ferences to the things that brought a smile to the dead DuchessÆ lips. She took great pleasure and smiled heartily at the ôdropping of daylight in the Westö, ôthe bough of cherriesö, and her ôwhite muleö (Browning 1842, 26-28). We see that the Duke is materialistic and cannot appreciate his wifeÆs pleasure in such things as a sunset or cherry bough when he proclaims in reference to such natural phenomena, ôàas if she ranked / My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name / With anybodyÆs giftö (Browning 1842, 32-34). Thus through word choice and speech, the poet shows the irony between the DukeÆs impression of himself and the readerÆs perceptions of him. Perrine (1982) defines irony as ôsaying the opposite of what one meansö (98).
Written in AABB couplets and iambic pentameter, the poem also uses rhythm to reveal a good deal about the speakerÆs persona. The AABB rhyme and the iambic pentameter mimic the flow of music or melody. The use of run-on
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