Robert Browning one of the foremost Victorian poets

study points  Life of Robert Browning  comprehension & appreciation of the poem “My Last Duchess”

I. Life story  born on May 7, 1812, in Camberwell, England.  Mother:  an accomplished pianist  Father:  a bank clerk  an artist, scholar, antiquarian ( 文物收藏爱好者 ), and collector of books and pictures

 Browning’s paternal grandfather was a wealthy slave owner in St Kitts, West Indies, but Browning’s father was an abolitionist.

 Browning’s father’s rare book collection of more than 6,000 volumes included works in  Greek  Hebrew  Latin  French  Italian  Spanish

 Robert Browning  educated almost entirely at home  raised in a household of significant literary resources

 His mother teaching him music  His father giving him an introduction to  Greek and Roman classics  the Italian Renaissance poets  18th century English literature

 In childhood, he was distinguished by a love of poetry and natural history.  By twelve, he had written a book of poetry which he later destroyed when no publisher could be found.

 After attending several private schools he began to be educated by a tutor, having demonstrated a strong dislike for institutionalized education.

 Browning was a fast learner and by the age of fourteen he was fluent in French, Greek, Italian and Latin as well as his native English.

 He became a great admirer of the Romantic poets, especially Shelley.  Following the precedent of Shelley, Browning became an atheist and vegetarian ( 素食主义者 ), both of which he gave up later.

 At the age of sixteen, he attended University College London, but left after his first year.

 His mother’s staunch ( 坚定的 ) evangelical ( 福音主 义者 ) faith circumscribed ( 限制 ) the pursuit of his studying at either Oxford University or Cambridge University, both then open only to members of the Church of England.

 In 1833, anonymously published his first major published work, Pauline  In 1840 he published Sordello, which was widely regarded as a failure.  He also tried his hand at drama, but his plays were for the most part unsuccessful.

 In 1845, Browning met Elizabeth Barrett, who lived as a semi-invalid and virtual prisoner in her father’s house.  Gradually a significant romance developed between them, leading to their secret marriage and flight in 1846.

 The marriage was initially secret because Elizabeth’s father disapproved of marriage for any of his children.

 From the time of their marriage, the Brownings lived in Italy, first in Pisa, and then, within a year, finding an apartment in Florence at Casa Guidi (now a museum to their memory).

 Their only child, Robert Barrett Browning was born in  In these years Browning was fascinated by and learned hugely from the art of Italy.

 He would, in later life, say that “Italy was my university”.  Browning also bought a home near Venice, and in a cruel irony Browning died on the day that the Town Council approved the purchase.  His wife died in 1861.

 Browning’s poetry was known to the cognoscenti from fairly early on in his life, but he remained relatively obscure as a poet till his middle age. cognoscenti [ l k ɔ njəu l ʃ enti], 行家

 It was only after his wife's death, in 1861, when he returned to England and became part of the London literary scene, that his reputation started to take off.

 In 1868, after five years work, he completed and published the long blank-verse poem The Ring and the Book, and finally achieved really significant recognition.

His death  He died at his son’s home in Venice on 12 December  He was buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.  his grave now lies immediately adjacent to that of Alfred Tennyson.

My Last Duchess  1. Introduction  2. dramatic monologue  3. Setting and Background  4. Characters  5.The Portrait of the Duchess  6. Meter  7. Rhyme: Heroic Couplets  8. Theme

1. Introduction  《我已故的公爵夫人》  a poem by Robert Browning  frequently anthologised as an example of the dramatic monologue  first appeared in 1842 in Dramatic Lyrics

 This poem is loosely based on historical events involving Alfonso, the Duke of Ferrara, who lived in the 16th century.

2. dramatic monologue  a poem / poetic form  written as a speech made by a character (other than the author/ poet).  usually addressed by the speaker to some other character who remains silent.  used to narrate and dramatize Victorian concerns

 “My Last Duchess” is a great example of dramatic dialogue.

As a convention, each dramatic monologue should include:  a narrator  a fiction speaker / audience  a symbolic setting  dramatic gestures

3. Setting and Background  The setting is the palace of the Duke of Ferrara on a day in October  Ferrara is in northern Italy, between Bologna and Padua, on a branch of the Po River.

 The city was the seat of an important principality ( 公国 ) ruled by the House of Este from 1208 to  The Este family constructed an imposing castle in Ferrara beginning in 1385 and, over the years, made Ferrara an important center of arts and learning.

 Two members of the family, Beatrice and Isabella, supported the work of such painters as Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael.

 In Browning’s poem, the Duke of Ferrara is modeled after Alfonso II, the fifth and last duke of the principality, who ruled Ferrara from 1559 to 1597 but in three marriages fathered no heir to succeed him.

 The deceased duchess in the poem was his first wife, Lucrezia de’ Medici, a daughter of Cosimo de’ Medici ( ), Duke of Florence from 1537 to 1574 and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1569 to  Lucrezia died in 1561 at age 17.  In 1598, Ferrara became part of the Papal States.

4. Characters  Speaker (or Narrator):  The speaker is the Duke of Ferrara.  Browning appears to have modeled him after Alfonso II, who ruled Ferrara from 1559 to 1597.

 Alfonso was married three times but had no children.  The poem reveals him as a proud, possessive, and selfish man and a lover of the arts.

 He regarded his late wife as a mere object who existed only to please him and do his bidding.

 He likes the portrait of her (the subject of his monologue) because, unlike the duchess when she was alive, it reveals only her beauty and none of the qualities in her that annoyed the duke when she was alive.

 Morever, he now has complete control of the portrait as a pretty art object that he can show to visitors.

 Duchess:  The late wife of the duke.  Browning appears to have modeled her after Lucrezia de’ Medici  a daughter of Cosimo de’ Medici, Duke of Florence from 1537 to 1574

 The duke says the duchess enjoyed the company of other men and implies that she was unfaithful.  Whether his accusation is a fabrication is uncertain.

 The duchess died under suspicious circumstances in 1561, just two years after he married her.  She may have been poisoned.

5.The Portrait of the Duchess  The portrait of the late Duchess of Ferrara is a fresco, a type of work painted in watercolors directly on a plaster wall.  The portrait symbolizes the duke's possessive and controlling nature inasmuch as the duchess has become an art object which he owns and controls.

6. Meter  "My Last Duchess" is in iambic pentameter (10 syllables, or five feet, per line with five pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables), as Lines 1 and 2 of the poem demonstrate.

 That's MY | last DUCH | ess PAINT | ed ON | the WALL,  Look ING | as IF | she WERE | a ALIVE | I CALL

7. Rhyme: Heroic Couplets  Line 1 rhymes with Line 2, Line 3 with 4, Line 5 with 6, and so on.  Pairs of rhyming lines are called couplets.  When the lines are written in iambic pentameter, as are the lines of "My Last Duchess," the rhyming pairs are called heroic couplets.

8. Theme  The theme is the arrogant, authoritarian mindset of a proud Renaissance duke.  In this respect, the more important portrait in the poem is the one the duke "paints" of himself with his words.

北京第二外国语学院 2006 年硕士研究生入学考试试卷英语专业 文学专业综合考试 1 卷  VIII. Complete the following sentences by choosing and mark the best alternative (A, B, C or D) in each bracket (20)  ( ) 7. The Victorian poets include ( ① Lord Alfred Tennyson ② Robert Browning ③ Matthew Arnold ④ John Keats) A. ①②④ B. ②③④  C. ①②③ D. ①③④