Robert Browning was born on the 7th of May 1812 to father Robert Browning and mother Sarah Wiedemann Browning. He was an only son but had a sister called Sarianna Browning. His family nationality was English, although he did speak Greek as well. Robert was an impulsive, fearless little boy who was also rather a prodigy, writing poems and reading at a young age. He attended School of Rev. Thomas Ready, Peckham: 1825 and had a home tutor some time later. Between 1841 and 1846, he published four books, mainly collections of his shorter poems that would become among his most famous works. Round about this time he met Elizabeth Barrett and they married some years later. His greatest honors are an M.A. of Oxford: June 1868, fellow of Balliol College: October 1868 ...view middle of the document...
The rhythm is broken by exclamation marks and questions. The rhythm shows that he stops every now and again, to ponder the reasons for what has happened. He also uses a wide variety of punctuation in 'My Last Duchess' and this adds excitement and at times quickens the pace. He also has a way with run on lines. 'My Last Duchess' holds many of these as it adds strength and urgency to a calm poem. 'My Last Duchess' has no rhyme scheme. It has no stanzas so it is not a stereotypical poem.The language of 'My Last Duchess' is quite old as words like 'durst' meaning 'dare' are used. Similes and metaphors are also used. For example of a simile, " As is alive" shows he admires the artists craft. An example of a metaphor is, 'my gift name'. Personification is used widely throughout 'My Last Duchess', and example of this is, "The depth and passion of its earnest glance". Glance meaning looking/seeing and Browning is saying that the depth and passion have an earnest glance. 'My Last Duchess' is about death. The poet certainly feels no shame in 'hating' the Duke, but it may not be correct to say hating. Browning takes on a persona- a characterization of the speaker throughout 'My Last Duchess'. This helps us be more familiar with the character. Also, because it's only the poet we hear, we are indeed inclined to partly agree with him on all terms. We identify with him due to the monologue form.My personal response to 'My Last Duchess' is that it was very ironic. The Duke in question kills his wife over smiling excessively and other small things like that seem to tick him off. He saw his wife as an object he felt he could keep and let no one touch and felt it was up to him to kill. In my opinion his behavior was very unnecessary as a person of authority, a Duke.
