“My Last Duchess” Lines 21-34
Homework Accountability
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Turn in your homework.
Take out a piece of paper and complete the following:
A. Prompt: What does the reader learn about the Duke through his description of the Duchess in lines 1-21 of the
poem?
B. Prompt: If a character in your AIR book inadvertently revealed a personality flaw about himself/herself, what
would that flaw be and how would he/she reveal it?
Lines 21-34 Reading and Discussion
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Select one member of the group to read aloud lines 21-25 as the other members annotate the text.
Revise or add to your annotations as you discuss the following questions.
Reread lines 21-22 and answer the following questions in your group before sharing out with the class (write your
answers in your notes):
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What is the effect of the repetition in these lines?
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What is the effect of “how shall I say?” in these lines?
Reread lines 23-29 and answer the following questions in your group before sharing out with the class (write your
answers in your notes):
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What does the Duke mean by “the dropping of daylight in the West” (line 26)?
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What does “bough” mean in the line “the bough of cherries some officious fool/Broke in the orchard for
her” (line 27)? What words are associated with “bough” that can help to define it?
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What is happening in line 27?
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What is the connotation of the word “officious”? How do you know?
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What does the Duke mean when he claims the Duchess’s “looks went everywhere”?
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What does the punctuation in “Sir, ‘twas all one!” (line 25) suggest about the Duke’s tone and message?
What can you infer about how the Duke feels about what he is saying?
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What inferences can you make about the Duchess based on lines 25-29?
Reread lines 30-34 and answer the following questions in your group before sharing out with the class (write your
answers in your notes):
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What does the Duke mean by the “gift of a nine-hundred years old name” (line 32)?
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From the Duke’s perspective, how does the Duchess value this gift?
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How does this contrast with the Duke’s view of the gift of his name in lines 31-34? How do you know?
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Evaluate the Duke’s reliability as a narrator in these lines. Support your response with evidence from the
text.
Quick Write
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Remember – use the Short Response Rubric and Checklist to guide your response.
Refer to the text to find three pieces of textual evidence.
Prompt: What is the impact of Browning’s choice of speaker on the development of the Duchess?
Homework
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Respond briefly in writing to the following prompt: What do you learn about the characters of the Duke and the
Duchess in lines 29-34? What is left uncertain about the Duke and Duchess in these lines?