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The similarities between ulysses and my last duchess
Compare the persona in Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” to that described in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses”
Compare the persona in Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess” to that described in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s “Ulysses”
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Comparing Ulysses by Lord Tennyson and My Last Duchess by Robert
Browning.
“Ulysses” was written by Lord Tennyson and is a poem about a mythical
Greek character and is a dramatic monologue. Another poem that is a
dramatic monologue is “My Last Duchess”, by Robert Browning. Both
poems are similar, for example they are both structured similarly, and
are both different, one difference being their subject. In this essay
I will compare the two poems, focusing on form, and how language helps
to build up subject matter.
Ulysses is a Greek mythical character, and was famous for being a
pirate, ransacking villages and being a warrior. In Greek literature,
Ulysses just seemed to disappear after he got home, and Tennyson
decided to write about Ulysses and his thoughts after ‘retiring’ from
fighting. The poem is written in verse, and seems to be either a
dramatic monologue or monologue interior. It is hard to know which
one, as a dramatic monologue must have a listener (other than the
audience. Ulysses is talking to someone, his dead soldiers, but as
they are deceased it is difficult to decide if they count as a
listener to the poem.
“My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning was written in the same era as
“Ulysses” and is written in Verse. This poem is different to “Ulysses”
as this poem is about a fictional character which is created by
Browning. This is a Dramatic Monologue, as the duke (the character
created by Browning) is talking to the servant of the father of a
possible bride. To create the effect of speech, Browning uses Iambic
Pentameter, which helps to imitate the rhythm of conversational
speech, and enjambment frequently.
The use of language to present the subject matter is important for
both poets. I...
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displeasure from his wife and why, almost acting as a warning to his
next wife. So a poem about the “Last Duchess” is actually a poem about
the Duke’s likes and dislikes, which again helps to subtly build up
the self centred nature of the character without revealing too much
and loosing the readers’ interest.
Both poems are similar and different in many different ways. The most
obvious similarity to both poems is their form, but if we look deeper
into the poem we see that their content and their characters are very
similar. However, some differences still remain in the poem. The main
subject matter for both poems is death, but the two poems have
different feelings towards death. For the Duke, it is something
ordered and controlled by him, but for Ulysses, even though he has
encountered death within his life so much he cannot accept that he
will die.
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