The Duke's Wife: Understanding a 16th Century Poem
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Questions and Answers

What is the main purpose of the emissary's visit to the Duke's palace?

  • To negotiate the Duke's marriage to another powerful family's daughter (correct)
  • To admire the Duke's art collection
  • To discuss the Duke's recent widowhood
  • To mourn the loss of the late Duchess

    • What is the Duke's opinion of the late Duchess's behavior?

  • He believed she was unappreciative of his family's legacy (correct)
  • He thought she was a loyal and dedicated wife
  • He was indifferent to her actions
  • He admired her flirtatious nature

    • What is implied about the Duke's role in the Duchess's death?

  • He was unaware of her demise until it was too late
  • He gave orders that led to her death (correct)
  • He was not involved in her death
  • He was deeply saddened by her passing

    • What is the age of the Duke's family name, according to the poem?

    <p>900 years old</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the Duke's attitude towards his upcoming marriage?

    <p>He is pragmatic about the union, seeing it as a means to secure power</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the speaker of the poem?

    <p>The Duke of Ferrara</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the Duke show the emissary during their walk?

    <p>His art collection, including the portrait of the late Duchess</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the underlying motivation behind Victorian society's attempts to control individual behavior?

    <p>To conserve and stabilize the complexities of modern life</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the significance of the Renaissance period in the context of Victorian society?

    <p>It was a time of great artistic achievement and cultural flourishing</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What literary technique does Browning use in 'My Last Duchess' to engage the reader?

    <p>Psychological manipulation through selective storytelling</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What question does the poem pose about the reader's response to the modern world?

    <p>Has the modern world made you numb to the brutality of everyday life?</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is one of the key questions the poem raises about art?

    <p>Does art have a moral component or is it merely an aesthetic exercise?</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which literary movement does Browning's work prefigure?

    <p>Decadence</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary effect of Browning's use of selective storytelling in 'My Last Duchess'?

    <p>It forces the reader to become an active participant in the poem's meaning</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary theme of 'My Last Duchess' in the context of Victorian society?

    <p>The complexities of modern life and the human response to it</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the significance of the Duchess's portrait in the poem?

    <p>It represents the beauty and artistry of the Renaissance period</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the tone of the poem's portrayal of the Duke's character?

    <p>Critical and condemning</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary aim of the poem 'My Last Duchess'?

    <p>To reveal the character of the Duke</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the significance of the Italian Renaissance setting in the poem?

    <p>It represents the flowering of the aesthetic and the human</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is suggested by the Duke's ravings about the Duchess's behavior?

    <p>That the Duchess was punished for her natural sexuality</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the tone of the poem's language?

    <p>Lush and colorful, but also revealing the dark undertones of the Duke's character</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the common theme shared by the Duke and the speaker of 'Porphyria's Lover'?

    <p>A desire to inscribe and fix female sexuality</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the effect of the rhymes in the poem?

    <p>They are subtle and driving, but do not create a sense of closure</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the characteristic of the Duke's speech?

    <p>It is a mix of different voices and tones, mimicking others</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the structure of the poem's lines?

    <p>They are long and flowing, with many enjambments</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the significance of the aesthetic in the poem?

    <p>It is a central aspect of the poem, intertwined with the human and the moral</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the role of the audience in the poem?

    <p>They are implicitly suggested, but never appear in the poem</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is one of the benefits of reading Browning's dramatic monologues?

    <p>It helps readers understand the multiplicity of perspectives that make up the truth.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a characteristic of Browning's dramatic monologues about artists?

    <p>They attempt to capture the artists' philosophies about art.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is illustrated by Browning's use of multiple perspectives in his poems?

    <p>That no one sensibility or perspective sees the whole story.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a feature of Browning's poems that work together as companion pieces?

    <p>They show how different characters respond to similar situations.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does Browning's work suggest about truth or reality?

    <p>That it fluctuates depending on one's perspective.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a purpose of Browning's dramatic monologues?

    <p>To allow readers to enter into the minds of various characters.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do Browning's poems about artists explore?

    <p>The purposes of art and the artists' philosophies.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a result of reading Browning's poems with multiple perspectives?

    <p>Readers are encouraged to sympathize with the characters.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What do Browning's companion poems, like 'Fra Lippo Lippi' and 'Andrea del Sarto', depict?

    <p>How people with different characters respond to similar situations.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a key idea in Browning's poetry?

    <p>That the nature of truth or reality fluctuates.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    The Poem's Background

    • The poem is based on historical events involving Alfonso, the Duke of Ferrara, who lived in the 16th century.

    The Poem's Speaker and Setting

    • The Duke is the speaker of the poem.
    • The poem takes place in the Duke's palace, where he is entertaining an emissary.

    The Purpose of the Emissary's Visit

    • The emissary has come to negotiate the Duke's marriage to the daughter of another powerful family.
    • The Duke has recently been widowed.

    The Portrait of the Late Duchess

    • The Duke shows the emissary a portrait of his late wife.
    • The Duchess was a young and lovely girl.
    • The portrait sessions triggered the Duke's reminiscing about his wife.

    The Duke's Reminiscence and Criticism

    • The Duke recalls the Duchess's behavior, claiming she flirted with everyone.
    • He feels she did not appreciate the "gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name" (her marriage to him).
    • The Duke's monologue reveals his growing anger and resentment towards the Duchess.

    The Duchess's Demise

    • The Duke implies that he caused the Duchess's early demise.
    • When her behavior escalated, he "gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together."

    The Duke's New Marriage Plans

    • After revealing the Duchess's fate, the Duke returns to discussing his new marriage plans with the emissary.
    • He wants to marry another young girl.

    The Duke's Palace and Art Collection

    • As the Duke and the emissary leave the portrait behind, the Duke points out other notable artworks in his collection.

    Poem Structure and Style

    • The poem "My Last Duchess" consists of rhyming pentameter lines with no end-stops, using enjambment to create a subtle driving force behind the Duke's revelations.
    • The rhymes do not create a sense of closure, but rather remain a driving force behind the Duke's speech.

    The Duke's Character

    • The Duke is a performer, mimicking others' voices, creating hypothetical situations, and using his personality to make horrifying information seem merely colorful.
    • The Duke's ravings suggest that most of the supposed transgressions took place only in his mind.

    Historical Setting

    • The poem is set in the Italian Renaissance, which fascinates Browning and his contemporaries for its flowering of aesthetics and humanism alongside religion and morality.
    • The Renaissance setting allows Browning to explore sex, violence, and aesthetics as entangled and complicating each other.

    Themes and Motifs

    • The poem explores the themes of sex, violence, and aesthetics, as well as the male desire to inscribe and fix female sexuality.
    • The Duke's need to control the Duchess's sexuality mirrors the efforts of Victorian society to control individual behavior.
    • The poem raises questions about the moral component of art, asking whether it is merely an aesthetic exercise or has a moral responsibility.

    Reader Engagement

    • The poem engages the reader on a psychological level, forcing them to piece the story together and consider their own response to the subject and its portrayal.
    • The poem tests the reader's response to the modern world, asking whether everyday life has made them numb to horror and beauty.
    • Browning's work prefigures writers like Charles Baudelaire and Oscar Wilde in its exploration of art's moral component.

    Dramatic Monologue Verse Form

    • Allows exploration of characters' minds in specific circumstances
    • Enables readers to enter characters' minds and see events from their perspective
    • Presents multiple perspectives and versions of the same story
    • Highlights the multiplicity of perspectives that make up the truth
    • Shows how the nature of truth or reality fluctuates depending on one's perspective

    Multiple Perspectives and Companion Pieces

    • Browning wrote poems that work together as companion pieces (e.g., "Fra Lippo Lippi" and "Andrea del Sarto")
    • These poems illustrate how people with different characters respond differently to similar situations
    • Show how a time, place, and scenario can cause people with similar personalities to develop or change dramatically

    The Purposes of Art

    • Browning wrote poems about artists and poets (e.g., "Pictor Ignotus" and "Fra Lippo Lippi")
    • These poems attempt to capture the philosophical views of artists and their purposes
    • Art can:
      • Heighten our powers of observation and help us notice things about our own lives
      • Idealize the beauty found in the real world
      • Memorialize famous or important people
      • Help its creators make a living, having a pecuniary purpose as well as a creative one

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    Description

    This quiz is about a poem that explores the thoughts and feelings of Alfonso, the Duke of Ferrara, as he reminisces about his late wife and entertains a proposal for his next marriage. The poem is set in the 16th century and offers a glimpse into the life of the aristocracy during that time. Test your understanding of the poem and its historical context.

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