason’ for love. Rather than using “why” she enforces this meaning. But then she goes on saying that she will count the ways‚ which is a contradiction against her first line. In the rest of the poem she is explaining how much she loves. In the second line she says “I love thee to the depth & breath &
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CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF HIMACHAL PRADESH [Established under the Central Universities Act 2009] PO Box: 21‚ Dharamshala‚ District Kangra - 176215 (HP) www.cuhimachal.ac.in Course Instructor: Dr KBS Krishna Course Code: EEL 502 Course Name: Victorianism Credits Equivalent: 04 Credits (One credit is equivalent to 10 hours of lectures / organised classroom activity / contact hours; 5 hours of laboratory work / practical / field work / Tutorial / teacher-led activity and 15 hours of other workload
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