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What Is The Similarities Between My Last Duchess And Alfred Lord Tennyson

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Literature Analysis: My Last Duchess and Ulysses
Robert Browning and Alfred Lord Tennyson are celebrated authors and poets in the field of field of literature. A deeper analysis of some of their works displays particular similarities and distinct differences that make each one of them unique. For instance, Browning’s My Last Duchess and Tennyson’s Ulysses show similarities in the overall theme, death, but each brings it out in different styles. This essay explains the comparison of the two poems in detail and the respective significance of use of stylistic devices.
My Last Duchess
Browning uses conventional styles to create his poem. He constructs his sentences to rhyme in twos. It is written in free …show more content…

The poet uses dramatic monologue, where the readers and the messenger are almost one person. From the description that the Duke uses to describe the Duchess, one feels as if he/she is the messenger that the Duke is addressing. The persona remarks about the innocence of the Duchess, which irks him. She finds delight in things such as riding a mule or the setting of the sun. The Duke uses symbology to connote his anger, which gets the better of him that he kills her. Her substitute is the piece of art, reflected at the beginning at the end of the poem. The use of both simple and archaic language styles creates the symbolic image that he uses to explain to the …show more content…

While Browning emphasizes on rhyme, Tennyson focuses on the thoughts of the old and retired pirate, Ulysses. He uses words more to convey the message than to follow grammatical rules. He also uses simple words to describe the profound contrast of his retirement to his kingdom, distanced from the adventurous life he once lived. Thus, the structure uses a mixture of flashback and foreshadowing – Ulysses life during the Trojan War, and his son’s life after his (Ulysses’) demise.
The persona of the poem is Ulysses himself. Just like the Duke in My Last Duchess, he uses dramatic monologue. This is demonstrated when he talks to his soldiers during his past years as an energetic youth. Using the stylistic feature of flashback, he takes readers through his past life, connoting the excitement it brought him. He then brings one back to the present that immensely shows the contrast and equal discontent that Ulysses feels. The flashback also aids in building the image of the poem, in order to identify oneself with the persona. Furthermore, he uses a mixture of archaic and simple words, which is also seen in Browning’s

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