Power and Conflict poetry

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Ozymandias and My Last Duchess

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London and The Emigree

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The Emigree and Poppies

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Tissue and Checking Out Me History

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Bayonet Charge and Exposure

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The Charge of the Light Brigade and Bayonet Charge

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Exposure and War Photographer

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War Photographer and Remains

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Kamikaze and Poppies

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Poppies and War Photographer

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Remains and Bayonet Charge

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Storm on the Island and Ozymandias

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My Last Duchess and Checking Out Me History

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Checking Out Me History and Extract from the Prelude

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Extract from the Prelude and Storm on the Island

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Both poems explore the effects of power: Shelley's poem leads us to understand that even absolute power is fleeting and transitory; Browning's poem explores it's ruthlessness. The subjects of both poems - Ozymandias and the Duke - share characteristics of arrogance, pride and egotism associated with the exercise of absolute rule.

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Consider the differences in narrative framing: Browning uses the persona of the Duke himself as speaker so his brutality and misuse of power is gradually revealed over the the course of his monologue. Shelley uses narrative framing to create distance - his is a story told to the narrator by a traveller and we hear Ozymandias's own words third-hand, through the inscription on his pedestal. We pass judgement on Ozymandias's cruelty and tyranny through the sculptor's (and poet's) artistry.

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Both poets choose to set their poems in an era very distant from their own: Browning's in the Renaissance; Shelley in an 'antique land'. Both poets were critical of power, but felt it was safer to critique it at a distance, though the political resonance of their ideas was very current.

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Compare structure and language: Shelley's critique of power is a sonnet, a form traditionally associated with love not political ideas, but one which shows the poets skill; Browning chooses the dramatic monologue so that the Duke condemns himself through his own words. Everything he says about the Duchess shows his obsession with control and his narcissism. Like Ozymandias he considers himself an absolute ruler whose words and actions inspire fear and dread. Browning cleverly uses the tightly controlled rhyming couplets to show the Duke's obsessive character fighting against his passions, indicated by the frequent use of enjambment.

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Consider the use and effect of imagery: the statue in Shelley's poem is a symbol of the transience of power; in Browning's poem, the portrait of the Duchess symbolises its ruthlessness. Both the Duke and Ozymandias have artefacts created that reflect, in their different ways, what they view as their own unchallenged power. The irony is that each of these artefacts in fact undermines those views - for in each case, the real power lies with the artists that created them.