Basically, I have been set a piece of coursework: to compare the aforementioned poems. I am going for an A* piece at GCSE level, there is no particular question, just to compare the four poems. I have almost completed My Last Duchess, mentioning all the themes I can think of and reading the topics on here for extra guidance. However, I could do with some guidance on how to compare the four as a whole. I'd appreciate it if someone could help me out, heres the essay I have written thus far:

 

Love poetry can be manipulated to affect the reader in numerous ways; the reader can empathise with the poem, the reader can be inspired by the sentiment of the poem, the reader can attempt to emulate the actions of the characters, the consequences of reading a stirring love poem persist. One aspect that all love poetry has in common is the way in which it can engross the reader in its world and engage with their emotional side. They achieve this by using a number of devices and several genres are used to conjure up vastly varying types of emotions: anger, amorousness, longing, and disgust amongst others. One of the foremost genres is that of the dramatic monologue – in which a character delivers a speech explaining their feelings, actions or motives. I will be analysing three starkly differing dramatic monologues: ‘My Last Duchess’, ‘To His Coy Mistress’ and ‘Porphyria’s Lover’. Another variation of love poetry is that of the ballad; a timeless art form that is significantly popular to this day. A ballad tells a dramatic story in a direct style, focussing on a single story; repetition is a particularly commonly used convention in ballads.  Ballads are traditionally anonymous, and the poem I am analysing is no different: ‘Ballad’. ‘My Last Duchess’ is written from the perspective of a duke who is on the verge of marrying the Count’s daughter and is conversing with the Count’s servant. His previous Duchess was murdered by the Duke himself and the speech could be interpreted as self-justification by the Duke as he attempts to defend his questionable philosophies. ‘Ballad’ is a direct story told through the perspective of a young woman. The lady has fallen in love with a shepherd; unfortunately, it transpires that the man is dishonest. This is revealed when the shepherd impregnates the young woman and flees; his promises unfulfilled. The resolution is minimal at most, the female being left to contemplate suicide. The dramatic monologue has several different forms in itself; the two remaining poems showcase this perfectly. Despite the fact that they are completely different in theme, atmosphere and tempo, they retain the conventions of a dramatic monologue. ‘To His Coy Mistress’ is a classic literary piece by Andrew Marvell. The poem is written through the eyes of a male, attempting to ‘swoon’ his prospective lady into falling for him and consequently, into bed. The male argues, then counter-balances his argument and then concludes, concluding that, surprisingly enough, she should go to bed with him. The last of the quartet is ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, the poem is told through the perspective of a madman sitting with his lover. Porphyria, the woman he loves, comes to his cottage and tells him she loves him. The madman wants to immortalise the moment forever, so he strangles her with her own hair.  From the moment ‘My Last Duchess’ begins, one can tell that the Duke is an incredibly possessive man. This is reinforced by the opening line, “That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall.” This epitomises his attitude towards possessions of any kind. One could draw parallels with the overbearing Duke and Porphyria’s lover, both extremely domineering and possessive. This is exemplified by the quote in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, when the lover is on the verge of killing his woman, “That moment she was mine, mine.” This epitomises the lover’s attitude, he is so desperate to own her that he kills her. Robert Browning conveys this obsessively possessive character by using repetition of the phrase, ‘mine’. The theme of obsessive and possessive love on behalf of men is clearly at the forefront of Browning’s mind, portraying similar leading men in both of the poems. The Duke is speaking formally to a social inferior, as emphasised in this quote, “Will’t please you sit and look at her…Strangers like you…” This insinuates that he is a polite, pleasant man who treats all social classes similarly hence making the revelation of him murdering his last Duchess all the more shocking. The domineering aspect of his character is re-enforced with the quote, “since none puts by the curtain I have drawn for you, but I.” This embellishes the fact that he sees himself the only one worthy of certain duties. Furthermore, he is clearly happier with the portrait of his wife, “as if alive” than he was with the woman when she was living. He is such an authoritarian that anything that he cannot order or control, whether it is art or people, will suffer the consequences.  The poem is organised into rhyming couplets, not dissimilar to ‘Ballad’ and ‘To His Coy Mistress’. However, ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ does not use rhyming couplets; this may be due to the fact that Browning was looking for an unpredictable rhythm to reflect the unpredictable storyline. The couplets are used in the relative poems to keep a steady sense of rhythm and to keep the stories moving along at a stable pace. Moreover, Iambic pentameter is used throughout the poem to keep the poem flowing as the readers discover the gradual revelation of the speaker’s true nature. As the poem proceeds, it becomes clearer that the Duke is the epitome of excessive, aristocratic pride. This is accentuated by the quote: “As if she ranked my gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name with anybody’s gift.” He is suggesting that she is inferior to him and should cherish the fact that she was allowed to marry him. The quote also carries connotations that he is extremely proud of his heritage and the last duchess didn’t respect the name; she brought shame to the family. The line also emphasises how aloof he is, which is also supported by the ensuing line; “Who’d stoop to blame?” He uses stoop to emphasis how lower class she was in comparison to himself.  ‘My Last Duchess’ uses archaic language, analogously to ‘Ballad’, as exemplified by the use of the phrase ‘forsooth’ (“Her wit to yours, forsooth, and made excuse). ‘Ballad’ possesses a multitude of examples of such language using phrases such as ‘thee’, ‘thy’ and ‘thou’dst’. The two poems use this anachronistic language to invoke different sentiments. ‘Ballad’ uses antiquated language to emphasise the ‘typical fairytale’ aspect of the poem and to engage with the readers by evoking the style of older speech – it is aiming to retain the original essence of a poem. ‘My Last Duchess’ uses archaism to accentuate the aloof aspect of the Duke’s character. Despite the fact that the Duke has murdered the last Duchess, he clearly does not acknowledge, or perhaps understand, the direct consequences of his actions. This is implied heavily by the final three lines in which he points out another piece of art, a statue of Neptune – “Notice Neptune, though…cast in bronze for me!” The exclamation mark confirms the fact that he is as proud of a statue and as excited of this Roman god as his wife. This implies that he does not realise the consequences of his actions, simply negating her as part of his collection. This sentiment is echoed in ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, in which the madman does not realise the corollary of the murder he has so harshly committed. This is supported by the phrase, “I propped her head up as before.” This statement conveys the fact that he does not recognise the significance of his actions; treating his dead love exactly the same as his living love. The two males in ‘To His Coy Mistress’ and ‘My Last Duchess’ may have   vastly differing personalities but they both view women in a similar light. The duke and the seductive lover have a certain attitude towards women; they both see women as objects, the only difference being that they view these objects through different perspective. The Duke in ‘My Last Duchess’ is a supercilious, impertinent man; his status and wealth meaning more to him than love as showcased by the line “Who’d stoop to blame this sort of trifling?” He believes that the late Duchess was of a lower class, thus tainting their love, implying that he is more perturbed with lack of status than lack of love. He is a megalomaniac, who is jealous about his ex-wife not giving only him her attention. The speaker in "To His Coy Mistress" seems like a respectful man, the speaker is articulate - an important attribute considering he is attempting to seduce the woman. He uses his way of words to flatter her, but we then learn that he only wants her for pleasure rather than love; he adopts a false persona of love as another technique to lure her. This is exemplified by the change of tone in the first to second stanza, the second stanza assumes a threatening tenor – emphasising a void-like image to win his lady – “And yonder all before us lie deserts of vast eternity”. This phrase epitomises the way in which the male attempts to manipulate the woman by conjuring up images on the topic of void if she was to reject his advances. The Duke patently feels that his last Duchess did not correspond with the expectations of an archetypal Duchess. An exemplary Duchess would be cold and calculating; avoiding affection like the plague.  However, the Duchess did not, in the Duke’s eyes, demonstrate these traits, as portrayed by this quote – “She thanked men, - good! But thanked somehow…as if she ranked my gift…with anybody’s gift.” The Duke is accusing the Duchess of being too affectionate, an attribute not welcome for a Duchess. Furthermore, the Duke surmises that the Duchess is too easily pleased, as showcased by this line in the poem – “Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er she looked on.” This illustrates (in the Duke’s opinion) the fact that she is too ‘friendly’ and easy to please, particularly when dealing with males. However, it is extremely palpable that the Duchess is simply being friendly and the Duke is unable to understand his wife’s warm nature. This attitude is reinforced when the Duke struggles to describe his wife’s kind-hearted personality: “She had a heart – how shall I say – too soon made glad?” This quote illustrates the fact that he cannot understand that aspect of his wife’s personality; he expects much colder behaviour from his Duchess.  Despite the fact that the Duke is, as he put it, ‘disgusted’ with the Duchess’ behaviour. She is described as a lovely free being; freedom is portrayed in the quote: “she liked whate’er she looked on, and her looks went everywhere.” This quote depicts the Duchess as an impulsive, free soul. However, the Duchess’ free spirit is juxtaposed by the restrictive nature of the Duke as rendered by “I choose never to stoop,” and “I gave commands.” This suggests that the Duke is attempting to restrict the Duchess from being her spontaneous self. It seems that he failed and due to his authoritarian nature, he decreed that she should be murdered. The Duchess is represented as a beautiful person, both physically so and by nature. She loved nature, as emphasised by her association with the imagery of a sunset, a “bough of cherries” and her “white mule”. The Duchess is shown as physically attractive – “the faint half-flush that dies along her throat,” – not dissimilarly to the ladies in ‘To His Coy Mistress’ and ‘Porphyria’s Lover’. The woman is clearly beautiful in the seductive poem ‘To His Coy Mistress’ as conveyed by the use of doting similes (“Thou by the Indian Ganges’ side shouldst rubies find; I by the tide Of Humber would complain.”) He uses this imagery to compare her to an exotic river whereas he is an uninteresting English river. The technique is used to lavish praise upon the beautiful woman, portraying her as glamorous and beautiful; akin to the Ganges. ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ uses a beautiful lady to emphasise the surprising (and brutal) nature of the death and juxtapose the madman thus creating a sense of paranoia on behalf of the lover. The gracious beauty of Porphyria is emphasised by the repetition of her “yellow hair” and her “smooth white shoulder”. Beauty is used in the two murderous poems to juxtapose the leading men thus creating a sense of wonder. Splendour is used in ‘To His Coy Mistress’ to intensify the efforts and give further cause to the leading man’s attempt to seduce the lady. Alliteration is used in ‘My Last Duchess’ (“dropping of the daylight.”, “your master’s known munificence”) to maintain a rhythm and perhaps for the Duke to flaunt his eloquent speaking ability. The poem is written in heroic couplets with almost continuous enjambment; this technique gives the poem a conversational style – essential for creating a rapport between the reader and the Duke. Browning uses dramatic irony to illustrate the duke’s manipulative and callous character towards the end of the poem, as he refers to the girl he wants to marry as “my object” (the Duke does not realise how much he is revealing about his personality throughout not only this quote, but the whole poem).  

The Duke is the epitome of possessive, arrogant egotism.

 ...and that is as far as I have got. Thanks in advance.

 Sorry for the lack of paragraphs, when I copied and pasted the essay from word, it seemed to get rid of them.