"My Last Duchess" Blog 1

Before reading "My Last Duchess," my initial rankings were:
1. Contemporary cultural context
2. An understanding of traditional literary elements
3. A clear understanding of vocabulary, including possible etymology of words

After reading the text however, my rankings changed to:
1. An understanding of traditional literary elements
2. A clear understanding of vocabulary, including possible etymology of words
3. Contemporary cultural context

My top three virtually stayed the same but in a slightly different order because after reading the text, I felt it was more important to understand who the author was speaking to, what was symbolic, what the setting of this piece of literature was, and what was ironic about the story. Since this poem was in old English, knowing the vocabulary of that time is important so that the reader can get a full understanding of what the author is really saying and not just trying to guess. Like the word "mantle," today it means the space above your fireplace, but back then, it meant your sleeve. Having known the context of that word, the sentence was more understandable and can be easily translated. I ranked contemporary cultural context last this time because after knowing who the author was speaking to and understanding what the author was talking about, then you can take in the atmosphere such as the political practices, popular trends, and government practices. Killing someone is never alright, but back then, many important male figures had their spouses killed for a number of reasons like being unfaithful.

Having an understanding of these literary contexts personally help me understand the poem better and can easily be deciphered because I now know who the author is and is speaking to, what he is saying by the vocabulary, and because of the date in which it is written, understand why he is saying that.

So far because it is the beginning of the year, I am more of the intrinsic type of writer because when I am reading something, I want to make sure I am reading it right and don't misinterpret anything and get it wrong, so that probably makes me a new critic. However, I am interested in learning more about feminist and marxist criticism because they seem interesting.