Is Ulysses abdicating his responsibilities as king, father, and husband? My Last Duchess Robert Browning 1842 (Victorian poetry; Victorians were extremely uptight sexuality, and there was an interest at the time in the rights and welfare of women and the issue of spousal abuse; also shows Victorian interest in the Italian Renaissance, a time they felt people moved away from God and toward science) This poem is also a dramatic monologue; who is the Duke addressing (who is his “audience”)? What the Duke so much about his former wife (who has passed away)? What do lines show about the way the Duke thinks of himself and of his former wife? 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. (31-4) Why does he hide her portrait, even now, behind a curtain (10)? What is the significance of the Duke pointing out the other picture, at the end, and especially that it is Neptune taming a seahorse?
Is Ulysses abdicating his responsibilities as king, father, and husband? My Last Duchess Robert Browning 1842 (Victorian poetry; Victorians were extremely uptight sexuality, and there was an interest at the time in the rights and welfare of women and the issue of spousal abuse; also shows Victorian interest in the Italian Renaissance, a time they felt people moved away from God and toward science) This poem is also a dramatic monologue; who is the Duke addressing (who is his “audience”)? What the Duke so much about his former wife (who has passed away)? What do lines show about the way the Duke thinks of himself and of his former wife? 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. (31-4) Why does he hide her portrait, even now, behind a curtain (10)? What is the significance of the Duke pointing out the other picture, at the end, and especially that it is Neptune taming a seahorse?