“My Last Duchess” Annotated Bibliography 1
When Lou Thompson’s wrote his article titled Browning’s MY LAST DUCHESS he wanted to compare the poem My Last Duchess by Robert Browning with the poem by Geoffrey Chaucer called The Book of the Duchess. Thompson talks about the “obvious parallels” (Thompson) it has In his article he describes the differences and similarities between the two men in the poems. In lines 21-24 of My Last Duchess and lines 873-875 of Book of the Duchess there are resemblances. In both poems the speakers describe their wives, which similarly they were both duchess’s and both have passed away. Both poems deal with the gladness and the looks of the women, and even the word ‘glad’ appears in both excerpts in a line-final position. The descriptions, however, are incompatible as Chaucer’s poem praises the wife “for were she never so glad, Hyr lokynge was not foly sprad, Ne wildely, thogh that she pleyde” (Chaucer). In Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess, the duke does the opposite “She had/A heart—how shall I say?—too soon made glad—she liked whate’er/ She looked on, and her looks went everywhere” (Browning). Thompson goes on to compare the two poems by explaining the two men’s concerns with their wives’ and how beautiful both women in the poems were. The knight in the Chaucer’s poem worships his duchess while the Duke in Browning’s poem does not. Thompson also states how the Black Knight in Chaucer’s poem grieves for his dead wife and the Duke has no sympathy for his Duchess’s death.
Analysis
Lou Thompson relates the two poems in his article by explaining the differences and similarities’ both poems possess. Thompson’s use of textual references and Browning’s and Chaucer’s thoughts enabled him to compare the two poems convincingly. Before reading this article I was not familiar with Chaucer’s poem The Book of the Duchess, but after reading the article and researching the poem I could see where Thompson could relate the two poems together. Thompson explains the similarities such as the two wives being beautiful, both have died and both were duchesses. While the differences are the different characters of the husbands, “Chaucer’s knight venerates his duchess—But the Duke of Ferrara talks of ‘stooping’”(Thompson).

Works Cited 1. Thompson, Lou. Explicator, Fall83, Vol. 42, p23-25, 3p; DOI: 10.1080/00144940.1983.9939379 2. http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.lib.uwf.edu/eds/detail/detail?vid=42&sid=99f20685-7859-4a50-91d8-c4975be33297%40sessionmgr4004&hid=4113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=ofm&AN=509312324 3. Browning, Robert. “My Last Duchess”. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Fourth Ed. X. J. Kennedy, and Dana Gioia. NewYork: Pearson, 2012. 387-388. Print.