his complaint of her was that "'twas not her husband's presence only" that made her happy. Eventually, "I gave commands; then all smiles stopped together." In an interview, Browning said, "I meant that the commands were that she should be put to death ... Or he might have had her shut up in a convent." The duke now keeps her painting hidden behind a curtain that only he is allowed to draw back, thus now she only smiles for him. The Duke demonstrates many narcissistic tendencies as he recalls the time he shared with his now-deceased Duchess. He then resumes an earlier conversation regarding wedding arrangements, and in passing points out another work of art, a bronze statue of Neptune taming a sea-horse by Claus of Innsbruck, so making his late wife but just another work of art. Form Browning characterized this poem as a dramatic lyric; but essentially it is a dramatic monologue, a genre typically associated with Robert Browning, where one person speaks to a presumed audience. It is written in iambic pentameter, employing rhyming couplets and the enjambment technique of not always concluding the sentences at the ends of lines. Because of these techniques, the poem has a conversational quality and can be read as a long speech. Modern adaptations In 1941, while attending Bowdoin College, novelist Charles Mergendahl was awarded first prize in the school's annual one-act play competition for his blank-verse dramatization of the poem. The 20th century American poet Richard Howard wrote a sequel to the poem, "Nikolaus Mardruz to his Master Ferdinand, Count of Tyrol, 1565", in the form of a letter from the listener in Browning's original that details his response to the Duke's monologue. The short story "My Last Girlfriend" by Robert Barnard is a take-off on "My Last Duchess" with a new twist. Science fiction author Eric Flint uses portions of "My Last Duchess" in his book 1634: The Galileo Affair (2004). Canadian author Margaret Atwood's short story "My Last Duchess" appears in her short story anthology Moral Disorder (2006). It is about two high school students who study the poem and argue about its meaning. South African author Judy Croome based the main character Rax-ul-Can in her apocalyptic short story "The Last Sacrifice" (published in The Weight of a Feather and Other Stories, Aztar Press, 2013) on the Duke in Browning's "My Last Duchess". In "The Painter", a song