Reminder: Hamlet 1 vocabulary quiz on Friday, September 18
I can apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
I can determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases choosing from a range of strategies.
I can demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.
I can propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that probe reasoning and evidence.
Essential Question? How does one determine a character's meaning beneath the stated words?
Characters in Robert Browning's poem "My Last Duchess"
Speaker (or Narrator): The speaker is the Duke of Ferrara, who the poet Robert Browning appears to have modeled him after Alfonso II, who ruled Ferrara from 1559 to 1597.
Where is Ferrara?
What do we actually know about this man upon whom the poem is based?
married 3 times
no heirs
he collected things
his wife died
Emissary of the Count of Tyrol: The emissary has no speaking role; he simply listens as the Duke of Ferrara tells him about the late Duchess of Ferrara
Count of Tyrol: The father of the duke's bride-to-be. The duke mentions him in connection with a dowry the count is expected to provide.
Daughter of the Count of Tyrol: The duke's bride-to-be is the daughter of the count
Frà Pandolph: The duke mentions him as the artist who painted the fresco.
Claus of Innsbruck: The duke mentions him as the artist who created "Neptune Taming a Sea-Horse."
In class: continuing with the graphic organizer for Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess"
anchor: dramatization of "My Last Duchess: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbTHQjobJlM
duchess dramatization
"My Last Duchess" graphic organizer
I am collecting the organizer at the end of class today to grade the anticipatory statement separately. These will be returned tomorrow.
We will work as a class on responses 1-8.
Response 9 is independent.
Responses 10-15 are partnered, if you so wish. Responses 16-24 are independent.
NAME_________________________________
My Last Duchess by Robert Browning graphic organizer Note that there will be an assigned section each day for which you will receive a class participation grade.
In reading Robert Browning's Renaissance-set dramatic monologue "My Last Duchess," bear in mind that "Browning is not primarily concerned to tell a story. . . or describe a mood . . .: his aim is to depict a man as he is, with such autobiographical flashbacks as may be necessary to explain the character of the speaker" (Ian Jack, Browning's Major Poetry, p. 196). In his psychological portrait of the Duke of Ferrara Browning was as much inspired by his general notions of Italian court portraiture as he was by any specific individual--and yet there is an actual historical figure behind the poem.
Anticipatory statement:
From reading the above background information, in approximately 50 words, write what you anticipate this poem to be about. Reread the above text carefully and paraphrase as needed. Use complete sentences.
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The poem is of the type called a dramatic monologue because it consists entirely of the words of a single speaker (persona) who reveals in his speech his own nature and the dramatic situation in which he finds himself. The dramatic monologue reveals its own place and time as it proceeds to uncover the psychology of the speaker at a significant moment in his or her life.
My Last Duchess by Robert Browning
Duchess (n.) – the wife or widow of a duke (the male ruler of a duchy; the sovereign of a small
state)
Frà (n.) – a title given to an Italian monk or friar (a Catholic man who has withdrawn from the
world for religious reasons)
THAT’S my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf’s hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said 5
“Frà 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) 10
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
Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps 15
Frà 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 20
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 favor at her breast, 25
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, 30
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 had you skill 35
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 40
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,
—E’en then would be some stooping; and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; 45
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 pretense 50
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, 55
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!
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1. List the specific words that are used to describe the Duchess and what this suggests about the relationship with the narrator. (1-3)
2. What does the Duke mean by “that piece” (line 3)
3. What words indicate Frà Pandolf’s career?
4. To whom is the Duke speaking?
5. Reread the first 8 lines. Who else is speaking?
6. To what is the Duke referring when he says ‘that pictured countenance” in line 7?
7. Explain what the stranger “read[s]” in lines 6–7, “for never read / Strangers like you that pictured
countenance.” What might read mean here?
8. What are some words that the Duke uses to describe the “glance” in line 8?
9. Reread the poem independently
10. This is a dramatic monologue. Drama means story; hence contains literary elements.
a. Who are the characters in the poem?
b. Write a summary of the plot?
11. Paraphrase the lines “Strangers like you always ask me, if they dare, how the Duchess came to look that way in the portrait.”
12. Give two reasons that the the Duke might mention Frà Pandolf twice in the first six lines of the poem?
13. In line 11, what do the words “if they durst” suggest about the Duke’s view of himself?
14. What does the Duke imply when he uses the word “only” in line 14?
15. What does the phrase “that spot of joy” suggest about the Duchess? What does the Duke imply in
lines 15–19 might have caused such an expression?
16. What does the Duke imply when he remarks that, “such stuff / Was courtesy she thought, and cause
enough / For calling up that spot of joy” (lines 19–21)?
17. Reread lines 21–22: “She had a heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad / Too easily impressed…”
What is the effect of the repetition in these lines? Respond in a complete sentence.
18. What does the Duke mean by “the dropping of daylight in the West” (line 26)?
19. What does the Duke mean when he claims the Duchess’s “looks went everywhere”?
19.
20. What does the Duke mean by the “gift of a nine-hundred years old name” (line 32)? And
20. From the Duke’s perspective, how does the Duchess value this gift?
21. What might the Duke mean when he states, “I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together” in lines 45–46?
21.
22. How does the repetition of the phrase “as if alive” in lines 2 and 47 impact the poem?
23. The word object:
a. What does the word object mean in line 53?
b. What other meaning does the word object have?
c. What is the impact of Browning’s choice to use the word object in this line?
c.
24. What does the Duke ask the listener to “notice” as they go downstairs?
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