ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -My Last Duchess, poem of 56 lines in rhyming couplets by Robert Browning, published in 1842 in Dramatic Lyrics, a volume in his Bells and Pomegranates series. It is one of Browning’s most successful dramatic monologues.

Detailed explanation-2: -Browning’s inspiration for “My Last Duchess” was the history of a Renaissance duke, Alfonso II of Ferrara, whose young wife Lucrezia died in suspicious circumstances in 1561. Lucrezia was a Medici – part of a family that was becoming one of the most powerful and wealthy in Europe at the time.

Detailed explanation-3: -This poem is set in 1564 and is based on the real-life Duke Alfonso II who ruled Ferrara, Italy in the latter half of the 16th century. In the poem, he’s talking about his first wife Lucrezia de’ Medici, who died under suspicious circumstances shortly after marrying the Duke.

Detailed explanation-4: -“My Last Duchess” is a dramatic monologue written by Victorian poet Robert Browning in 1842.