My Last Duchess

1. B. Robert Browning was highly lauded for perfecting the form of the dramatic monologue, and “My Last Duchess” is one of his most famous of such poems.

2. C. Toward the end of the poem it is revealed that the listener is an emissary of a count; the duke seeks the count’s daughter’s hand in marriage.

3. A. The duchess is the most recent of the speaker’s wives, but she is deceased; over the course of the poem, the duke seemingly reveals his hand in bringing about her death, and his reasons for doing so. He is also planning on marrying again, so “last” simply means the most recent.

4. C. The poem opens with the duke talking about a portrait of his last duchess and concludes with him pointing out a rare bronze sculpture of Neptune taming a sea-horse.

5. A. That the duchess was easily pleased and impressed, thus displaying a lack of discretion, was the root of the Duke’s displeasure with her.