\n Poetry Portfolio Example part 1\n <\/p>\n
\n Jane Smith\n <\/p>\n
\n Professor Chancey\n <\/p>\n
\n ENC 1102\n <\/p>\n
\n 5 December 2021\n <\/p>\n
\n Poetry Portfolio:\u00a0 Robert Browning\u2019s \u201cMy Last Duchess\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Introduction\n <\/p>\n
\n One of my favorite poems is Robert Browning\u2019s \u201cMy Last Duchess.\u201d\u00a0 I chose the poem because I found its underlying story fascinating.\u00a0 At first, it just seems like a dull, arrogant man talking about his marriage.\u00a0 However, carefully reading the poem reveals that it\u2019s the story of an abusive, eventually deadly relationship. I am not the first person to be fascinated by this dark tale of love gone wrong:\u00a0 It\u2019s the most famous of Browning\u2019s dramatic monologues.\n <\/p>\n
\n Author Biography\n <\/p>\n
\n According to the Gale biography of Browning, he began writing poems at the age of six.\u00a0 He left school at sixteen to write poetry full time.\u00a0 He married fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett in 1846 and they moved to Italy, where they had a son.\u00a0 Browning did not find fame and fortune as a poet until after Elizabeth\u2019s death in 1861, when he moved back to England.\u00a0 Within seven years, he was one of the most famous poets in the country. After his death in 1889, he was buried in Poet\u2019s Corner in Westminster Abbey, a high honor for a writer.\u00a0 Today, he is considered one of the greatest poets of the 19th Century (\u201cRobert Browning:\u00a0 Biography\u201d).\n <\/p>\n
\n Portfolio Overview\n <\/p>\n
\n The body of this portfolio is in four parts.\u00a0 In the Window\/Mirror Reflection, I discuss how \u201cMy Last Duchess\u201d is both a window and mirror for me.\u00a0 In the Analytical Essay, I talk about the poem\u2019s theme, the corrosive effects of jealousy, and how the duke\u2019s voice and syntax reveal his feelings.\u00a0 For the Creative Response, I created an eight-picture collage inspired by the poem\u2019s theme and imagery. Finally, the extra-credit section compares \u201cMy Last Duchess\u201d with another of Browning\u2019s dramatic monologues, \u201cThe Laboratory.\u201d\u00a0 By the conclusion, I will have provided an in-depth overview of \u201cMy Last Duchess\u201d and what it meant to me.\n <\/p>\n
\n 2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Window\/Mirror Reflection\n <\/p>\n
\n Reading Responses\n <\/p>\n
\n The first time I read \u201cMy Last Duchess,\u201d I didn\u2019t understand it.\u00a0 Browning creates the persona of a 16th Century Italian aristocrat, and Ferrara\u2019s diction is formal and his vocabulary is difficult.\u00a0 The poem uses run-on lines and lacks stanza breaks, so there are no places where you can pause and think about what you\u2019ve read.\u00a0 I had to re-read it several times before I understood the story Duke Ferrara was telling:\u00a0 He murdered his wife because her friendly behavior to other men convinced him she was unfaithful. That was when the poem drew me in.\n <\/p>\n
\n Window and Mirror Analysis\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cMy Last Duchess\u201d is a window into power dynamics in previous centuries.\u00a0 In 16th Century Italy, a woman couldn\u2019t leave her husband because he was jealous and controlling. Marriage was considered sacred, and women were expected to obey their husbands. A man who was violent with his wife was not punished, especially if he was a powerful duke.\u00a0 According to Psychology Today, there are twenty clinical signs that you have a controlling partner.\u00a0 The Duke exhibits at least seven, including chronic criticism, making his partner feel indebted, spying, overactive jealousy, assuming his partner\u2019s guilt, belittling her values, and being unable to hear her point of view (Bonior). There is no real evidence that the Duchess was unfaithful.\u00a0 From the reader\u2019s perspective, she seemed like a kind woman.\u00a0 In the Duke\u2019s view, though, she was an ungrateful cheater, so he murdered her. He was not prosecuted and remains rich and powerful\u2014at the end of the poem, we find out he\u2019s courting a new bride.\n <\/p>\n
\n That is why the poem is also a mirror:\u00a0 There are controlling partners today, and they often get away with their behavior. When I was in college, I had a boyfriend who, while not homicidal, was almost as controlling as the Duke.\u00a0 He wanted all my attention, one time becoming enraged because I bought a Secret Santa gift for a male coworker.\u00a0 He did not respect my needs or wishes and ridiculed my interests.\u00a0 He criticized everything and got irritated when I spent time with friends or family.\u00a0 But I had a choice the Duchess did not, to walk away when I matured enough to see how toxic he was. \u00a0The biggest difference between the poem\u2019s time and now is that we can leave bad relationships. \u00a0In some cases, it\u2019s the woman who is controlling.\u00a0 That\u2019s not progress:\u00a0 Emotional abuse is still abuse, no matter the genders of the victim and the victimizer.\n <\/p>\n
\n 3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Analytical Essay\n <\/p>\n
\n Meaning of the Poem\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cMy Last Duchess\u201d is about an abusive, obsessive love. Duke Ferrara is insanely possessive of his wife. That she smiles at other men makes him sick with rage. However, his ego makes it impossible for him to talk about his fears. Instead, he orders her to stop and then \u201c. . . all smiles stopped together\/There she stands\/As if alive\u201d (Browning 46-47).\u00a0 The reader understands that his wife is dead.\u00a0 Did he murder her?\u00a0 The syntax of those three lines suggests it.\u00a0 Through voice and syntax, Browning shows us the toxic effects of jealousy.\u00a0 The Duke killed his wife because he could not control her. Even after her death, he\u2019s controlled by his obsession.\n <\/p>\n
\n Literary Terms:\u00a0 Voice and Syntax\n <\/p>\n
\n Very early in the poem, it becomes clear that the Duke is not just rich and arrogant, he\u2019s also obsessive.\u00a0 He shows his visitor a portrait of his wife and comments:\n <\/p>\n
\n . . . for never read\n <\/p>\n
\n Strangers like you that pictured countenance,\n <\/p>\n
\n The depth and passion of its earnest glance,\n <\/p>\n
\n But to myself they turned (since none puts by\n <\/p>\n
\n The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)\n <\/p>\n
\n And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,\n <\/p>\n
\n How such a glance came there; (Browning 6-13)\n <\/p>\n
\n How could he know what strangers are thinking when they look at his wife\u2019s picture?\u00a0 It\u2019s very odd that he assumes everyone is wondering about her smile (Markley).\u00a0 This is another early clue to his obsession:\u00a0 He is so preoccupied with his wife, he assumes everyone else is, too.\n <\/p>\n
\n As the poem continues, he describes the Duchess\u2019s behavior in more detail.\u00a0 She smiled at everyone, whether it was the portrait painter giving her a compliment or a servant bringing her flowers. She even smiled at her pet mule! The Duke complains:\u00a0 \u201cShe had\/A heart\u2014how shall I say?\u2014 too soon made glad,\/Too easily impressed; she liked whate\u2019er\/ She looked on, and her looks went everywhere\u201d (Browning 21-24).\u00a0 His words equate smiling with love and looking with infidelity:\u00a0 If she\u2019ll smile at anyone, what else would she do with anyone?\u00a0 The Duke\u2019s irrational jealousy has become even clearer.\n <\/p>\n
\n As the poem moves towards its conclusion, the Duke\u2019s arrogance is again emphasized:\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cShe thanked men\u2014good! but thanked\/Somehow\u2014I know not how\u2014as if she ranked\/My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name\/With anybody\u2019s gift\u201d (Browning 31-34)\u00a0 The Duke wants her to appreciate the favor he did her by marrying her and save her smiles for him. He\u2019s so aware of his power and position, he can\u2019t explain his feelings to his wife.\u00a0 He says even if he could, to bring up the subject \u201c. . . would be some stooping; and I choose\/Never to stoop\u201d (Browning 42-43). Instead, he ordered her around. \u00a0Then, she stopped smiling forever. Perhaps if he had \u201cstooped\u201d to explain, she\u2019d have reassured him of her love.\u00a0 Instead, he committed murder, and all he has of her now is a picture. The Duke has punished the Duchess, but he\u2019s also punished himself.\n <\/p>\n
\n At the end of the poem, we realize that Duke Ferrara has been talking to a visitor who is negotiating his second marriage. \u00a0Perhaps the Duke\u2019s speech is, as critic Arnold Markley says, \u201cindicating what kind of behavior he will expect in his new wife.\u201d\u00a0 More likely, given the Duke\u2019s previous words, Browning is suggesting the Duke is still obsessed with his first wife. He keeps a curtain in front of her picture:\u00a0 Nobody sees her unless the Duke allows it.\u00a0 Markley argues that this means the Duke finally controls his wife\u2014but does he?\u00a0 He can\u2019t bear for even a painting of her to be seen by casual visitors.\u00a0 He assumes anyone allowed to see her will be fascinated.\u00a0 He talks about her at length, though she is years dead, to the representative of his new wife\u2019s family.\u00a0 All this suggests a man who is not in control:\u00a0 His first wife is forever out of his reach, smiling behind her curtain.\u00a0 She is dead, but his obsession lives on.\u00a0 His last duchess smiles forever.\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Poetry Portfolio Example part 1 Jane Smith Professor Chancey ENC 1102 5 December 2021 Poetry Portfolio:\u00a0 Robert Browning\u2019s \u201cMy Last Duchess\u201d 1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Introduction One of my favorite poems is Robert Browning\u2019s \u201cMy Last Duchess.\u201d\u00a0 I chose the poem because I found its underlying story fascinating.\u00a0 At first, it just seems like a dull, arrogant man […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_joinchat":[]},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qualityassignments.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248056"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qualityassignments.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qualityassignments.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qualityassignments.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qualityassignments.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248056"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/qualityassignments.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251705,"href":"https:\/\/qualityassignments.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248056\/revisions\/251705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qualityassignments.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qualityassignments.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qualityassignments.net\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}