Research Paper on:
Comparative Analysis of the Poems 'My Last Duchess' and 'Portrait of a Lady'

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
of love, of fears, and of loss of one type or another. They are poems which provide us with an intimate look at a woman, and an intimate look at  the man who loved them. In the following paper we examine each poem separately, discussing the poem and the authors message within the poem. The paper then presents a brief  comparison and discussion of the two. Portrait of a Lady In this poem we gain the understanding that the narrator, the man, is somewhat fearful of becoming involved  with a woman. He is, perhaps. also somewhat distant in terms of being a man who is self absorbed with his own life. She is blunt and to the point  on many occasions, wondering why they never became "friends," as all their friends stated they should. We see her position in the following lines: "For everybody said so, all our  friends,/ They all were sure our feelings would relate/ So closely! I myself can hardly understand./ We must leave it now to fate./ You will write, at any rate./ Perhaps  it is not too late./ I shall sit here, serving tea to friends."1 But, he remains distance, or as he states, "I remain self-possessed."2 We get the impression that  this woman is not pushy, but rather has very definite feelings for this man. She feels a connection with him that his self-possession will not allow him to admit. She  indicates that he will travel and that she hopes he will write while she stays where she is, "serving tea." What informs us that his is too fearful and too  self-absorbed to truly give in to his feelings for her comes in the end of the poem when he states, "Well! and what if she should die some afternoon,/ Afternoon