My Last Duchess - wikipedia My Last Duchess This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( August 2009 ) Lucrezia de ' Medici, by Bronzino, generally believed to be My Last Duchess `` 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 written in 28 rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter. Contents 1 Historical background 2 Story 3 Modern adaptations 4 Notes 5 External links Historical background The poem is preceded by `` Ferrara : '', indicating that the speaker is most likely Alfonso II d'Este, the fifth Duke of Ferrara ( 1533 -- 1598 ), who, at the age of 25, married Lucrezia di Cosimo de ' Medici, the 14 - year - old daughter of Cosimo I de ' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Eleonora di Toledo. Lucrezia was not well educated, and the Medicis could be considered `` nouveau riche '' in comparison to the venerable and distinguished Este family ( Alfonso II d'Este's remark regarding his gift of a `` nine - hundred - years - old name '' clearly indicates that he considered his bride beneath him socially ). She came with a sizeable dowry, and the couple married in 1558. He then abandoned her for two years before she died on 21 April 1561, at age 17. There was a strong suspicion of poisoning. The Duke then sought the hand of Barbara, eighth daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary and the sister of the Count of Tyrol, Ferdinand II. The count was in charge of arranging the marriage ; the chief of his entourage, Nikolaus Madruz, a native of Innsbruck, was his courier. Madruz is presumably the listener in the poem. The other characters named in the poem - painter Frà Pandolf and sculptor, Claus of Innsbruck - are fictional. Story The poem is set during the late Italian Renaissance. The speaker ( presumably the Duke of Ferrara ) is giving the emissary of the family of his prospective new wife ( presumably a third or fourth since Browning could have easily written ' second ' but did not do so ) a tour of the artworks in his home. He draws a curtain to reveal a painting of a woman, explaining that it is a portrait of his late wife ; he invites his guest to sit and look at the painting. As they look at the portrait of the late Duchess, the Duke describes her happy, cheerful and flirtatious nature, which had displeased him. He says, `` She had a heart -- how shall I say ? -- too soon made glad... '' He goes on to say that his complaint of her was that `` ' twas not her husband 's presence only '' that made her happy. Eventually, `` I gave commands ; then all smiles stopped together. '' This could be interpreted as either the Duke had given commands to the Duchess to stop smiling or commands for her to be killed. He now keeps her painting hidden behind a curtain that only he is allowed to draw back, meaning that now she only smiles for him. In ' My Last Duchess ' the Duke of Ferrara is addressing the envoy of the Count of Tyrol. Although he is on his best behaviour, the Duke of Ferrara demonstrates many sociopathic tendencies as he recalls the time he shared with his now - deceased Duchess. Even in death the Duke wished to hide her away behind the curtain where no other man could admire her beauty. The Duke then resumes an earlier conversation regarding wedding arrangements, and in passing points out another work of art, a bronze statue of Neptune taming a sea - horse by Claus of Innsbruck, so making his late wife but just another work of art. In an interview, Browning said, `` I meant that the commands were that she should be put to death... Or he might have had her shut up in a convent. '' Modern adaptations The 20th century American poet Richard Howard wrote a sequel to the poem, `` Nikolaus Mardruz ( sic ) to his Master Ferdinand, Count of Tyrol, 1565 '', in the form of a letter from the listener in Browning 's original that details his response to the Duke 's monologue. Science fiction author Eric Flint uses portions of `` My Last Duchess '' in his book 1634 : The Galileo Affair ( 2004 ). Canadian author Margaret Atwood 's short story `` My Last Duchess '' appears in her short story anthology Moral Disorder ( 2006 ). It is about two high school students who study the poem and argue about its meaning. South African author Judy Croome based the main character Rax - ul - Can in her apocalyptic short story `` The Last Sacrifice '' ( published in `` The Weight of a Feather and Other Stories '', Aztar Press, 2013 ) on the Duke in Browning 's `` My Last Duchess ''. In `` The Painter '', a song by Chris de Burgh, the lyrics also take the Duke 's point of view, but show a less stable mindset than the original poem. Notes Jump up ^ Philip V. Allingham. `` Applying Modern Critical Theory to Robert Browning 's `` My Last Duchess '' ``. Retrieved 16 December 2009., Note 16 - C Jump up ^ Robert Browning, John Woolford, Daniel Karlin ( 1991 ) The Poems of Browning : 1841 -- 1846, Pearson Education 518 pages. ( ISBN 9780582063990 ), p. 157 Jump up ^ Harmon, William, and C. Hugh Holman. A Handbook to Literature. 8th edn. Upper Saddle River, NJ : Prentice Hall, 1999. Jump up ^ Text of `` Nikolaus Mardruz to his Master Ferdinand, Count of Tyrol, 1565 '' by Richard Howard at Poets.org Jump up ^ Morsels and Juices In Foucus : Author Judy Croome May 2014 Jump up ^ Spanish Train and Other Stories Chris De Burg 1975 External links Wikisource has original text related to this article : My Last Duchess My Last Duchess -- the text of the poem Audio -- hear the poem Robert Browning Plays Paracelsus ( 1835 ) Strafford ( 1837 ) Pippa Passes ( 1841 ) King Victor and King Charles ( 1842 ) The Return of the Druses ( 1843 ) A Blot in the ' Scutcheon ( 1843 ) Colombe 's Birthday ( 1844 ) Luria ( 1846 ) A Soul 's Tragedy ( 1846 ) In a Balcony ( 1855 ) Poetry collections and poems Pauline : A Fragment of a Confession ( 1833 ) `` Porphyria 's Lover '' ( 1836 ) `` Johannes Agricola in Meditation '' ( 1836 ) Sordello ( 1840 ) Dramatic Lyrics ( 1842, `` My Last Duchess '', `` Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister '', `` Count Gismond '' ) Dramatic Romances and Lyrics ( 1845, `` Home - Thoughts, from Abroad '', `` How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix '', `` Meeting at Night '', `` The Laboratory '', `` The Lost Leader '' ) Christmas - Eve and Easter - Day ( 1850 ) Men and Women ( 1855, `` Love Among the Ruins '', `` Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came '', `` Andrea del Sarto '', `` Fra Lippo Lippi '', `` A Toccata of Galuppi 's '' ) Dramatis Personae ( 1864, `` Rabbi ben Ezra '', `` Caliban upon Setebos '' ) The Ring and the Book ( 1868 - 9 ) Balaustion 's Adventure ( 1871 ) Prince Hohenstiel - Schwangau, Saviour of Society ( 1871 ) Fifine at the Fair ( 1872 ) Red Cotton Night - Cap Country ( 1873 ) Aristophanes ' Apology ( 1875 ) The Inn Album ( 1875 ) Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper ( 1876 ) The Agamemnon of Aeschylus ( 1877 ) La Saisiaz and The Two Poets of Croisic ( 1878 ) Dramatic Idyls ( 1879, 1880 ) Jocoseria ( 1883 ) Ferishtah 's Fancies ( 1884 ) Parleyings with Certain People of Importance in Their Day ( 1887 ) Asolando ( 1889 ) Related Browning Society Armstrong Browning Library, collections and papers Clasped Hands of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning ( 1853 sculpture ) The Barretts of Wimpole Street 1934 film 1957 film Family life Elizabeth Barrett Browning ( wife ) Robert Barrett Browning ( son ) Casa Guidi AQA Anthology ( 2004 ) Poems from Other Cultures Cluster 1 `` Limbo '' by Edward Kamau Brathwaite `` Nothing 's Changed '' by Tatamkhulu Afrika `` Island Man '' by Grace Nichols `` Blessing '' by Imtiaz Dharker `` Two Scavengers in a Truck, Two Beautiful People in a Mercedes '' by Lawrence Ferlinghetti `` Night of the Scorpion '' by Nissim Ezekiel `` Vultures '' by Chinua Achebe `` What Were They Like ? '' by Denise Levertov Cluster 2 `` Search for My Tongue '' by Sujata Bhatt `` Unrelated Incidents '' by Tom Leonard `` Half Caste '' by John Agard `` Love After Love '' by Derek Walcott `` This Room '' by Imtiaz Dharker `` Not My Business '' by Niyi Osundare `` Presents from my Aunts in Pakistan '' by Moniza Alvi `` Hurricane Hits England '' by Grace Nichols Seamus Heaney `` Storm on the Island '' `` Perch '' `` Blackberry - Pickin '' `` Death of a Naturalist '' `` Digging '' `` Mid-Term Break '' `` Follower '' `` At a Potato Digging '' Gillian Clarke `` Catrin '' `` Baby - sitting '' `` Mali '' `` A Difficult Birth, Easter 1998 '' `` The Field Mouse '' `` October '' `` On the Train '' `` Cold Knap Lake '' Carol Ann Duffy `` Havisham '' `` Elvis 's Twin Sister '' `` Anne Hathaway '' `` Salome '' `` We Remember Your Childhood Well '' `` Before You Were Mine '' `` Education for Leisure '' `` Stealing '' Simon Armitage `` Mother, any distance greater than a single span '' `` My father thought it... '' `` Homecoming '' `` November '' `` Kid '' `` Those bastards in their mansions '' `` I 've made out a will ; I 'm leaving myself '' `` Hitcher '' Pre-1914 `` On My First Sonne '' by Ben Jonson `` Song of the Old Mother '' by William Butler Yeats `` The Affliction of Margaret '' by William Wordsworth `` The Little Boy Lost and The Little Boy Found '' by William Blake `` Tichborne 's Elegy '' by Charles Tichborne `` The Man He Killed '' by Thomas Hardy `` Patrolling Barnegat '' by Walt Whitman `` Sonnet CXXX '' by William Shakespeare `` My Last Duchess '' by Robert Browning `` The Laboratory '' by Robert Browning `` Ulysses '' by Alfred Tennyson `` The Village Schoolmaster '' by Oliver Goldsmith `` The Eagle '' by Alfred Tennyson `` Sonnet '' by John Clare Prose `` Flight '' by Doris Lessing `` Superman and Paula Brown 's New Snowsuit '' by Sylvia Plath `` Your Shoes '' by Michèle Roberts `` Growing Up '' by Joyce Cary `` The End of Something '' by Ernest Hemingway `` Chemistry '' by Graham Swift `` Snowdrops '' by Leslie Norris Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=My_Last_Duchess&oldid=863033918 '' Categories : Poetry by Robert Browning British poems 1845 poems Fictional dukes and duchesses Hidden categories : EngvarB from September 2013 Use dmy dates from September 2013 Articles needing additional references from August 2009 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from August 2013 Articles with unsourced statements from January 2017 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Brezhoneg فارسی Français Italiano Nederlands Polski Edit links This page was last edited on 8 October 2018, at 08 : 42 ( UTC ). 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Question: who is the duke speaking to in the poem my last duchess
Answer: Nikolaus Madruz