Compare the ways poets present ideas about power in ‘Ozymandias’ and 'My Last Duchess' [selected poem].

In both 'Ozymandias' and 'My Last Duchess', the character alluded to in the poem's title is framed and ultimately controlled by external powers. For the statue of Ozymandias, it is the 'sands' of time which 'boundless and bare [...] stretch far away', rendering the 'shattered visage' of Ozymandias isolated and alone, amid the seemingly endless stretch of desert. The imperative 'Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!' is undermined by the 'decay / of that colossal wreck', which highlights the loss of power embodied in the ruins. Similarly, the subject of the narrative in 'My Last Duchess' really should be the Duchess herself. However, the very opening of the poem- 'That's my last Duchess painted on the wall'- uses a demonstrative to distance the speaker of the narrative, and the reader, from the subject of the Duchess. As readers, we instantly know that depictions of the Duchess are not just literally framed as her figure is now a painting, but also framed by the control of the narrative voice. Visually, the Duchess is depicted as isolated and controlled by the frame surrounding her figure as a work of art, in the same way the reader envisions the statue of Ozymandias surrounded by the barren sands. It is the power of time which has entrapped Ozymandias and reduced his prestige to a 'shattered visage', whereas it is the power of the Duchess's husband who gave commands so that 'all smiles stopped', which has reduced the Duchess to a mere image, removing her humanity.