Dramatic monologue A 'dramatic monologue' is is a piece of spoken verse that offers great insight into the feelings of the speaker. Not to be confused with a soliloquy in a play (which the character speaking speaks to themselves), dramatic monologues suggest an auditor or auditors. hey were favored by many poets in the !ictorian !ictorian period, period, in which a character character in in fiction fiction or or in history history delivers delivers a speech e"plaining his or her feelings, actions, or motives. he monologue monologue is is usually directed toward a silent audience, with the speaker's words influenced by a critical situation. An e"ample of a dramatic monologue e"ists in My in My Last Duchess by Duchess by #obert $rowning, $rowning, when a duke speaks to an emissary of his way,
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%&orphyria's over% also by #obert $rowning, $rowning, %he aptain of the *+ op of the -orm eam% by arol Ann uffy, uffy,
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%ady a/arus% by 0ylvia &lath. &lath.
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1n a general way, the dramatic tradition as a whole may h ave influenced the style of the monologue. 1ndeed, the style of the dramatic monologue, which attempts to evoke an entire story through representing part of it, may be called an endeavor to turn into poetry many of the distinctive features of drama.
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Features of the Dramatic Monologue 2. 6. Abrams notes the following three features of the dramatic monologue7 monologue7 . A single single person person,, who who is paten patently tly not the the poet, utters the speech that makes up the whole of the poem, in a specific situation at a critical moment 89:. 3. his person person addres addresses ses and interac interacts ts with one one or more more other people; people; but but we know of the the auditors' presence, and what they say and do, only from clues in the discourse of the single speaker.
4. he main principle controlling the poet's choice and formulation of what the lyric speaker says is to reveal to the reader, in a way that enhances its interest, the speaker's temperament and character .8:
Types of monologues
The Victorian eriod he !ictorian period represented the high point of the dramatic monologue in >nglish poetry. •
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Alfred, ord ennyson's Ulysses, published in ?3, has been called the first true dramatic monologue. After Ulysses, ennyson's most famous efforts in this vein are Tithonus, The Lotus Eaters, and t. imon tylites, all from the ?3 &oems; later monologues appear in other volumes, notably !dylls of the "ing . #obert $rowning is usually credited with perfecting the form; certainly, $rowning is the poet who, above all, produced his finest and most famous work in this form. =hile My Last Duchess is the most famous of his monologues, the form dominated his writing career. #ra Lippo Lippi, $aliban upon etebos, olilo%uy of the panish $loister and &orphyria's Lover , as well as the other poems in Men and (omen are @ust a handful of $rowning's monologues.
Poetic Technique: Dramatic Monologue
ramatic monologue in poetry, also known as a persona poem, shares many characteristics with a theatrical monologue7 an audience is implied; there is no dialogue; and the poet speaks through an assumed voiceBa character, a fictional identity, or a persona. $ecause a dramatic monologue is by definition one personCs speech, it is offered without overt analysis or commentary, placing emphasis on sub@ective qualities that are left to the audience to interpret. hough the technique is evident in many ancient reek dramas, the dramatic monologue as a poetic form achieved its first era of distinction in the work of !ictorian poet #obert $rowning. $rowningCs poems %2y ast uchess% and %0oliloquy of the 0panish loister,% though considered largely inscrutable by !ictorian readers, have become models of the form. 6is monologues combine the elements of the speaker and the audience so deftly that the reader seems to have some control over how much the speaker will divulge in his monologue. his comple" relationship is evident in the following e" cerpt from %2y ast uchess%7 >ven had you skill 1n speechB(which 1 have not)Bto make your will Duite clear to such an one, and say, 'Eust this 'en then would be some stooping... 1n the twentieth century, the influence of $rowningCs monologues can be seen in the work of >/ra &ound and . 0. >liot. 1n >liotCs %he ove 0ong of E. Alfred &rufrock,% readers find the voice of the poet cloaked in a mask, a technique that >liot mastered in his career. 2ore recently, a number of poets have offered variations on the form, including %2irror% and %ady a/arus% by 0ylvia &lath, and %affy uck in 6ollywood% by Eohn Ashbery. Eohn $erryman used the form in his series of Dream ongs, writing poems with shifting narrators, including his alter egos %6enry% and %2r. $ones.%
