‘My Last Duchess’ by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue in which the Duke of Ferrara is discussing the matter of a dowry with an emissary sent by a Count. The use of dramatic monologue allows the poet to subtly reveal the personality of the persona to the reader.
The language used by the speaker allows the poet to evoke strong emotions in the reader.
The reader is given an early insight into the personality of the Duke in the very first line of the monologue:
‘That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall’
This early impression portrays the Duke as a very sophisticated man with a wealth of knowledge in art. This impression is continued when he mentions the very artist who painted the Duchess, ‘Fra Pandolf’.
However,
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This manner is not only continued, but emphasised further still when the Duke reverts to the subject of money, discussing the situation with the
‘dowry’. This shows how superficial and indeed shameful a person the
Duke is.
This shameful personality is brought out further still by the poet’s use of rhyme and rhythm, the very heart of the poem. The poet’s use of style represents the Duke himself- the poem has many example of rhyme, for example ‘Paint’ and ‘Faint’ and, ‘Durst and ‘First’- this would suggest that the persona was articulate. However, this is shown to be nothing more than a façade in the way in which the lines of the poem run together, showing that the poet is not as skilled in language as he would like to make out:
‘but/thanked/Somehow’
The Duke here is seen to be struggling to express himself, showing his lack of skill in language and emphasising that he has tried to create a false impression of himself. Even the rhythm of the poem, iambic pentameter, which is very regular and basic, reflects the simplicity of the speaker himself, in terms of his linguistic ability. The manner in which the Duke tries to cover up this limited ability emphasises his superficiality.
However, it is the poet’s clever use of word choice which is most effective in revealing the Duke’s personality.
11. A poet can work its magic on the reader by “choice of images, music of the language, idea content, and cleverness of wordplay” (Foster 17).
Another technique this poem takes use of is alliteration. The alliteration used helps to express the themes importance through repletion of sound devices. A specific example of alliteration
The study of any poem often begins with its imagery. Being the centralized idea behind the power of poetry, imagery isn’t always there to just give a mental picture when reading the poem, but has other purposes. Imagery can speak to the five senses using figurative language as well as help create a specific emotion that the author is trying to infuse within the poem. It helps convey a complete human experience a very minimal amount of words. In this group of poems the author uses imagery to show that humanity is characterized as lost, sorrowful and regretful, but nature is untainted by being free of mistakes and flaws and by taking time to take in its attributes it can help humans have a sense of peace, purity, and joy, as well as a sense of
the personality of his duchess, he is shown to be a heartless, arrogant man. His complete
W.H. Auden and Bruce Dawe, in their respective poems ‘Stop All The Clocks’ and ‘Suburban Lovers’, depict two different reactions to love. Auden’s use of an A, A, B, B, rhyme scheme creates rhythm through each of his 4 stanaz. Contrastingly, Dawe uses syllabic rhythm such as “on the fleet diesel that interprets them, like music on a roller-piano as they move, over the rhythmic rails”. Dawe also uses alliteration to create this similar pattern such as “breeze blowing”, “cliff of kissing” and “sandstone sustaining”. Both of these techniques create tone within each poem allowing the reader to reflect the mood of each poem. Auden’s rhyme scheme portrays a tone of sadness and grief in its simple structure and Dawe reflecting a tone of joy and longing
He uses this in the poem to give it rhythm to engage the reader and
The poem's structure consists of four stanzas. The first, second, and third stanza follow an abcc rhyme scheme, and the last stanza follows an aabb rhyme scheme. A the reader progresses through each stanza, it is seen that the narrator's dissatisfaction of her confinement
Secondly, diction is a key aspect in this poem and is highly important due to its
To begin, in the poem “Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins he wants his readers to appreciate each poem as a piece of art. He wants his readers to look at the poem and get absorbed into the emotion of the poem instead of only wondering what the poem means. He uses personification in this quote “tie the poem to a chair with rope/ and torture a confession out of it” to express what we do to poems (356). We the readers should instead pay attention to the rhyme and style of the word. We should stop worrying about the meaning of the poem. This is similar to another author style in “Poem” by William Carlos Williams he uses a cat to movements in the “jamcloset” to show his readers that we should be like the cat. The cat takes its time to get around the “jamcloset” which is what the readers should do with poetry we must take our time to look at it and appreciate each word, line and stanza.
Rhyming, alliteration and repetition are all used to create an atmosphere for the poem so that it is evocative for the reader.
symbolic richness, but at the same time the poem supplies the reader with a wide
symbolic richness, but at the same time the poem supplies the reader with a wide
The poem has no rhyme scheme or particular rhythm; this makes the descriptions stick out more to the reader, while having a varied sound when it is written
Poetry has a role in society, not only to serve as part of the aesthetics or of the arts. It also gives us a view of what the society is in the context of when it was written and what the author is trying to express through words. The words as a tool in poetry may seem ordinary when used in ordinary circumstance. Yet, these words can hold more emotion and thought, however brief it was presented.
poem is not merely a static, decorative creation, but that it is an act of communication between the poet and