Year 10 - English
Understanding the poem 'My Last Duchess'
'Power and Conflict'
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Study Guides
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 explain the events of 'your Last Duchess' and the relevant contextual ideas that surround it.
Key Notes
- The poem depicts a Duke showing an envoy a painting of his late wife.
- The poem was written during the Victorian period, marked for its strict morality and patriarchal society.
- Browning uses the poem as an attack on the biased, overbearing views of Victorian society and archaic hierarchy.
- Browning sets the poem in the Italian Renaissance, perhaps to disguise his social criticism of Victorian society.
Vocabulary To Learn
- Critique: a piece of work that indicates the faults of something in a disapproving way
- Hubris: excessive pride or self-confidence
- Possessive: someone that is possessive wants to have all of their partner's love and attention
- Stoop: to lower one's moral standards and dignity
- Munificence: the quality of being extremely generous
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Browning was writing about his own wife's domineering father.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.
The poem depicts a Duke showing an envoy a painting of his late wife. The poem was written during the Victorian period, marked for its strict morality and patriarchal society.
2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'Critique'
a piece of work that indicates the faults of something in a disapproving way.
3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.
Mistake: Browning was writing about his own wife's domineering father. Correction: Biographical moments in the poet's own life are not always relevant to the poem.
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 'My Last Duchess' 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 '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
Browse all guides in the Year 10 English guide library.