The Tuesday Poem this week is "My Last Duchess" by
Robert Browning, selected by Helen Lowe: http://tuesdaypoem.blogspot.co.nz/2015/07/my-last-duchess-by-robert-browning-1812.html
Helen
says:
My Last Duchess has long been one of my favourite poems. It is a
fine example of a narrative poem, i.e. one that tells a story, but also
of dramatic monologue, where the character of the Duke and his relationship to
his last Duchess are subtly expanded through the length of
the poem. The poem is also significant for the way in which it exposes
the Duke’s character, without commentary – particularly the chilling way in
which the Duke reduces his wife to an object, like any of his other works of
art, together with the implication that he has had her murdered for smiling at
those other than him. In terms of poetic technique, My Last Duchess is
also a masterly example of using end rhyme, i.e. it is written in rhyming
couplets while still managing to sound like conversational speech. A master
work at a number of levels.
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