We Used Our Words We Used What Words We Had
Throughout the entire poem, Choi uses a very flowing syntax that almost gives the poem a sense of musicality. When reading the poem to myself, I couldn't help but feel as though there was a rhythm underpinning the words, and I ended the poem having felt as though I read the lyrics a rap as much as a poem.
we used our words we used what words we had to weld, what words we had we wielded, kneeled, we knelt.
I think the opening lines of the poem are the first of many examples of Choi employing Parallelism in this poem. I think the repetitive nature of this parallelism may be a commentary on how society pushes us to to fit in to a mold both in our daily routine, as well as in our identities.
She had A heart—how shall I say?— too soon made glad, Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er She looked on, and her looks went everywhere. Sir, ’twas all one! My favour at her breast, The dropping of the daylight in the West, The bough of cherries some officious fool Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule She rode with round the terrace—all and each Would draw from her alike the approving speech, Or blush, at least. She thanked men—good! but thanked Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name With anybody’s gift.
I feel like this whole passage is an example of Situational Irony. It seems to me like the narrator of the poem is trying to point out all of the things that made his "Last Duchess" unfit to carry his "gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name", but by doing so, he actually reveals that he is a very unpleasant and harsh man who doesn't live up to the archetype of a refined aristocrat himself. I think this foreshadows Ferrara's true character for the rest of the poem.
As if alive
I really enjoy this callback from the beginning of the poem. In the context of the rest of this passage, especially the line about all the smiles stopping, I think the statement "As if alive" serves as an inference that he may have had her killed. I feel like this inference is supported by the rest of his woeful acts throughout the poem.
Notice Neptune, though, Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity, Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!
I think Ferrara pointing out the statue as an object to be marveled is a metaphor for how he also sees women. It seems to me like he values looking at the painting of his last wife more than he enjoyed her as a person. Now he uses the painting to impress guests, in the same way that he uses the statue of Neptune Taming a Sea Horse to impress guests. I think this final passage wraps up the true theme of the poem, and cements Ferrara's character as a bonafide asshole.