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Robert Browning. Robert Browning. My Last Duchess. Biographical Information. Mostly educated at home by tutors. Brilliant, undisciplined, determined to be like Percy Bysshe Shelley. Lived at home, supported by parents until he married at age 34. 1845 – wrote to Elizabeth Barrett
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Robert Browning My Last Duchess
Biographical Information • Mostly educated at home by tutors. • Brilliant, undisciplined, determined to be like Percy Bysshe Shelley. • Lived at home, supported by parents until he married at age 34. • 1845 – wrote to Elizabeth Barrett • 1846 – secretly married
Biographical Information • Poetry emphasized error, weakness, and viciousness of characters. • 1861 – wife died; moves back to England with son. • Known as “the other great Victorian poet”
Background Information • Dramatic monologue – speaker who is not the poet addresses the listener who does not speak. • In this poem, the speaker is negotiating another marriage. • Speaking to a representative of future wife’s father.
Background Information • Duke of Ferrara – • Alfonso II (fifth Duke) Renaissance Nobleman • 1st wife was 14 – left her for 2 years • Came back and she died a year later • It is believed that she was poisoned.
This is a portrait of what The Last Duchess could have looked like