Compare Language in 'My Last Duchess' and other Poems

Want to compare your language comparison skills in 'My Last Duchess' and other poems?

Well, you've come to the right place. In this activity, you'll learn to practice comparing the way the poets use language to convey different and similar attitudes and ideas. 

In your exam, you'll do really well to compare the way that poets use language to present their attitudes. You'll do even better if you can compare the way they use language to present different/similar attitudes and ideas. You'll do the best if you can compare the language that is used and how it's used.

Here's an example of some good language comparison:

In 'My Last Duchess' Browning uses the repetition of the personal pronoun "my" to emphasise the Duke's arrogance. In fact, the poem begins "that's my last Duchess", which immediately presents the Duchess as the Duke's possession, suggesting that he is controlling and believes that the Duchess, even in death, is his object. Similarly, Blake in 'London' employs repetition to emphasise certain words; "cry" "marks" and "chartered" are repeated. In Blake's case, repetition of these words emphasises the suffering of the lower-class.

You should always refer to your own text when working through these examples. These quotations are for reference only.