"My Last Duchess" is a poem by Robert Browning, frequently anthologised as an example of the dramatic monologue. It first appeared in 1842 in Browning's Dramatic Lyrics. The poem is composed in 28 rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter.
Lucrezia de' Medici by Bronzino or Alessandro Allori, generally believed to be the subject of the poem
Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings and challenging vocabulary and syntax.
Portrait by Herbert Rose Barraud, c. 1888
Portraits of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning.
Clasped Hands of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, 1853 by Harriet Hosmer.
Browning after death.