Essay Comparing My Last Duchess And To His Coy Mistress

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In the poems “My Last Duchess” and “To His Coy Mistress”, several poetic and literary devices are utilized to create each speaker’s attitude toward women in different ways . Most readers will realize that in both poems, the orators view women in a pessimistic and sexist way. Imagery, figurative language, tone shifts, and words with negative connotations assist the speaker in creating this perspective. Similarly, different characteristics of the women from each poem are revealed, as well as each speaker’s negative opinions on these traits. Imagery and over exaggerations in both My Last Duchess and To His Coy Mistress reveal similar pessimistic attitudes toward women. For example, when the speaker in “My Last Duchess” says, “Her looks went everywhere,” in Line 24, it is evident that this is an over-exaggeration. The duchess’ looks did not surely go everywhere and the speaker more than likely used this exaggeration to emphasize his discontentment with what some readers might call friendliness. In the speaker’s eyes, his duchess was incessantly flirtatious with other men, when in reality, the woman was likely being merely friendly. This reveals that the man distrusted his wife because of this trait. In “To His Coy Mistress”, lines 27-30 provide grim imagery to reveal a similar yet …show more content…

Equivalent words are deployed in “To His Coy Mistress” such as: dust and lust (Line 29-30), transpires (Line 35), birds of prey and devour (Lines 38-39), and rough and strife (Line 43). Such words add to the overall attitude toward women. Through them, the speakers divulge their scorn toward women. They also imply that women are inferior to

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