The poem is preceded by the epigraph "Ferrara:", indicating that the speaker is Alfonso II d'Este, the fifth Duke of Ferrara (1533–1598), who, in 1558 (at the age of 25), had married Lucrezia di Cosimo de' Medici, the 14-year-old daughter of Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Eleonora di Toledo.