"My Last Duchess," (1842) by Robert Browning, is a great example of dramatic dialogue, a poetic form used to narrate and dramatize Victorian concerns. In iambic pentameter couplets, the speaker of the poem, the Duke of Ferrara says: "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall, / Looking as if she were alive..."
1. Robert Browning's Poetry: Norton Critical Edition
by Robert Browning, and James M. Loucks (Editor). W.W. Norton. This collection includes a chronology, selected texts, prose, and criticism from John Forster, Thomas Carlyle, George Eliot, William Morris, John Ruskin, Robert Buchanan, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and many others.
2. Selected Poems
by Robert Browning, and Daniel Karlin (Editor). Penguin Classics. From the publisher: "This selection includes examples from the early Dramatic Lyrics (1842) and Dramatic Romances and Lyrics (1845), from the collections that count as Browning's masterpieces, Men and Women (1855) and Dramatis Personae (1864), and from the fine, though less familiar works of his later years."3. Introduction to Robert Browning
by Hiram Corson. Ayer Company Publishers. Corson writes, "The purpose of the present volume is to afford some aid and guidance in the study of Robert Browning's Poetry, which, being the most complexly subjective of all English poetry, is, for that reason alone, the most difficult."4. Complete Critical Guide to Robert Browning
by Stefan Hawlin. Routledge. This guide offers information and resources related to the text and works of Robert Browning. Find discussion about critical issues, along with suggestions for further reading.5. The Poetical Works of Robert Browning
by Robert Browning, Ian Jack (Editor), Robert Inglesfield (Editor). From the publisher: "The fifth volume in the highly praised Poetical Works of Browning is the first scholarly edition of Browning's greatest collection of short poems, Men and Women. The editors provide a critical text based on that of Browning's final collection, and include detailed introductions to the individual poems."6. My Last Duchess, and Other Poems
by Robert Browning. Dover. From the publisher: "Forty-two works revealing the Victorian poet's great gifts as a poignant lyricist and a dramatist of great virtuosity. Collection includes a number of Browning's famed dramatic monologues..."7. Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Best-Loved Poems
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning. Audio Partners Publishing Corporation. From the publisher: "Acclaimed in her own time, Elizabeth is best known for the 44 poems in 'Sonnets from the Portuguese,' written during her courtship with Robert... Robert Browning helped usher in the modern era of poetry with works such as 'My Last Duchess,' 'Rabbi Ben Ezra,' and 'Fra Lippo Lippi.'"