My first reading of My Last Duchess by Robert Browning was somewhat confusing. I didn't really know the rhythm of the poem, I just knew that each sentence ended in rhymed couplets. The pattern indicates, a a, b b, c c, etc., but other than that I did not know how to read the poem all to well. I kept shortening and elongating certain parts, especially with the constant semicolons. It wasn't until I researched the poem on Poets.org and listened to the reading by Richard Howard. I noticed he read it more as a monologue for a play or somewhat of a short story. I really like his reading because of the intensity that he puts within the poem. He elongates where needed and made it feel as if it were a story. He starts off slow but towards the end he speeds up and raises his volume as if it were a climax in the poem. I really appreciated his version, but to be honest I have no other version to go off of. For now this is the version that I prefer. As far as the story goes, I believe that the Duke hid the portrait of the duchess out of jealousy. She was once a flirtatious woman, and that displeased him very much. Now he is allowed to have her all to himself, no longer can she flirt with men but he must have her hidden since she is still beautiful enough to gaze at.
I dont really know how to add just the clip of Richard Howard reading so I provided the link below.
http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15701
Listening to this poem being read was really cool! It's interesting..you can kind of hear the Duke's thought process as the poem progresses and he becomes more and more agitated by the memory of the Duchess. He works himself into a fervor that makes him admit to murdering her and you can hear his head get hotter as the poem progresses.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that this is best read as a monologue. When reading this poem, I have always pictured myself as a guest that the Duke is trying to impress by showing off his estate. I'd later tell my friends, "He seemed like a nice enough guy, but things got super awkward after he showed me this one painting of a woman near the staircase..."
Yes i think the point of the poem is that the reader is supposed to realize that the narrator is sort of losing his sanity once he starts reading the poem. The constant use of semicolons means that the author wants the lines to be independent yet still connect together through some type of idea. I can't really find that idea, and i think the point of this was to show the narrator's lack of mental stability.
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