Iambic Pentameter In My Last Duchess

In “My Last Duchess,” Robert Browning puts himself in the shoes of the Duke of Ferrara and tells the tale of how his last duchess came to be upon the wall. This work would best be described as eerily dark and morbid. In short, this poem is about the Duke of Ferrara’s conversation with a servant about how he (the Duke) had grown tired of his duchess’s heart that was “too soon made glad” (line 22) and had decided to have her killed. Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” depicts a malicious character through the use of iambic pentameter, enjambment and dramatic monologue. These three structural elements have a close relationship with the content and are used to help the reader to better understand what is going on within the poem.

Browning uses iambic pentameter as the rhythm and meter in this poem to show that there is a conversation going on. Iambic pentameter is the alternating weak-strong rhythm within five groups found in a line. In writing, iambic pentameter is considered to be the closest style to how people actually speak. This rhythm and meter go hand in hand with the conversational type of writing that is within this poem. “Nay, we’ll go / together down, sir” says the Duke “Notice Neptune, though, / taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, / which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!” (53-56).

In “My Last Duchess” Browning uses also uses enjambment to better make the conversational style of the poem known.

Enjambment is one sentence that carries on to more than one line. This element is different from other poems, where the sentences are located on the same line, and it makes this one more memorable. Browning uses enjambment in the poem when he writes, “That’s my last duchess painted on the wall, / looking as if she were alive… and there she stands. / Will’t you please sit and look at her?” (1-5). These lines are great examples of how enjambment is used and really shows how Browning intends for this poem to be recognized as a

conversation.
Dramatic monologue is used in this poem to show that there is a single speaker (not the poet), an implied audience and also to reveal something about the speaker. In “My Last Duchess” Browning portrays the Duke to be very controlling and malicious. With that being said, it makes perfect sense that the Duke is only the character in the poem that speaks. Even though no one else explicitly speaks in the poem, the Duke references the person he is talking to when he says, “Will’t you please rise? We’ll meet/ the company below, then. I repeat, / the Count your master’s munificence” (47-49). It may or may not be surprising that revelation made in this poem is that the Duke actually killed his last duchess. This is hinted many times throughout the poem and the Duke also lists some motives he has for killing her. The most obvious excerpt in the poem that shows this revelation is when the Duke says, “Oh, sir, smiled, no doubt, / whene’er I passed her; but who passed without / much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands / as if alive” (43-47).
“My Last Duchess” uses iambic pentameter, enjambment and dramatic monologue to portray the Duke’s reasoning for killing his last duchess. Iambic pentameter and enjambment are used within this poem to help the reader see that there a conversation going on. Dramatic monologue made it easier to figure out who the speaker and audience are in the poem and it also revealed a revelation towards the end of the poem. Without these elements the content inside of the poem would be harder to understand.