How to get started on your analysis: "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning

"Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on"

- Louis L’Armou

For students about to embark on a study of Robert Browning, "My Last Duchess" is often used as an induction into his poetry, an initiation of sorts, yet it is by no means an easy poem. I would often find myself forgetting to move past the 'what' -- what is the speaker or poet seeking to communicate -- and look for the 'how' and 'why': how does Browning achieve the effect of [x,y,z]? Why might Browning want to engender distrust and distance in his readers?

Here is the poem in full:

MY LAST DUCHESS

FERRARA

That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,

Looking as if she were alive. I call

That piece a wonder, now; Fra Pandolf’s hands

Worked busily a day, and there she stands.

Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said

“Fra 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 or 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

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.” 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

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 pretense

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!

I find that websites such as Shmoop and SparkNotes often undermine the literary complexity of this poem and distill the multiple possible meanings into one overly simplistic interpretation of the poem in the process of making the poem more accessible. While this may alleviate some of the confusion, it also leaves us with an empty page of analysis.

The key is to focus intensely on one specific observation at a time, and build our interpretation up brick by brick.

For example, I might choose to start off by paying special attention to the way Browning uses enjambment. As I read the poem again, I notice that he uses enjambment quite frequently, and the breaks created by a discontinuation of the line is often unaccompanied by a natural pause. If you were to read “I call/That piece a wonder, now” aloud, you would not pause after “call”, yet the halt is visibly enacted, if not audibly performed. Thus, Browning creates an incongruity between the rules of speech and the rules of poetry, thus enhancing the dramatic irony which is so fundamental to My Last Duchess.

From here, I could expound upon the purpose of dramatic irony in the poem and how it creates a gap between what the speaker claims about himself and what the audience ultimately believes, allowing Browning to discredit the authority of the speaker and challenge the conventions of Romantic poetry. Whew! That escalated quicky!

The point is that it all began with an investigation into the language of the poem, which eventually expanded to embrace the message of the poem as a whole

This process of zooming in and out is part of what makes up a meaningful and grounded analysis – you want to work with both concrete and fluff.

There are numerous poetic devices hidden within a text, waiting to be explored. If you don’t know where to begin, try choosing from one of these:

• Sound – does the poet employ mostly soothing, vowel sounds, or harsh, grating consonants? Is the aural texture soft or prickly? Are words easy or difficult to pronounce and how might this affect the reading of the poem? Does the poet utilise alliteration, and if so, what effect does it have?

• Tempo/rhythm/pace – is the poem slow and languorous, or is there a lot of momentum behind the lines? How does the punctuation slow down or speed up the poem?

• Diction – is the vocabularly commonplace or sophisticated? Or perhaps a mixture of both, suggesting a dichotomy within the speaker? How might the word “munificence” influence our perception of the speaker?

• Tone – is the tone sinister or bright? Does it change throughout the poem? How is the tone created?

• Form – is the poem broken up into multiple short stanzas or is it one big block of text? How might the shape of the poem contribute to your interpretation? Is there a pattern you can discern?

• Imagery – what images float up from the text and how are they formed by the language? What might these images symbolise or represent? What historical or cultural significance might these images have? Does the poet juxtapose two contrasting images together, and if so, why?

If you have any questions, or would like to submit a snippet of your writing for some feedback, feel free to email us directly or go to our 'Essay Feedback' page.

Until next time!

Dawnie and Nicole