Compare and Contrast How the Writers of "My Last Duchess" and "Remember" Portray Different Views of Love

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Introduction Compare and contrast how the writers of "My Last Duchess" and "Remember" portray different views of love. Love has as many expressions as people who experience it. For some it is a romantic life-enhancing one, for others it is a negative painful experience. In the poems "My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning and "Remember" by Christina Rossetti were are offered two widely different views of love. One is a gentle, romantic, poignant message, the other a cynical sadistic monologue. Both are also linked by the separation by death: one implies murder, the other an impending more gentle natural death. The poem "Remember" is a petrachan sonnet of 14 lines. Sonnet form was a poetic device usually used to express emotions and feelings of love, suggesting that this poem will be more romantic than "My Last Duchess". The octet (first 8 lines) presents the problem, in this case the narrator's fear of impending death and the rupture between the two lovers: "Remember me when I am gone away ... / When you can no more hold me by the hand." The Sestet (final 6 lines) ...read more. Middle as a contrast to the earlier appeal to surround himself in memories of his departed lover, the husband is instructed that if the memories make him upset then it would be better for him to forget, move on with his life and be happy. This shows some of the characteristics of romantic love that puts the needs and happiness of the other person first. "My Last Duchess" is constructed as a Duke having a dialogue both with an envoy and to himself. The purpose of the envoy's visit - to arrange a marriage, is only made clear in the final eight lines; the rest of the poem is a portrayal of the Duke's attitude to, and experience with, his former Duchess. The Duke refers to his former wife as "My Last Duchess", the possessive pronoun here giving us the first idea that her saw her as a possession

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