My Last Duchess

Robert Browning (1812—1889) was an English poet of the Victorian era. Browning’s early life as a writer was not hugely successful, but he gradually rose in prominence to emerge as one of the most celebrated literary figures of his time. Although first and foremost a poet, his body of work includes plays, books, and a novel in verse: The Ring and the Book (1868-1869), a “psycho-historical epic” considered one of his best works ever (“Robert Browning.” Poetry Foundation).

“My Last Duchess” is one of Browning’s earlier poems. First published in 1842 carrying the title “Italy,” it appeared in Dramatic Lyrics, the third in a series of self-published books called Bells and Pomegranates (1841-1846). The poem is a dramatic monologue, a genre perfected by Browning and for which he remains most lauded. It sees the speaker—widely presumed to be Alfonso Il d’Este, the fifth Duke of Ferrara—talking about his late wife while showing an unseen visitor her portrait. The poem draws a psychological portrait of the speaker through his monologue and touches on interrelated themes of jealousy, power, control, status, and hierarchy. “My Last Duchess” is composed of 28 rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter.