‘First love’ was written about a person who the speaker falls in love with as soon as eyes were laid on her. In contrast to ‘My Last Duchess’ where the lord is showing material items off and is informing a messenger that he murdered his last duchess out of jealousy and spite. Yet in remember the female voice is just talking about when she has passed away it is better to forget her and be happy, than to remember her and be sad. ‘My Last Duchess’ and ‘Remember’ are about single feelings throughout the poem as appose to ‘First love’ where the voice has a mixed proportion or emotions, for example at the beginning he loves the woman and he is happy, but by the end he feels extremely heart broken.
In all three poems the relationship between the poets and their lovers are very similar. In ‘My Last Duchess’ the relationship between the poet and their lover end through jealousy and resentment, this is shown because his wife was easily pleased with everything,
“Everything made her smile, from the broach I gave her,
to the sun setting in the west”
Where as in ‘First love’ the relationship was the feeling of falling in love for the first time, which made the poet happy and living in his own dream world. Yet the relationship was mythological which ended in rejection and he feeling depressed.
“My heart has left its dwelling place,
and can return no more.”
In all these poems the relationships between the poems and their lovers are very similar. In ‘First love’ the relationship ended after a long chase for a special being, with a sad rejection,
“Is loves bed always snow?”
This shows that the subject was heartbroken as a result of the ending of his imaginary relationship. Where as in ‘My Last Duchess’ we are told that the relationship ending with the Dukes last duchess dies.
“Her smiling increased: I gave commands and all the smiles stopped
Together”
this suggests that the duke gave orders to the kill. The duke is left slightly unhappy, this is referred back to the painting yet he is glad that she is gone.
“I’ve made it clear that it is his daughter I want”
Showing that he is over his last duchess and is ready to let go and remarry. ‘Remember is also a very similar to ‘My Last Duchess’ there is also a tragic death as the poem prolongs.
All these poems use very dramatic language which reaches out to the audience. Also the poem has a rhyme in every other line. This appeals to the audience more because it allows them to go through the same emotions as him whilst reading. In contrast, in ‘Remember’ uses simple yet dignified language, and there are a lot of deep heavy sounding words.
“Hand,” “planned” and “understand”
These words add to the sombre tone. ‘Remember is a 14 line sonnet which appeals to an older audience because the subject of death is more intriguing. ‘My Last Duchess’ this poem is a dramatic monologue which consists of rhyming couplets portraying a more sad yet interesting poem. It is written in rhythmic couplets which help to convey the idea of the duke’s smugness.
Overall, the poems are all expressed in a very emotional and detailed way. They all prove that loss of love is presented in a very direct and appealing way; this has been shown in the way that the poets composed their poems all in the first person, making them very descriptive and using a lot of dramatic imagery.
