My Last Duchess
by Robert Browning
Performed by Denis Daly
Possibly Browning's most famous poetic monologue, this piece is a portrait of a narcissistic aristocratic misogynist. The speaker has been identified as Alfonso D'Este, Duke of Ferrara, and the unfortunate lady, Lucrezia, a member of the celebrated Medici family.
As with much of Browning's verse, this poem illustrates that a high level of artistic development is not always accompanied by an equivalent level of moral practice.
A Voices of Today production.
