The speaker's feelings towards their loved ones are greatly different in these two poems. In Life in a Love the speaker refuses the fact that his lover is considering leaving him, as he believes that it is his fate to love and pursue her. On the other hand, in My Last Duchess, the Duke is also haunted by the knowledge and possibility of not having all of the love of her duchess for himself. However, his tone is far grimmer as he becomes obsessed about her impressionable nature and jealous of her being favorable of other people. He reaches a point where he cannot tolerate this anymore and gives orders to have her killed.
While the speaker in the first poem will do everything it takes to win his lover's affection, the speaker in the second poem attempts to retain his lover's attention by force and abuse.
