My Last Duchess: Analysis and Response

Activities and notes on My Last Duchess which form the basis of two lessons. Includes full annotations of the poem and options of analytical and creative writing.
These lessons start with a look at the title of the poem, and then include opportunities to pick information out of the poem, analyse it all together, and then respond.
Pupils are asked to pick out what information they have learned about the Duke and the Duchess in the poems: there are two options for this sheet, as one has prompts so that pupils can fill in with just quotations, while another is more challenging without the prompts. You can increase challenge by choosing to do this activity prior to annotating the poem, too, which works well with top sets.
Pupils are then asked to imagine that they are the listener, and consider how they would respond to the Duke’s monologue: would you let this man marry again? Again, you could make this more challenging by removing the prompt questions at each stage.
There is an opportunity for analytical, essay-style writing at the end (could form the basis of a homework).