Free Lesson of the Month
March, 2011
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This month's free lesson comes from Discovering Genre: Poetry and includes the full text of Robert
Browning’s “My Last Duchess” along with reader response questions to help your students understand
what they have read.
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66
My L
ast
D
u ch e ss
My Last Duchess
R
o b e r t
B
r o w n i n g
That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf’s hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said
“Frà Pandolf” by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, ‘twas not
Her husband’s presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess’ cheek: perhaps
Frà Pandolf chanced to say “Her mantle laps
Over my Lady’s wrist too much,” or “Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint
Half-flush that dies along her throat”: such stuff
Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough
For calling up that spot of joy. She had
A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad,
Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er
She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.
Sir, ‘twas all one! My favour at her breast,
The dropping of the daylight in the West,
The bough of cherries some officious fool
Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule
Di
s c o v e r i n g
G
e n r e
: P
o e try
S
oc ie t y
She rode with round the terrace—all and each
Would draw from her alike the approving speech,
Or blush, at least. She thanked men,—good! but thanked
Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked
My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name
With anybody’s gift. Who’d stoop to blame
This sort of trifling? Even had you skill
In speech—(which I have not)—to make your will
Quite clear to such an one, and say, “Just this
Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,
Or there exceed the mark”—and if she let
Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set
Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,
—E’en then would be some stooping, and I choose
Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,
Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without
Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;
Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands
As if alive. Will’t please you rise? We’ll meet
The company below, then. I repeat,
The Count your master’s known munificence
Is ample warrant that no just pretence
Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;
Though his fair daughter’s self, as I avowed
At starting, is my object. Nay, we’ll go
Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,
Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,
Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!
Pr
e s t w i c k
H
o u s e
67
68
M
y
L
ast
D
ut c he ss
Questions
My Last Dutchess
1 Although the poem is written in a series of couplets, it is an
excellent example of a poem that should be read according to
punctuation. Read the poem aloud, pausing or continuing as
the punctuation directs instead of at the end of each line. What
tone and effect does this give the poem?
l
l
2 In what ways does this poem tell us more about its speaker
than it does about his late wife, the Duchess?
l
3 By the poem’s end, the speaker has ceased speaking of the
Duchess. Rather than end the poem there, Browning gives the
speaker a few more seemingly insignificant lines; the speaker
briefly describes another piece of art in his room. As the poem
is called “My Last Duchess,” why do you think Browning didn’t
end it with the last lines about her? What function do the last
three lines serve?
Di
s c o v e r i n g
G
e n r e
: P
o e try