Comparative Essay Plans
A. “Compare how poets present the abuse of power in Ozymandias and My Last
Duchess.”
1. Introduction
o Briefly define “power” and “abuse of power.”
o Introduce both poems and their speakers (a distant traveller vs. a
controlling Duke).
o Thesis: Shelley and Browning both expose power’s corrupting
influence, but do so through different forms (sonnet/monologue)
and tones (ironic/menacing).
2. Paragraph 1: Voice & Structure
o Ozymandias: third‐person sonnet, reflective tone, volta at line 9
shifts from description to message.
o Last Duchess: dramatic monologue, enjambment and caesura
mirror the Duke’s rehearsed but sinister speech.
o Compare how form positions us as observers of power gone wrong.
3. Paragraph 2: Imagery & Irony
o Ozymandias: “colossal wreck… boundless and bare” juxtaposition
underlines time’s triumph over tyrants.
o Last Duchess: “I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together”
— chilling understatement reveals murder.
o Show how both poets use stark images to undermine their rulers’
boasts.
4. Paragraph 3: Speaker Intent & Effect
o Shelley warns that pride invites oblivion; nature/time are ultimate
judges.
o Browning reveals a patriarch’s warped self-justification; reader feels
complicit in his hypocrisy.
o Contrast Shelley’s moral lesson with Browning’s character study.
5. Conclusion
Reiterate that both poems dismantle tyranny: Shelley on a grand, timeless
scale; Browning in intimate detail.
Final line linking form and message: human ambition crumbles under
scrutiny—whether across deserts or behind closed doors.
B. “Explore how conflict drives meaning in Bayonet Charge and Exposure.”
1. Introduction
A. “Compare how poets present the abuse of power in Ozymandias and My Last
Duchess.”
1. Introduction
o Briefly define “power” and “abuse of power.”
o Introduce both poems and their speakers (a distant traveller vs. a
controlling Duke).
o Thesis: Shelley and Browning both expose power’s corrupting
influence, but do so through different forms (sonnet/monologue)
and tones (ironic/menacing).
2. Paragraph 1: Voice & Structure
o Ozymandias: third‐person sonnet, reflective tone, volta at line 9
shifts from description to message.
o Last Duchess: dramatic monologue, enjambment and caesura
mirror the Duke’s rehearsed but sinister speech.
o Compare how form positions us as observers of power gone wrong.
3. Paragraph 2: Imagery & Irony
o Ozymandias: “colossal wreck… boundless and bare” juxtaposition
underlines time’s triumph over tyrants.
o Last Duchess: “I gave commands; Then all smiles stopped together”
— chilling understatement reveals murder.
o Show how both poets use stark images to undermine their rulers’
boasts.
4. Paragraph 3: Speaker Intent & Effect
o Shelley warns that pride invites oblivion; nature/time are ultimate
judges.
o Browning reveals a patriarch’s warped self-justification; reader feels
complicit in his hypocrisy.
o Contrast Shelley’s moral lesson with Browning’s character study.
5. Conclusion
Reiterate that both poems dismantle tyranny: Shelley on a grand, timeless
scale; Browning in intimate detail.
Final line linking form and message: human ambition crumbles under
scrutiny—whether across deserts or behind closed doors.
B. “Explore how conflict drives meaning in Bayonet Charge and Exposure.”
1. Introduction
