Compare and contrast between Porphyria's lover, My Last Duchess and Ballad

Compare and contrast between Porphyria’s lover, My Last Duchess and Ballad

Porphyria’s Lover, Ballad and My Last Duchess all talk about relationships between a man and a woman. Porphyria’s Lover and My Last Duchess are more similar to each other than Ballad. Porphyria’s Lover and My Last Duchess are both written by Robert browning, in the form of a dramatic monologue, where as Ballad, written by an anonymous writer, is in the form of a traditional Ballad.

My Last Duchess talks about the relationship of a duke and a duchess, the duchess is dead. It is suggested that the Duke gave orders for the Duchess to be killed when it says “I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together”. We learn about their relationship while the Duke talks to a messenger that has come to his house to arrange the duke’s next marriage. The Duke is showing the messenger round his house and is talking to him about a portrait of the Duchess. The duke is the only one who has access to this portrait, “non puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I” this shows his possessiveness. The duke never gives the messenger a chance to speak throughout the poem. He talks about the duchess in a very careful way, making sure he doesn’t make any false accusations. He suggests that the Duchess had an affair with the artist that painted the picture “’twas not her husband’s presence only” this could well be an inferred cause to her inferred death. At the end of the poem he sends out a warning to his next wife “notice Neptune, though, taming a sea horse” this quote implies that, he will tame his wife and if he doesn’t succeed then she will have the same treatment as his last duchess.

In Porphyria’s lover, it is suggested that a higher class woman, this is shown through what she wears- “cloak and shawl” is having an affair with a man of lower class. The lover is very anxious for to arrive, “I listened with heart fit to break” he seems to be very sad before her arrival. However when she arrives all his attention turns to her, “she shut the cold out and storm”. They are both happy with each other’s company for a while, but soon, he realises that this time will end soon and she will have to go. He knows that he cannot spend all his time with her, or marry her, so his only choice is to kill her. That is why this poem is thought to be describing an affair. At the beginning of the poem she is the one with the control, “she put my arm round her waist” shows that she is controlling what he does. However after he kills her, he has control “I propped her head up” shows that know he controls what she does. After the lover murders Porphyria he doesn’t feel guilty, be feels happy “and thus we sit together now, and all night long we have not stirred” he was able to spend all night with her, she didn’t leave as she always seemed to. He leaves the reader with an attempt to justify his actions he says “yet god has not said a word” he uses the word “yet” which may mean that he expects to be punished in the future.

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The Ballad talks about a woman who had a bad relationship, she hadn’t had very =-00i`11111111111111111`````````````````````11111is is suggested when she says “my poor heart was a strange to men”. She then meets a man who she falls in love with and completely trusts. She was there for him when he needed her - “he sought me through frost and snow” but he left her at her time of need him – “I sought him he never came”. He promised her a perfect life and as soon as she had a child he left her. She regrets ever trusting this man and having his child, “I’ve made its pillow on a thorn” she thinks she bought her son into an uncomfortable life. She says “he has two hearts and I have none” this means he has his own heart, taken her own and left her without a heart. She also suggests he has cheated on her behind her back, when she says “he’ll be a rogue, when I am gone”. She mentions dieing twice – “o when will grass cover me?” and then again at the end of the poem when she says “our bodies clay” this shows how much she regrets being alive.

My last duchess is written as a dramatic monologue and speaks to the audience (the messenger). In this poem the character of the speaker is only shown to the reader, with out the speaker knowing. The reader gets the full picture. This poem is written in rhyming couplets – aa bb cc dd ee, however when the poem is read it doesn’t sound like rhyming couplets because of the enjambed lines. The enjambed lines also make the poem sound more like someone is speaking, this is also helped by the use of iambic pentameter, it makes the poem more regular and flat, and this suit the duke’s cold tone. Innuendo is used throughout the poem; to make sure that the duke does not say anything out of place by more the messenger assumes so, for example: “she looked on, and her looks went everywhere”. Robert browning also uses controlled speech with hyphens to make sure that the messenger gets the message, but the duke doesn’t say it out right. Rhetorical questions are used to make the duke seem more controlling “will’t please you sit and look at her?” he won’t even allow the messenger to answer the questions. Browning also rights using repetition, “spot of joy” to show how obsessive the duke is.

Porphyria’s lover is also written as a dramatic monologue. It has eight syllables per line; this is regular but not flat. The rhyme scheme is alternating – a b a bb a, c d c dd c. this poem uses some enjambed lines to make it sound more like speech. This poem uses no innuendo; it is very straight forward and written as if you’re reading the lovers’ mind. At the beginning the poet uses pathetic fallacy, which portrays his feelings in relation to the weather “the rain set early in to-night”

Ballad is written in the form of a traditional ballad with uniform 4 line stanza. The writer uses rhyming couplets - aa bb cc dd, with the last syllable of each line stressed. The writer also uses repetition to show how much she means what she is saying “I wish, I wish”

The atmospheres of the poems are very different my last duchess uses a cold and dismissive tone. Porphyria’s lover also uses a cold tone but it combines it with an erotic and bizarre tone. Ballad on the other hand uses a completely different atmosphere of sadness and pity. These poems all have contrasting atmospheres because they all talk about different types relationships.

The themes of the poems are similar all three poems use the theme of love and lust, betrayal also seems to be an important theme as the duke betrays the duchess by assumingly ordering her death, Porphyria’s lover betrays her by killing her and in ballad the woman is betrayed by her lover. Death also seems to be implied in these poems – in ballad the woman wishes she was dead, in my last duchess the duke implies that he ordered his wife to be killed and in Porphyria’s lover the lover kills Porphyria. Control and Jealousy seem to be major themes in my last duchess and Porphyria’s lover but not in ballad which talks more about regret.

The similarities in all three poems are the general theme of relationships between a man and a woman. In all these poems the women tend to be the victims of the relationships, in my last duchess – the duchess is the one that is inferred of cheating on the duke and ends up dead. In Porphyria’s lover – Porphyria is the one that is killed and finally in Ballad the woman is the one who is betrayed and left as a single mother.

My last duchess and Porphyria’s lover are similar in the way they are structured; they are both written in the form of dramatic monologues, they are both written in a way to sound regular and speech like using enjambed lines and a pattern in syllables. All three poems use rhyming couplets although Porphyria’s lover uses alternating rhyming couplets.

In conclusion the three pre 1914 poems – My Last Duchess, Porphyria’s Lover and Ballad are all mainly similar in their themes and structure. They concentrate on failing relationships where women are the victims. Death is an unusual theme, which is found in all three poems – in my last duchess “Looking as if she were alive” the duke explains how she looks in her portrait. In Porphyria’s Lover, the lover kills Porphyria out of lust “and strangled her” in Porphyria’s lover there also seems to be a strong sense of possession when he says “mine, mine” the repetition emphasises this point and makes it stand out. This device is also repeated in my last duchess, “spot of joy” the duke seems almost envying of the duchess for being happy, repetition is also used in Ballad to emphasise the regret the writer feels “I wish, I wish”. The major differences are the content of the poems. My last duchess talks about a marriage full of jealousy, this is the only thing keeping this couple together, and love doesn’t seem to come into this poem. However in Porphyria’s Lover there seems to be lust in the relationship rather than love, the relationship is happening even though Porphyria is taking a risk to keep this relationship going. In Ballad the woman loves the man but he betrayed her and doesn’t love her, this is the only poem that actually talks about love. Even though they all seem to be talking about love, but ballad is the only one that actually does.

Sally Hayek 10rho