My Last Dutches Robert Browning

1036 Words5 Pages
Essay: Robert Browning - My Last Duchess Write an essay in which you show how Browning uses the style and structure of the dramatic monologue to convey both the meaning and the intention of the poem. Comment on his use of specific poetic techniques to enhance understanding and intention of the poem: Robert Browning writes his poem, The Last Duchess, in the form of a Dramatic Monologue. The style and structure of this poem adds significant importance and relevance to the message and intention of the poem. Browning's intentional use of specific poetic techniques such as tone of voice, diction, flowery language, rhetorical questions, enjambment and rhyme are vividly explained in this essay. Robert Browning attains a reputation for “oddness”, as the novelist Henry James termed it, for his difficult and obscure written poems. Browning’s poems are written in Dramatic Monologue. The nature of this monologue is almost as if you are ease dropping on a conversation between two people. According to Anderson et al. (2011:97) Dramatic Monologue is a device whereby the poet invents a character to provide the voice and opinion represented in the text. Browning’s poem, “My Last Duchess”, addresses a rather complex character commonly found in the Victorian Era. The persona in this case, is the Duke of Ferrara. The poem, being a Dramatic Monologue, features a second character, the messenger, which the Duke addresses. Browning’s use of this Dramatic Monologue involves the reader in the process of assimilating and deconstructing the story of the Duke of Ferrara’s relationship with his ‘last duchess’ through his diction, style, structure and rhythmic pattern. The Duke is portrayed as arrogant, possessive and well educated with a sense of control issues. We are able to identify these characteristics through Browning's diction and tone of voice. The Dukes arrogance is vividly
Open Document