My Last Duchess is a poem written by Robert Browning written in 1842, but published in the collection Dramatic Lyrics in 1845.

The title gives some important information: the poem deals with a female character belonging to the aristocracy. Moreover there is a possessive pronoun that conveys the idea of possessiveness, so probably the speaking voice is a person closely related to the woman. There is also an adjective, last, that could make reference to previous duchess, or, on the other hand, it could convey that there would be no more duchesses after her. Furthermore it suggests that Duchess is dead.

After the title there is a reference to the space: the poem is set in Ferrara.

The poem is a dramatic monologue: we have a speaking voice that express himself in first person, with a silent listener played by the messenger, in the form of soliloquy.

 The scene consists in a dialogue between Duke and messenger and it is set in Duke’s art-gallery. 

The speaking voice is a Duke, so the Duchess could be his wife.

The Duke is standing in front of the fresco of his Duchess painted on the wall(v.1). The deictic That(v.1) conveys a distance between Duke and the paint, not only spatial.

The fresco is painted by Fra Pandolf(v.3), it is well done and it has committed him for a day.

The portrait is hidden by a curtain(v.10) that only Duke can draw. So why is this portrait so exclusive?

The expression of Duchess is a particular glance, and everyone who see the picture ask the Duke why she has such a glance(v.12). […] ‘twas not / Her hausband’s presence only, called that spot / Of joy […](vv.12-14) .

In the following lines Duke express his disappoint about Duchess’s glance, because she does not recognize what is really important: and so she disrespects his nine-hundred-years-old-name(v.33).

Duke does not bear this behavior, and he does not want to stoop to reproach her.

I gave commands(v.45) means he has murdered her.

In the last part of the monologue the Duke move the focus of the speech towards other works in the gallery - Neptune Taming a Sea-Horse (v.54) - , continuing the walk talking about his future wife.

The poem is built up in rhyming couplets, without the division in stanzas; some scenes are juxtaposed without linking words. Language used is allusive and near to speech. Dramatic monologue and the use of language open a look in the psychology of the character: Duke conveys a lot of his inner side without being aware about it.