Browning's "My Last Duchess" and Dramatic Monologue. Activity 1. Introducing Robert Browning Teachers may begin by introducing Robert Browning, his life, and the characteristics of the dramatic monologue. The "Preparing to Teach this Lesson" section, above, contains a basic introduction, as well as links to a biography of Robert Browning, via Academy of American Poets, which provides a summary of his life and accomplishments. To accompany Browning's biography, the Victorian Web provides a handy timeline detailing the major events in Browning's life, as well as portraits of Browning.
Activity 2. After briefly introducing Browning, direct students' attention to the poem, "My Last Duchess. " Ask students to read the poem silently at their desk, giving them enough time to read the poem through once. Tell students that this poem is called a "dramatic monologue," and ask them to consider what that might mean. The reader shares the part of the "listener" or audience.The speaker uses a case-making, argumentative tone. " Activity 3. John Keats. John Keats, who died at the age of twenty-five, had perhaps the most remarkable career of any English poet. He published only fifty-four poems, in three slim volumes and a few magazines. But at each point in his development he took on the challenges of a wide range of poetic forms from the sonnet, to the Spenserian romance, to the Miltonic epic, defining anew their possibilities with his own distinctive fusion of earnest energy, control of conflicting perspectives and forces, poetic self-consciousness, and, occasionally, dry ironic wit.
In the case of the English ode he brought its form, in the five great odes of 1819, to its most perfect definition. In his own lifetime John Keats would not have been associated with other major Romantic poets, and he himself was often uneasy among them. Keats was born in London on 31 October 1795, the eldest of Thomas and Frances Jennings Keats's four children. At school, Keats drew closer to the headmaster, John Clarke, and his son, Cowden. Introduction to Keats.
An Overview John Keats lived only twenty-five years and four months (1795-1821), yet his poetic achievement is extraordinary. His writing career lasted a little more than five years (1814-1820), and three of his great odes--"Ode to a Nightingale," "Ode on a Grecian Urn," and "Ode on Melancholy"--were written in one month. Most of his major poems were written between his twenty-third and twenty-fourth years, and all his poems were written by his twenty-fifth year.
In this brief period, he produced poems that rank him as one of the great English poets. He also wrote letters which T.S. His genius was not generally perceived during his lifetime or immediately after his death. With the twentieth century, the perception of Keats's poetry expanded; he was and is praised for his seriousness and thoughfulness, for his dealing with difficult human conflicts and artistic issues, and for his impassioned mental pursuit of truth.
Keats and Romanticism Themes in Keats's Major Poems Keats's Odes. The Life and Work of John Keats (1795-1821) Arts - Romantics.