My last duchess

• "my"


  possessive pronoun ~ claiming her as his possession to show off power & control
• "Will't please you sit and look at her? I said"


  - command (power)

  - no punctuation, begins immediately ~ doesn't give chance to speak
• "The curtain I have drawn for you"


  controls who looks at painting ~ couldn't control her when she was alive
• "if they durst"


  has power over others and people fear him
• "Half-flush that dies along her throat"


  - Sinister tone, semantically linked to murder 'die' and 'throat'.

  - suspicious ~ hints he was involved in death
• "a heart - how shall I say?"

  - trying to indicate lighter tone - politeness?

  - attempting to avoid showing jealousy & rage ~ at conflict with himself
• Enjambment


  contrasts controlled rhyme scheme ~ could suggest Duke is losing composure as he remembers Duchess
• Controlled rhyme scheme


  reflects Duke's power over Duchess (power of humans)
• "she thanked men- good!"


  exclamation & change of structure ~ verse broken with caesuras ~ rising anger and losing control
• "nine hundred years old old name"


  - obsessive, controlling narcissist

  - Poet ironically mocking how vain Duke is ~ cares more about his heritage ~ she didn't see as important and he can't understand why
• Repetition of "stoop"


  felt wife was beneath him
• "which I had not"


  - false modesty~ likes speaking

  - he wouldn't stoop so low as to ask her to stop flirting ~ ironically she is in control

  - believes asking women foe things is beneath him
• "I gave commands"


  - euphemism for her death

  - suggests he stopped Duchess smiling forever
• "there she stands"


  painting satisfies him as much as she did in real life ~ as a possession
• "will't please you rise?"


  Switches back to calm, civil, polite manner- getting back into character ~ gives poem circular structure
• "dowry"


  organising next marriage ~ more interested in money than bride (sinister) ~ suggests actions will repeat
• "taming a sea horse"


  Metaphor

  - symbolic of the Duke 'taming' his bride

  - shows the Duke's controlling, oppressive manner ~ controls anyone with spirit