My Last Duchess | Robert Browning - Line by Line Explanation

A Duke confesses a murder. Browning pens down a suspense thriller unminding purity of poetry and morality issues of a conservative age.
Timestamps
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00:00 Intro
01:36 The Poet
09:36 The Poem
34:06 Analysis
Online Text Link
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www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...
Related Links
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The Last Night Together: • The Last Ride Together...
Victorian Age: • Victorian Age | 1837-1...
Dover Beach: • Dover Beach | Matthew ...
Goblin Market: • Goblin Market | Christ...
About Host
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Monami Mukherjee has a teaching experience of over 15 years. She got her education at Lady Brabourne College and University of Calcutta. She completed her MPhil from Calcutta University. She takes special interest in issues of Feminism, Post-colonialism and Modernism. She is known for her conversational style of teaching and grasp of core concepts in literature.
About NibblePop
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Students of English Literature can get free class lectures and learning resources along with other relevant issues. Best suited for English Honours and Masters (All Universities), ISC, NET, SSC. The lessons explain critical theories in easy language for all categories of students.
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[@VikashKumar-im6fi]

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[@Yiboo123]

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I qualified for JRF & Assistant Professor(=NET) in July in 2023 with 99.09 percentile. JRF means Junior Research Fellowship(= 45 000/month scholarship for PhD).

[@NibblePop]

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[@K_F_fox]

What threw me for a loop is that this Duke all but confesses to murder, and then tries to distract the person in order to stop them from committing the confession to long-term memory. The instrument that transformed short-term memory to long-term memory is a structure within the brain called the hippocampus, given the name because of how it resembles a sea-horse. The speaker pivots the conversation to *tame* (control) the *sea horse* (hippocampus) within the listener's brain. But, that function of the hippocampus wasn't known until the 1970's!

[@NibblePop]

God we missed your comments! And what a comeback!

[@K_F_fox]

@@NibblePop Thanks! My Last Duchess is one of my favorites. From a technical standpoint, making a tight rhyme in iambic pentameter that doesn't sound like Petrarchan sing/song is quite an accomplishment. From a thematic standpoint, it's not just that this is one of the Big Three Ekphrastics along with Ode to a Grecian Urn and Ozymandias. This is the ultimate personification of the Male Gaze at it's most pathological. The Duchess reminds me of Vittoria in Webster's "The White Devil," when she said, "Sum up my faults, I pray, and you shall find, That beauty and gay clothes, a merry heart, And a good stomach to feast, are all, All the poor crimes that you can charge me with." But for the Duke, that was enough. She smiled too much, which is especially insane considering how many men feel they have the right to tell women to smile more.

[@misseckart4]

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[@shreetamaneogy9057]

Ma'am kindly upload more videos from 4th semester English honours . I absolutely love listening to your lecture , I get to gain a lot of knowledge from them . Ma'am there is lots of love , admiration and respect for you which I truly feel , which is generally not possible when you know someone just virtually.❤️

[@raimabiswas2834]

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[@HPB1776]

This is absolutely amazing. I have a science background and was absolutely lost trying to help my son with his English GCSE homework in England. You have made me appreciate poetry for the first time in 50 years. ❤ I can't want to watch more of your videos. ❤

[@NibblePop]

Thanks a lot Sir 🙏

[@nafisafirdous5836]

You don't know ma'am how much I am thankful to you. It feels like as if I am on the front row in my class.. it's really helpful for me as I am preparing for the upcoming school service commission.. thank you very much. Waiting for more from you.

[@r.r.englishtutorialhome893]

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[@unknownentity5536]

Thank you so much ma'am. It seems that your voice was breaking, most probably you had a sore throat. But the effort you have put to make this video is worthy of praise. ❤️

[@NibblePop]

Yes, had a viral infection prior to this. Thank you for your kind words ❤️❤️

[@sonakb3654]

I really love your classes ❤

[@thasmeerathasi786]

Thank u so much mam for this wonderful class

[@Tim_ii]

Hello ma'am, I am a student of Semester 4 and I must tell you that I have passed all my semesters only because of your videos.If it was not for you I could not gave reached so far without a tutor. Thank-you for explaining this poem in a such a beautiful manner . And I request you to please make a video on the poem "The Lady of Shallot" I have read the poem and tried to understand with as much as knowledge I had ,but I would still love to hear it from you once before my University exams start which is probably by the month of August ,so please ma'am try to do it for me and other students who are struggling with the poem"Lady of Shallot". I am very worried my University exams are near because I still have not found any good video on YT where the poem is taught line by line.

[@aaship2106]

Really helpful ma'am, thank you

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Thank you ma'am ❤

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this lecture is wonderful! can you please do a video on fra lippo lippi and also on the way of the world by William congreve, would be greatly beneficial to all us students who love your lecture so very much!

[@samiranbandyopadhyay5635]

Thank You Ma'am

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Thanku so much

[@priyankadebbarma9199]

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[@champabarman2863]

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[@sahilsoni1645]

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[@manjurrahi4352]

What a great and enriched the topic is !

[@itsme-2809]

Thank you so much mam❤❤ ...it helps me a lot to understand this poem .. mam please make a video on 'The Lady of Shalott' by Tennyson... because I cannot feel satisfied with other lecturers but you ..

[@kw0808]

"Browning's poems are suitable for soul studies". Explain this with the help of 'My Last Duchess'. We have been given this question in our college assignment. Do we have to examine the psychological elements of the poem? Any more points you would like to suggest, that I may include in my answer?

[@NibblePop]

You define the phrase "soul studies". You may show how Browning was able to put inner working of a person on a poetic stage. How impulses get the better of people, how they pretend to be something but accidentally give us a glimpse into their minds.

[@ujjwalsharma2966]

Ma'am, please make a video on the last ride together by Browning 🙏

[@Anwesha-chattoraj]

One request mam...Mam can you make a video about The Lady of Shallot by Tennyson..it will be great help.

[@amitkumarpaik9759]

Thank you madam very intersting

[@Anwesha-chattoraj]

Mam can you please make a video on lady of Shallot...it will be really helpful for the upcoming semester.

[@doratapan557]

Please make a video on the Tower poem by William Buttler Yeats.

[@flaviagomes4168]

Perfectly explained. ❤

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[@amitkumarpaik9759]

Very interesting madM

[@ANAMIKA-ck5es]

Wonderful! Enjoyed every minute ma'am. Would you please consider teaching us another famous poem by Browning, "Porphyria's lover"?

[@NibblePop]

My favourite Will try

[@kobitarcanvas1]

Please mam I would love to experience your analysis on this poem 🙏. Please consider this.

[@shaguftakazi3813]

The best explanation 😊

[@preet0501]

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[@user-ix3wz2nj2w]

Thank you so much ❤

[@poojachouhan8658]

Please make a video on pride and prejudice

[@heebashah6564]

could you do a lecture on way of the world as that is a very confusing text

[@syedaliturrabshah1636]

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[@deepeshkumar9306]

I love your lectures ma'am Please explain The tower by W B Yeats

[@adititiwari3833]

Ma'am can you please make a lecture video on "Tithonus" also?

[@sahilsoni1645]

Ma'am kindly consider The Waste Land next!🙏

[@djpathak27]

lovely lectures ma'am. thank you so much

[@madhumacwan3664]

pl. share a video on The Lady of shalott.

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ma'am pls make a vdo on "The shadow lines "

[@Khesh326]

Lovely ,enjoyed this

[@naimaahmed6061]

Please make a video on the poem 'The Last Ride Together'

[@NibblePop]

Soon

[@afzolhussainhussain-nl9sc]

It is helpful

[@AckanshaDeoli]

The Duke❌ The Douche✅

[@NibblePop]

😅

[@shuvoomi7295]

please make a video on "A Grammarian's Funeral"

[@bijoydebsingha373]

Thank you so much mam . This poem prescribed in my 3rd semester syllabus

[@vipinchauhan2238]

Mam You are absolutely amazing in explaining everything 🔥

[@amrita236]

Thanks allot ma'am for your all affots. Please make some videos on American literature and European classical literature 🙏

[@NibblePop]

I have already made videos on Ambitious Guest, Daddy, I can not Live with You and is now working on Dry September. Check them out

[@MuskanKhan-fx3ek]

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[@anjanmaity1708]

Mam, plz make a video on "The Last Ride Together".

[@arulkumar0063]

Super akka

[@muskan-2023-Anjali]

Please make video on fra lippo lippi.

[@Broken_angel29]

Ur awesome mam....plz do Samson agonistes and pgtrb syllabus.....it's very useful for me to achieve.....line by line explanation of rape of lock is extraordinary mam....plz do for Samson too mam ...beg you mam...

[@subhasmandal1854]

Thank you so much ma'am 🙏 plz upload the video on Amar Jiban by Rassundari Devi ..🙏🙏

[@SonuSingh-ud7nj]

❤❤❤❤

[@philipestrin4381]

After listening to your explication of Keats' Odes ("To Autumn" happens to be one of my all time favorite poems),, I must say that you're better than Harold Bloom and Helen Vendler! The same goes for your discussion of "My Last Duchess". But there is one issue you haven't addressed here. I bring this issue up because I'm an actor. and this is a dramatic monologue. It follows that a dramatic poetic monologue may acquire impact if it follows the rules of drama. In the case of "My Last Duchess," I can visualize someone speaking these very lines in real life, so uncanny was Browning's skill Now, as you may already know, it's a cardinal rule of the theater that no one executes an action on stage or in front of the camera or delivers a line, unless the character wants something. This is true whether it's Shakespeare, Ibsen, Arthur Miller, "I Love Lucy" or "The Sopranos." Usually, he or she wants something from the character he or she is addressing. The character wants to affect a change in the other character. He wants something from the other character. The best dramatic action occurs when a character wants the other character to do something, and he therefore delivers his lines to compel the other character to react.. So my question is: The Duke is clearly a narcissist. But why does the Duke disclose to the Count's messenger that he killed his first wife? What is his objective? What does he hope to accomplish by narrating his abhorrent crime? One would think that, after hearing this grissly tale, the Count's messenger would hastily warn the Count not to let his daughter marry this monster. There must be something that the Duke wants to accomplish here by telling this tale, but what? I don't know the answer, but perhaps you can hazard a guess

[@NibblePop]

Interesting question. Perhaps the Duke wishes to impose his masculinity and superiority over the listener, so that he may communicate how dominating the Duke is. Sometimes people with toxic masculinity have this belief that exeerting dominance is a positive trait in courtship

[@animechannel7237]

Mam can you please explain the last ride together by Robert browneny🙏

[@madhumacwan3664]

pl. send your lecture video on "the lady of shallott by tennyson.

[@myself_moupiya]

Ma'am all of your explanations are really very helpful to me.. ma'am please upload "The Duchess of Malfi" by John Webster 🙏

[@disha350]

Mam please cover " The Duchess of Malfi"

[@mrinmoybora242]

Mam make a video on the poem la belle de sans merci by John keats

[@yuktasarkar7684]

Mam please make a video on Hard Times by Charles Dickens.😢

[@sharbadityabandopadhyay5331]

Ma'am, Please can you make a video on Fra Lippo Lippi? Please. I am finding it too cumbersome and incomprehensive in some portions.

[@rhinesaha5111]

Mam will u make a vedio on Nonsense rhymes (Abol Tabol)?

[@samraggnibhowmick545]

Ma'am is there any lecture on Porphyria's Lover?

[@akashchowdhuryart2543]

Mam please discuss "caged bird"

[@sanskritijaiswal7384]

Thanks a lot❤️

[@indranisarkarsarkar4124]

Maam please discuss on classical literature 🙏 please maam

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Ma'm pls make videos on SLSt English

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Mam please make a vidio on phonetic and rhetoric, it's my humble request to you mam

[@sahilsoni1645]

Ma'am can we relate the term Mimesis to Pantomime. Both are same ??

[@NibblePop]

Yes, pantomime is basic form of mimesis

[@Littledevil613]

end of the story he is a Red Flag🚩

[@NibblePop]

😀. Yup. But your comment might enrage the communists

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I would love that. ❤️❤️ Who knows! One day you might 😊

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Want vedio on Tithonus

[@mousumishaikh2447]

Make videos on david copperfield plz mam.

[@mousumishaikh2447]

I need line by line explanation on david copperfield.

[@NibblePop]

That would take forever! It is such a big text!

[@sakilakhatun355]

Ma'am I need Nissim Ezekiel' s The Night of The Scorpion.. please ma'am do a video on this.....

[@beyond_bindi]

ma'am have you posted the poem "break break break" ?

[@NibblePop]

No my dear, not yet

[@QaziMUbaid-od3qj]

We don't get lectures like these in our college. So you are a saviour Ma'am. Hats off to you❤

[@amitkumarpaik9759]

Ulysses poem discusses

[@NibblePop]

Already done. Please see the video by searching Ulysses Nibblepop