A poetic form involves some kind of structural formula dictating how it is to be written. Beyond this, myriad of differences exist among abstract or genre poems. The three poems, "My Last Duchess," by Robert Browning, "Richard Cory" by Edwin Arlington Robinson and "We Real Cool," by Gwendolyn Brooks truly exemplify such variety.

             In "My Last Duchess," Browning offers readers a personal view of an aristocratic Duchess from the mid-1840s. While standing in front of his late wife's portrait, Alfonso II, Duke of Ferrara of Italy talks about her failings and imperfections to a member of his fiancee's family. The ironic twist comes when it is realized that the young wife's faults were simply "a heart too soon made glad, too easily impressed." In other words, she was too friendly to others-especially men-and thus the arrogant, jealous and controlling Duke had her killed. .

             The poem offers an example of the dramatic monologue, since from a formalist standpoint, it includes the three elements of an occasion, a speaker and a listener (sometimes oneself), all its words are meant to be heard and there is one voice. It is also a form of lyric poem where the speaker addresses a distinct but silent audience imagined to be present to reveal a dramatic situation and, purposely or not, some aspect of his/her temperament or personality.

             "My Last Duchess," uses irony to convey its message. As noted previously, it turns out that the Duke is the one to be derided, not his wife. The poem contains verbal irony as shown when the Duke says to his guests, "even had you skill in speech . . . which I have not," since he continually proves through his words that he is a professional speaker. The irony is recognized from the very beginning as the Duke says, "There she stands/As if Alive," not realizing that he will be relating more about himself through his words than about his wife. That is, here "he" stands, alive in front of you.