My Last Duchess - Robert Browning (Rough Draft)

 

Who Is Robert Browning?

Robert Browning, (born May 7, 1812, London—died Dec. 12, 1889, Venice), major English poet of the Victorian age, noted for his mastery of dramatic monologue and psychological behavior. Browning was an intellectually precocious child who read at the age of five and composed his first poetry at six. He read widely from his father’s extensive rare book collection, acquiring an abundant, if unsystematic, knowledge of a broad range of different literatures.Robert Browning loosely based this poem on the life of Alfonso II d’Este, the Duke of Ferrara from 1533 to 1598. Ferrara married Lucrezia di Cosimo Medici when he was twenty-five. Lucrezia was part of the Medici family, an incredibly wealthy banking family that gained political prominence during the 15th century. 



What is the poem about?

The poem is preceded by the epigraph "Ferrara" indicating that the speaker is Alfonso || d'Este, the fifth Duke of Ferrara (1533-1598) who, in 1558 had married the 13 yr old daughter of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. 

The Duke demonstrates many narcissistic tendencies as he recalls the time he shared with his now-deceased Duchess. He then resumes an earlier conversation regarding wedding arrangements, and in passing points out another work of art, a bronze statue of Neptune taming a sea-horse by Claus of Innsbruck, so making his late wife just another work of art

As the poem unfolds, the reader learns the speaker of the poem, Duke Ferrara, is talking to a representative of his fiancee’s family. Standing in front of a portrait of the Duke’s last wife, now dead, the Duke talks about the woman’s failings and imperfections. The irony of the poem surfaces as the reader discovers that the young woman’s “faults” were qualities like compassion, modesty, humility, delight in simple pleasures, and courtesy to those who served her.



note: this is just the base, I still have to go through and paraphrase it. :)



Resources: 

https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/my-last-duchess

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Browning

https://www.owleyes.org/text/last-duchess/analysis/historical-context



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