My Last Duchess Flashcards
by Robert Browning
1
Q
Name two key ideas
A
- Power of man
- Gendered expectations
- Male dominance, possessiveness and jealousy
2
Q
Explain two pieces of context
A
- MLD was written during the Industrial Revolution when society began to see social mobility and equality
- Browning was a Romantic poet who was anti-establishment and critiqued society
3
Q
What is the poets message
A
- We as a society should lean more towards autonomy especially in terms of love and marriage so we can gain a better awareness of people’s true intentions
4
Q
What are the structural features
A
- Dramatic monologue = reflects the domineering presence of the Duke
- Single stanza = makes poem appear overwhelming and is symbolic of the Duke’s power
- Enjambment = conversation feel
- Iambic pentameter = symbolic of Duke’s traditional and conservative views
- Caesura = highlights Duke’s excessive pride as he becomes difficult to listen to
- Rhyming couplets = deemphasised by enjambment - perhaps Duke is trying to get reader to lower their guard
- Open > heroic couplets = Duke is not as heroic as he appears
5
Q
My last Duchess
A
- possessive pronoun
- personification
6
Q
Painted there on the wall
A
7
Q
Looking as if she were alive
A
- simile
8
Q
(Since none puts by
the curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
A
- irony
- symbolic of secrecy
- enjambment
9
Q
A heart - how shall I say? - too soon made glad
A
- subjective, insinuative tone
- caesura
10
Q
She looked on and her looks went everywhere
A
- polyptoton
11
Q
Sir, twas not
her husbands presences only that called that spot
of joy into the Duchess’ cheek
A
- enjambment
12
Q
She thanked men - good!
A
- caesura
12
Q
Boughs of cherries some officious fool
A
- symbolic of loss of virginity
13
Q
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
A
- caesura
14
Q
Who’d stoop to blame
I choose to never stoop
A
- repetition
