English Literature Made Easy for Students

  ‘My Last Duchess’ is Robert Browning’s one of most famous poems. It is a dramatic monologue. A dramatic monologue  is a poem in which the speaker, who is like a protagonist as we have in dramas, is placed in a critical situation. The poet remains aloof (separated) from him. The speaker reacts to the difficult situation and thus lays bare his soul. He reveals his character to the readers or the audience. The presence of a listener or the interlocutor is also felt and it makes the situation dramatically. In this poem, the Duke of Ferrara is the speaker, whose wife is no more now. He is a widower and wants to marry the daughter of a neighbouring Count, from whom he also expects to receive a rich dowry. The Count has sent a messenger (an envoy) to negotiate with the Duke. The Duke takes the messenger to have a glimpse of his picture gallery. Actually, the Duke is the product of the Renaissance period that originally began in Italy. He has immense love for art. In the who...