A prime example of dramatic poetry. We've covered irony intensely during the past 2-3 years and so I believe you can talk about overstatement, understatement, paradox, verbal irony, situational irony, and dramatic irony without too much lecture. How is "My Last Duchess" irony? How should we view the Duke? What about the Duchess? What about the situation, the event of the story? This poem is a dramatic monologue. Look up "dramatic monologue" on-line and see what you can find out about the form. Browning, for the most part, invented it and made it famous. Most of his great works are considered dramatic monologues. Compare "My Last Duchess" with "Prufrock".
Today:
Present allegorical poems to class, and make sure you post this on your blog.
Discuss "My Last Duchess"
Finish "How to Read A Poem"
HOMEWORK: Read Figurative Language I - Metaphor, Personification and Metonymy (chapter 5) and Tone (pages 880 - 885) write a journal entry on tone and how you interpret tone in the following poems: "The Telephone", "Love in Brooklyn" and "The Flea".
