Year 10 - English
Analysing the poem 'My Last Duchess'
'Power and Conflict'
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
In this unit, pupis explore 12 of the 15 poems from the 'Power and Conflict' anthology. Pupils complete two lessons about each poem: one on understanding and one on analysis. Pupils study the poems in three groups, and they pause after each group to compare how those poems present common themes.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to explore how Browning uses language and structure to present power in 'your Last Duchess'.
Key Notes
- Browning uses art to symbolise the Duke's craving for power and control.
- By using the form of a dramatic monologue and rhyming couplets, Browning reflects the Duke's desire for total control.
- Enjambment reveals a single person's capacity to be carried away by passions and anger, subtly revealing instability.
- Ironically, through his craving for control and power, the Duke reveals himself to be powerless.
- Browning exposing the Duke as powerless and insecure may reflect his critique of patriarchal Victorian society.
Vocabulary To Learn
- Objectify: to treat a person like a tool or a toy and deny them their emotions
- Despot: a person who has absolute power and exerts it in a cruel or oppressive way
- Expose: to show what has been covered or hidden
- Irony: when something that was intended to have a particular result actually has the opposite result
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- The Duke's presentation of himself is of absolute power.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
Browning uses art to symbolise the Duke's craving for power and control. By using the form of a dramatic monologue and rhyming couplets, Browning reflects the Duke's desire for total control.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'Objectify'
to treat a person like a tool or a toy and deny them their emotions.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: The Duke's presentation of himself is of absolute power. Correction: If you look deeper into Browning's presentation of the Duke, he is revealed to lack power.
More Lessons In This Unit
- An introduction to themes in the Power and Conflict poetry anthology Study Guide
- Analysing ideas of power and conflict in Blake's 'London' Study Guide
- Analysing the concept of power in Shelley's 'Ozymandias' Study Guide
- Analysing the poem 'Bayonet Charge' Study Guide
- Analysing the poem 'Charge of the Light Brigade' Study Guide
- Analysing the poem 'Exposure' Study Guide
- Analysing the poem 'Extract from The Prelude' Study Guide
- Analysing the Poem 'Kamikaze' Study Guide
- Analysing the poem 'Poppies' Study Guide
- Analysing the Poem 'Remains' Study Guide
- Analysing the poem 'Storm on the Island' Study Guide
- Analysing the poem 'War Photographer' Study Guide
- Comparing 'Poppies' and Duffy's 'War Photographer' Study Guide
- Comparing 'Power and Conflict' war poems Study Guide
- Comparing conflict in war poems from the Power and Conflict anthology Study Guide
- Comparing Romantic poets' attitudes to nature Study Guide
- Comparing the presentation of power in 'My Last Duchess' and 'Ozymandias' Study Guide
- Developing interpretations of 'Remains' with Simon Armitage Study Guide
- Power and Conflict poetry: developing comparative essay writing skills Study Guide
- Understanding the connections between Romanticism and Shelley's 'Ozymandias' Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'Bayonet Charge' Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'Charge of the Light Brigade' Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'Exposure' Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'Extract from the Prelude' Study Guide
- Understanding the Poem 'Kamikaze' Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'London' Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'My Last Duchess' Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'Poppies' Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'Remains' Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'Storm on the Island' Study Guide
- Understanding the poem 'War Photographer' Study Guide
- Writing introductions and topic sentences for poetry comparison Study Guide
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