How is My Last Duchess structured?

"My Last Duchess" is structured as a dramatic monologue, a form in which a single character delivers a speech that reveals their history and psychological state to the reader.12

Specifically, the poem consists of 56 lines written in rhyming couplets. Through this structure, Robert Browning presents a single, vivid scene in which the Duke of Ferrara speaks to an unseen listener while showing off a portrait of his late wife. The poem’s effectiveness relies on the reader gradually piecing together the Duke's character—specifically his cruelty and arrogance—through his own casual remarks and digressions, rather than through direct narration.12