ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -My Last Duchess, poem of 56 lines in rhyming couplets by Robert Browning, published in 1842 in Dramatic Lyrics, a volume in his Bells and Pomegranates series. It is one of Browning’s most successful dramatic monologues.

Detailed explanation-2: -Browning’s inspiration for “My Last Duchess” was the history of a Renaissance duke, Alfonso II of Ferrara, whose young wife Lucrezia died in suspicious circumstances in 1561. Lucrezia was a Medici – part of a family that was becoming one of the most powerful and wealthy in Europe at the time.

Detailed explanation-3: -Browning logically reveals the essence of a person whereas, Tennyson induce and plays a particular mood. Browning in his poetry attempts to realize human nature, society and religion, whereas Tennyson recalls the conscious mind and environment through ornate language.

Detailed explanation-4: -"My Last Duchess” is all about power: the political and social power wielded by the speaker (the Duke) and his attempt to control the domestic sphere (his marriage) in the same way that he rules his lands. He rules with an iron fist.