Today’s Agenda
 SAT Question of the Day
 Read and Analyze Robert Browning Poetry: “My Last Duchess” & “Porphyria’s Lover”
 Writing Task: write in the voice of a character from the poem
 Share Student Samples for Summative Assessment
My stress lay on the incidents in the development of a soul: little else is worth
study."
—Robert Browning
Dramatic Monologue
“to be a dramatic monologue a poem must have a speaker and an implied
auditor, and … the reader often perceives a gap between what that speaker
says and what he or she actually reveals”
-Victorian Web
Our Quest: Discover what the speaker says
through subtext.
 Step 1: Read poem silently
 Step 2: Identify speaker, audience, and situation
 Step 3: Character Profiles
 Step 4: Reading Aloud for Subtext
“My Last Duchess”
Step 1: READ Silently!
 Pg. 978
“My Last Duchess”
Step 2: Identify Situation
 Pg. 978
 Speaker?
 Audience?
 Setting/Situation?
Step 3: Writing Task!
Label your paper with the character’s name/title.
(1) The Duchess
(2) The Count’s Envoy
(3) Brother Pandolf (Painter)
 Prior to your disappearance,
you wrote a letter to a friend,
telling about your life with the
Duke. Describe some of your
experiences both in the early
years of your marriage and
throughout the painting of
your commissioned portrait.
How do you view life, and
what do you think of the
people around you, including
your husband, the Duke?
What sorts of things delighted
you?
 You are the envoy of a Count,
who has sent you to Duke Ferrara
to negotiate a wedding between
the Duke and the Count's
daughter. Prior to dining with the
Duke's other guests, he pulled a
curtain aside and revealed to you
the portrait of his last Duchess,
whom he described to you. Based
on your knowledge of the Duke
through his own words, what kind
of life can the Count's daughter
expect as the new Duchess? Do
you recommend that she marry
the Duke? Why or why not? Use
the Duke's own words to prepare
your argument to the Count.
•
You are Brother Pandolf, who
painted the portrait of the Duchess.
You keep a journal where you write
down your thoughts about all of your
paintings, and the experiences that
shaped their creation. You have
finally decided to write down your
feelings about the Duchess and her
husband, the Duke Ferrara. Based on
your knowledge of the events,
describe the Duchess, the Duke, and
their relationship. Your assessment
should be based on facts, rather
than speculation.
Step 3: Character Profile: THE DUKE
On the back of your paper, tell us about Duke Ferrara
 Imagine how he speaks (tone of voice). Is he controlled? Passionate?
 What sort of image does he project to his audience?
 What are his priorities?
 How does he make other people feel?
Step 4: Reading Aloud
 Read the poem aloud to your partner in the voice of the Duke.
What does he emphasize?
 Remember, this is DRAMATIC monologue!
Questions for Discussion:
 What effect does emphasizing the characters' tone have on our
understanding of the poem?
 How does changing the tone affect how we interpret the Duke's
intentions?
 Is it possible that students can interpret the Duke's words without
finding any malice? Why or why not?
“Porphyria’s Lover”: Read aloud
 Pg. 983