Vocabulary for Friday Quiz

Vocabulary from Jane Eyre excerpt pg. 961

Damask, “patterned fabric used to cover furniture” (line 1)

Self-indulgent, “pursuing one’s own pleasure or satisfaction excessively” (line 6)

Physiognomy, “facial appearance” (line 15)

Deliberated, “thought carefully” (line 17)

Conventionally, “done in the usual way” (line 18)

Singular, “unusual” (line 20)

Rejoinder, “reply” (line 25)

Brusque, “blunt” (line 25)

Impromptu, “spur-of-the-moment” (line 27)

Consequence, “importance” (line 28)

Placidity, “calmness” (line 31)

Disown, “to reject responsibility for” (line 34)

Repartee, “a quick, witty reply” (line 35)

Vocabulary from Great Expectations pg. 1010

Disdain, “disgust” (line 9)

Trodden, “Walked upon” (line 19)

Arrest, “stopping of movement” (line 19)

Indifferent, “unimpressive” (line 30)

Contempt, “despise” (line 30)

Aversion, “strong dislike” (line 44)

Today's Lesson

Today's Lesson

Read "Meet the Author" on Robert Browning on page 944.

Read "My Last Duchess" on pages 946-948.

Answer the following questions. 

1. The time is the Italian Renaissance, as Browning establishes by references to art and the dowry, which the Duke is negotiating with the Count of Tyrol, as well as by the Duke's "thousand-year-old name." Why is this "name" so important to this Renaissance Duke?

2. The Duke eliminated (divorced? sent to a convent? had executed or poisoned?) his last duchess because (he felt) she undervalued him and treated him much as she treated other men. Which trivial incidents in particular seem to have produced this response in the Duke?

3. Based on the clues that Browning provides in the poem, explain both what happened before the opening of the poem (i. e., what fate befell the Duchess and how) and what will happen just after the poem closes.