My Last Duchess, Sonnet 116, By Robert Browning

1162 Words5 Pages
The thesis I choose is love. In our course book, I choose ‘My last duchess’, by Robert browning, ‘Sonnet 116’ by William Shakespeare, and ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling. My poem from outside is ‘Longing’ by Matthew Arnold, ‘Life in a love’ by Robert browning, and ‘Love and a question’ by Robert Frost. "My Last Duchess," is absolutely Browning 's most famous dramatic monologue, with some good reason. It engages the reader on a number of levels – historical, psychological, ironic, theatrical, and more. The most engaging element of the poem is probably the speaker himself, the duke. It is easy to identify him as a freak like monster, since he had his wife murdered for what comes across as fairly not purposed crimes. And yet he is charming, both in his use of language and his affable address. The ironic disconnect that colors most of Browning 's monologues is particularly strong here. In fact, the duke 's excessive demand for control ultimately comes across as his most defining characteristic. The obvious signs of this is the murder of his wife. Even though he does admit that other men could draw her "blush," he also mentions several natural phenomena that inspired her favor. orderly meter to remind us that the duke will control his world, including the rhyme scheme of his monologue. Sonnet 116 is about love in its most ideal form. The poet praises the glories of lovers who have come to each other freely, and enter into a relationship based on trust and understanding. The