The poem I had most difficulty understanding was “My Last Duchess” by Robert Browning. I would read and read again this poem and for some reason it wouldn’t click in my head. The way it is written is way different from what I’m used to reading. The sentences go on and on without proper structure or from what I’m used to seeing in my regular reads of poems.

Also, another part that would throw me off from understanding the poem was that the words used were not of this era. The words were difficult to comprehend due to my lack of knowing many old English words. In addition to my lack of knowledge, many allusions or metaphors were used and I couldn’t recognize them or see them right away. We went through the poem in class, but this poem is just so hard to follow. I took matters into my own hands and looked up a type of summary online. Thankfully there are people out there that actually take time from their lives and explain almost every line in poetry for the people to read and understand them better. The website is called shmoop and wow, I am extremely glad that there are people out there like them that love to explain line after line of poems for the public. Now that’s dedication and an admiration for poetry! Through this website I learned so much about the poems. Even the hidden meanings that I couldn’t catch were clear as crystal after reading their analysis.
Even though I have a good idea of what the poem is stating, I was very curious to know why the Duke would hide the dead wife’s picture behind a curtain. Is it to add more mystery to his intentions or is he just really cruel and rude? Also, does this line refer to necklaces as the website mentioned, “My favour at her breast,/The dropping of the daylight in the West”? And what does “The dropping of the daylight in the West” refer to? That wasn’t cleared up in the website, so I am curious to know what the author of this poem meant.

As for the poem that was easiest to grasp in understanding, I would have to say “Cinderella” because it felt like I was reading a story, instead of a poem. Also, they were not using the ways or structures that were used in “My last Duchess” or in “To His Coy Mistress”. Their matters were quiet simple to follow for they were not structured strictly like a poem. It flowed and flowed all the way like a story. Also, simple allusions and wordings were used, making the reading enjoyable. I loved how the author used sarcasm in some of the explanations, making the story more enjoyable to read because it gave it more of a personal connection to the reader. I might be wrong, but I rather enjoyed myself reading that poem more than once. It was also silly due to the fact that the sisters were way out of their normalcy. Another reason why I understood this poem really well was that the narrator’s or author’s ideas were very direct. There was no mystery, just simple, direct ideas. He wanted to mention that the sisters were insane, he showed us in simple terms that they were. He wanted us to know that Cinderella’s life was as simple and perfect as monuments in a museum after she got her prince; he would tell us exactly that they were like monuments in a museum without any hesitation. His way of presenting anything was just perfect. I just loved how easy it was to understand his intentions. Possibly one of my favorites now.