Robert Browning

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Robert Browning
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Robert Browning

• My Last Duchess

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Biographical Information

• Mostly educated at home by tutors.
• Brilliant, undisciplined, determined to be like
  Percy Bysshe Shelley.
• Lived at home, supported by parents until he
  married at age 34.
• 1845 wrote to Elizabeth Barrett
• 1846 secretly married

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Biographical Information

• Poetry emphasized error, weakness, and
  viciousness of characters.
• 1861 wife died moves back to England with son.
• Known as the other great Victorian poet

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My Last Duchess
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Background Information

• Dramatic monologue speaker who is not the poet
  addresses the listener who does not speak.
• In this poem, the speaker is negotiating another
  marriage.
• Speaking to a representative of future wifes
  father.

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Background Information

• Duke of Ferrara
• Alfonso II (fifth Duke) Renaissance Nobleman
• 1st wife was 14 left her for 2 years
• Came back and she died a year later
• It is believed that she was poisoned.

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• According to the book, My Last Duchess by Robert
  Browning is based on
• The narrator of My Last Duchess keeps his wife

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• List at least 6 words that best describe the
  personality of the narrator of My Last Duchess.
• Browning is known for his rich detailing in his
  poetry. What are some details about the
  narrators life do we learn about from the poem?_

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• What did the narrator of the poem accuse the last
  Duchess of doing? What does he do in response?
• What are at least 3 symbols in My Last Duchess?
  How are these significant to the poems overall
  theme(s)?