1. My Last Duchess Robert Browning
As with any poem taught in class, it can be useful to remember that for some students – perhaps many – the very sight of a poem can instil an antagonistic response, often unspoken… even a “mental fog” caused by expectations of various kinds: it’s bound to be hard… it’s a poem and I don’t like poetry… poetry is for ‘sissies’… and so on. And this poem is really quite hard for a young student… so some kind of “demystifying technique” will be useful . A good one that works really well with this poem and other like it is to get the students to see the text not as a poem but as a real person speaking in a particular circumstance, visualising themselves as a part of that circumstance. With this poem, the students might easily visualise the scene as they are shown along a hallway in the private part of the Duke’s house having him stop and tell them about the new painting of his late wife. Forgetting the text is a poem can be very helpful. Altering the lines to fill in ellipses or return the grammar to something more conversational and standard can also highlight the effect of the original and thus reveal the poet’s intention in using language a particular way.

2. Learning Objectives
AO1 – respond to texts critically and imaginatively, select and evaluate textual detail to illustrate and support interpretations.
AO2 – explain how language, structure and form contribute to writers’ presentation of ideas, themes and settings.

3. My Last Duchess That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolf’s hands
Worked busily that day, and there she stands.
Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said
‘Fra 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

4. Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps
Fra 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 favour 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

5. She rode with round the terrace – all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
Or blush, at least. She thanked men, - good! but thanked
Somehow – I know not how – as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even if you skill
In speech – (which I have not) – to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, ‘Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
Or there exceed the mark’ – and if she let
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and make excuse,
- E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt

6. Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master’s known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretence
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!

7. My Last Duchess –Robert Browning

8. That’s’ my last Duchess painted on the wall,
What is the effect of using
enjambment?
That’s’ my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Fra Pandolf’s hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will’t please you sit and look at her?
What is the effect of this?
What does this
suggest about the
Duke's attitude to
the painter?
This poem is a kind of dramatic monologue – a form for which Browning is famous. In fact, rather than a “monologue”, this poem is perhaps best thought of as what it “is”: “one half of a dialogue” – the response of the speaker to a question posed by another, “Ah that’s a wonderful likeness, who is it?” “[That, oh…] That’s my last Duchess...”
Here, the Duke is showing a visitor – a representative of another powerful aristocrat – around a private area of his country house and pointing out a new full length portrait of his late wife – his ‘last Duchess’, and talking about her. The first 5 lines deal with the Duke showing the portrait and talking proudly about it. The poem is written in iambic pentameter with rhyming couplets. This gives it a distinctive rhythm. The use of enjambment in the poem helps to make the poem seem conversational. A dark and sinister mood is set at the start of the poem in the phrase ‘looking as if she were alive. We are invited to speculate about the Duchess’s fate and even to wonder if she is still alive. The mention of ‘Fra Pandolf’s hands’ may suggest that he did more than just touch the portrait. The Duke invites the visitor to sit and look at the Duchess and this shows his pride in the painting; he is showing off his possession.
What is the Duke doing here?

9. ‘Fra Pandolf’ by design, for never read
I said
‘Fra 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.
The second section of the poem shows the Duke talking about the Duchess’s expression in the portrait. He says that people always ask about it. He shows his need for control when he boasts that nobody but himself uncovers the painting. He also shows himself to be a feared character when he says ‘if they durst’ – people have to dare to ask him about the painting.
Shows the Duke’s
need for control.

10. Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
What might this suggest?
Sir, twas not
Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps
Fra 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.
What do these
4 lines suggest?
The third section of the poem deals with the flirty expression on the Duchess’ face. There is a hint of an affair between the Duchess and the painter when the Duke says that it wasn’t only him, her husband, who could make that expression come to her face; perhaps it also suggests multiple affairs. The reported speech of Fra Pandolf also has a suggestion of intimacy. The phrase ‘ half-flush that dies along her throat’ may suggest that the Duchess died of a cut throat and the red flush is also suggesting blood .
What might this mean?

11. A heart – how shall I say? – too soon made glad,
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 favour 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 round the terrace – all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
Or blush, at least. She thanked men, - good! 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 might
this suggest?
Anger
The fourth section of the poem shows that the Duchess treated everyone the same. The Duke seems to imply that, as her husband, he expected to be treated differently. The phrase ‘her looks went everywhere’ might suggest that the Duchess had a roving eye or it might suggest that she had a healthy interest in life. The Duke is very proud of his 900 year old name and thinks the Duchess should have been grateful to be given such an important gift but it is obvious that she didn’t feel the same about the Duke’s heritage.
What does this tell
you about the Duke?
What does the Duchess
think of the 900 year old
name?

12. This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
Who’d stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech – (which I have not) – to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, ‘Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; her you miss,
Or there exceed the mark’ – and if she let
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,
- E’en then would be some stooping: and I choose
Never to stoop.
Why is this
statement ironic?
How does
the Duchess
seem here?
The fifth section of the poem is the Duke saying that it is not his place to judge her behaviour. The statement about not having the ‘skill in speech’ is ironic – this is a carefully crafted poem and the poet obviously has the skill even if the Duke professes not too. The Duchess is painted as being rather thoughtless and haughty and the Duke is shown as being arrogant when he states he chooses ‘never to stoop’.

13. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive.
What does this show
about the Duke?
The sixth section of the poem is the Duke telling how he put a stop to the Duchess’s flirty behaviour. Again there is the sinister suggestion that she was killed. The Duke shows his power; he ‘gave commands’ and ‘all smiles stopped’. This may suggest that the Duke is an autocratic ruler and may give some clue as to the historical context of the poem. It has been suggested that the [poem refers to Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara whose first wife died in 1561.
What might this mean?

14. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master’s known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretence
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!
The final section of the poem deals with the Duke moving away from the painting and talking about the fact that he is to marry the Count’s daughter. He finishes with a proud boast about a sculpture he owns. How is the reader meant to feel about his impending marriage?
What is the Duke doing
here?