MY LAST DUCHESS

• "Ferrara" - reference to Al fonso II, fifth Duke of Ferraro who's wife died under suspicious circumstances
• "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall" - possessive pronoun + enigma makes us question if there have been previous wives / is this his last?
• "Will't please sit and look at her?" - rhetorical question suggests she is an object who's sole purpose is to be looked at
• "Frá Pandolf" - repetition of the artist but never a mention of the name of his wife emphasising the Duke's egocentric, pompous demeanour
• "(since none puts by The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)" - parenthesis reflects the Duke's complete control over the portrait and could mimic his possessiveness of the Duchess when she was alive
• "twas not Her husband's presence only, called that spot Of joy into the Duchess' cheek" - reflects the anger the Duke feels for other men being able to please his wife
• "too soon made glad, Too easily impressed" - repetition emphasises how the Duchess was impressionable and promiscuous which reflects Victorian patriarchal misogyny
• "white mule She rode with round the terrace" - Duke is alleging the Duchess was promiscuous through sexual innuendos
• "She thanked men, - good! but thanked Somehow - I know not how" - insinuating promiscuity
• "as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody's gift" - his status was a gift and she wasn't grateful for it
• "I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together." - noun connotes power and authority + monosyllabilsm is blunt and direct + metaphor for death
• "Notice Neptune, though, Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity" - allusion to Greek God of the sea + metaphor for patriarchy, man 'taming' women and Duke is hubristic / God-like / omnipotent