... shock them in a different, more unique way. Because of this, violence and sex had become symbols of the time in most writing. Browning's two poems where this is shown are "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover." In order for these poems to have a greater effect on the reader, Browning uses the dramatic monologue. A dramatic monologue is a poem with a speaker, who is not the ... speaker is talking to an implied audience who, while having no speech, is clearly present at the scene. The speaker addresses no one specifically, instead the speaker just thinks aloud. "My Last Duchess" is loo...

• Word Count: 738
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... reader learns about the speaker's character from what the speaker says. Robert Browning is said to have perfected this form of writing. One of his most famous dramatic monologues is "My Last Duchess." The speaker in the poem is an Italian duke who ordered the murder of his wife and is at the offset of the poem showing off the portrait to his ... when Fra Pandolf, the artist who painted the portrait said: "Fra 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." to the duchess in ...

• Word Count: 571
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

... his personality without realizing he does so. Probably one of the most famous dramatic monologues ever written is Browning's "My Last Duchess" (661). Robert Browning is known as the father of the dramatic monologue. The Duke of Ferrara, the single speaker in "My Last Duchess," is portrayed as a jealous but arrogant man. Throughout the poem the Duke repetitively expresses his concern of other men ... won her. Later in the poem his attitude toward other people looking at her changes when he says, "Will't please you sit and look at her?" (5). An important aspect of "My Last Duchess" is Brow...

• Word Count: 562
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School