A Comparison of My Last Duchess and Porphyrias Lover Essays -- Robert

My Last Duchess is a poem about an arrogant and extremely powerfulDuke who is describing his deceased Duchess. From the word last inthe title it is implied that the duke has had more than one duchess.In this poem, the Duke is extremely egotistic. He says, I choosenever to stoop. The duchess would look at everyone in the world as cosmos equal no matter what class they are. The duke however cannot dothis. He is too worried about his appearance.Porphyrias Lover is a poem in which a man describes an evening inwhich his lover, Porphyria, visits him and he unexpectedly murdersher. In this it is unlike My Last Duchess because Porphyriaworships her lover unlike the DukeFrom the title My Last Duchess, we immediately learn that this is apersonal poem to the duke. It is a love and murder poem. It is adramatic monologue and is written as a single stanza.Both poems also acquit a silent listener. In My Last Duchess thesilent listener is the Ambassador for the Count, who is the father ofthe Dukes next bride whereas in Porphyrias Lover the silentlistener could be a get of people it could be a police officer, orhe could just be telling the story to a friend. There is no evidencein the poem, which tells the reader who he is talking to.The tone in these poems is important as it acts as a contrast to thecontent of the poem. In My Last Duchess, Browning uses a soft toneand describes the Duke having the Duchess killed subtly, This grewI gave commands/ Then all smiles stopped together. Browningdescribes this without changing the tone.However in Porphyrias Lover the tone is normal and soft throughoutthe poem until the point in which the Lover murders Porphyria, I... ...both of the characters killtheir lovers.She was mine, mine, fair,/ Perfectly pure and good. This is what thelover said before he killed Porphyria. He kills her because at that little moment in time he has complete power and control overPorphyria and wants to preserve this.Browning uses a simile extremely effectively in Porphyrias Lover todescribe the body of Porphyria. He says As a shut bud that holds abee. This gives the reader the image that her soul is still alive unless(prenominal)her body is dead. The bud is shut and the bee is still alive inside ofit.Overall, I found these poems both quite enjoyable to read. I enjoyedMy Last Duchess less than I enjoyed Porphyrias Lover. This isbecause the murder in Porphyrias Lover was so unexpected and ashock whereas in My Last Duchess, it was written more subtly givingit less excitement.