English 2307E Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Narrative Poetry, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, My Last Duchess
25 Feb 2014
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Sonnet #43: poses the rhetorical question: how do i love thee, the speaker talks about the shape, scale, and quality of love, shows their love will never die even after death, their love will carry on. This demonstrates his jealousy and his power. It is ironic that the duke says he is not skillful with words: he transmits an indirect message to the envoy to negotiate the terms to a new marriage. There is repetition of similar types of words. There is a form of a chorus in the last line of each stanza. This poem has been set to music. It has soft, shimmering sounds (peaceful, not harsh like the last. Duchess") her to re-evaluate her whole life: the poem ends on a note of ambivalence, the lady of shalott is confined to a tower and a crisis happens that leads.
