The Lover seems to lack emotion, most noticeably at the point of the murder when it is written: “I found a thing to do, and all her hair in one long yellow string I wound three times her little throat around, and strangled her.”
My Last Duchess is the tale of the Duke’s departed wife, the unnamed Duchess. The Duke narrates his account of how, and more specifically why, he killed his last wife. He attempts to justify his actions by talking about how he felt she was ungrateful to him as she was equally pleased with the small gestures of other man as she was with him and his nine-hundred year old name.
The Duke spoke of how his wife was too easily pleased with gifts such as “the bough of cherries some officious fool broke in the orchard for her”. His opinion of her was that “She had a heart - how shall I say? - too soon made glad, too easily impressed.” This reveals a lot about the Duke to the reader. He comes across as formal and somewhat old fashioned, not easily amused or impressed, and somewhat arrogant: this supported by the quote “I choose never to stoop.”
The Duke himself became very uneasy with his wife’s constant “ungratefulness”, and his jealousy grew to such a point where he felt his only option was to kill her off. Unlike in Porphyria’s Lover, where the Lover described the action, in My Last Duchess, the Duke simply says “I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together”, meaning he used his power as a Duke to stop her smiles: to kill her, or as it probably was, to have someone else kill her for him.
The Duchess’ memory is kept alive in a painting which the Duke displays on the wall of his home. It is the painting in fact which prompts the Duke to recall the tale of the Duchess. This is much different than in Porphyria’s Lover where the Lover is not recalling a memory, but narrating the tale to the reader as it happens. The Duke takes great pride in almost pompously recounting how a gentleman by the name of Frà Pandolf painted it for him. At the end of the poem, the Duke describes how another gentleman, Claus of Innsbruck had cast in bronze a statue of Neptune taming a sea-horse. This puts into perspective how, to the Duke, his wife has become just another part of his art collection.
This is very different to Porphyria’s Lover where the Lover loved Porphyria so much that he had to kill her to keep her: in My Last Duchess the Duke killed the Duchess not out of love, but out of jealousy. In fact, it can be wondered if he ever felt much love and compassion towards his last wife, seeing as her memory has been reduced to a single painting on the wall and the Duke himself speaks of his plans to marry the Count’s daughter. One must wonder whether her fate will also be to become nothing but a painting on the wall.
Although both Porphyria’s Lover and My Last Duchess are love poems, the way the love is presented couldn’t contrast more. In Porphyria’s Lover, the Lover is in love with Porphyria; so much in love that he goes as far to kill her so he can be with her forever, and so that he doesn’t loose her to her husband. Porphyria is also very much in love with the Lover, the extent of her love shown in this quote: “at last I knew Porphyria worshipped me”. All this makes Porphyria’s Lover a very romantic love poem.
However, in My Last Duchess, love is presented in a very different context. At one time, The Duchess must have loved the Duke, otherwise they wouldn’t have got married, but it can be safely presumed that the love she felt was very similar to the pleasure she got from simple gifts. This is very different from the passion in Porphyria’s Lover. However, there is no way of telling if the Duke really loved the Duchess as the only emotions radiating from the poem are irritation and extreme annoyance. Although, yes, he and the Duchess were married, it could be suggested that he did not marry her for love, but perhaps for the dowry, since he speaks of a dowry in his forthcoming wedding to the Count’s daughter. However, saying that, the Duke does seem to “love“ artwork more than anything else. Therefore, the love in My Last Duchess is not particularly romantic at all, the only love present (although a very weak love) comes from the Duchess, and from the Duke and his fascination with paintings.
One similarity between both poems is that neither narrators seem to feel much emotion, and therefore the poems are both written in a distant manner. Although this does add a lot to the overall effect of both poems, it does cast quite an eerie view on both the Duke and Porphyria’s Lover. Neither of them seem to feel any remorse or guilt after killing their ladies for entirely selfish reasons.
Another similarity between both poems is that many characters are anonymous. In Porphyria’s Lover, although Porphyria is named, her Lover is not. Likewise, in My Last Duchess, although the two main characters are referred to as the Duke and the Duchess, no names are given. Neither the Count, nor his daughter are names, but the two artists (Frà Pandolf and Claus of Innsbruck) are. This suggests that while the Duke was telling his tale, he found it of more important to mention their names than it was to even consider mentioning the names of other characters, such as his deceased wife.
There are a few good examples of imagery in both poems. In Porphyria’s Lover, such personifications as “the sullen wind was soon awake” and “did its worst to vex the lake”. The poem also contains the simile “as a shut bud that holds a bee” and the clear image “laughed the blue eyes without a strain”. The last quote is especially interesting, as the author has used the word “laughed”, a word which is normally associated with the mouth, and used it to describe the eyes, which are incapable of laughing. This odd mixture creates an unusual phrase which works really well.
There is not so much imagery in My Last Duchess, some of the few examples being “the faint half-flush that dies along her throat” and perhaps “that spot of joy into the Duchess‘ cheek”.
In Porphyria’s Lover, very descriptive language is used. This language is used to elaborate the poem and to extend and enrich the detail. Some examples include
“cheerless grate”, “long yellow string” and ”smiling rosy little head”. However, in contrast, there is hardly any descriptive language or adjectives used in My Last Duchess. Likewise, My Last Duchess contains very little, if hardly any, alliteration, while Porphyria’s Lover it is written “blushed bright beneath my burning kiss.”
Although both poems rhyme, they both have very different structures. While Porphyria’s Lover has an A B A B B C D C D D E F E F F… form, My Last Duchess has an A A B B C C D D… form. As could be imagined, My Last Duchess is therefore more simple and straightforward to read, due to it’s simple rhyme scheme.
To conclude, although both Porphyria’s Lover and My Last Duchess are love poems written by the same man, they both have many similarities and differences. Some of these similarities include: the anonymity of characters and the way both poems are written in a very distant manner. Some of these differences include: the manner in which love is presented and the structures.
