Dramatic Monologue

Dramatic Monologue

The term “Dramatic Monologue” was made popular by poet Robert Browning. It means a kind of poem where one single character speaks for the whole poem. This character is not the poet but a made-up or historical person. The speaker talks to someone who is present but never speaks in the poem. This silent listener is only known through clues in the speaker’s words.

A dramatic monologue is not a part of a play, but a type of poem. The poem is written like a speech. It happens at an important moment in the speaker’s life. Through the speaker’s words, we learn about their thoughts, personality, and feelings. The speaker often reveals more than they realize. This is what makes the dramatic monologue special.

For example, in Browning’s My Last Duchess, a duke shows a painting of his late wife and talks about her. But as he speaks, we slowly understand that he may have had her killed. The poem does not directly say this, but the truth is hidden in his words.

A dramatic monologue usually has three main features:

  1. The speaker is one person, and not the poet.

  2. The speaker talks to someone else who stays silent.

  3. The poem shows the speaker’s true character without them knowing it.

Sometimes, the second feature (the silent listener) is missing. But the other two are very important. For example, in Browning’s Caliban upon Setebos, the speaker talks to himself, but still shows his inner nature.

This type of poem is different from a soliloquy in a play. In a soliloquy, a character talks to themselves when alone on stage. It is also not the same as a lyric poem, where the poet usually shares their own feelings.

Other famous dramatic monologues include:

  • Tennyson’s Ulysses (1842)

  • Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915)

  • Browning’s Fra Lippo Lippi and Andrea del Sarto

In modern times, poets like Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, H.D., Amy Lowell, and Robert Lowell also used this form. These poems give readers a deep look into the minds of unusual or troubled characters.


REFERENCES: 

Abrams, M. H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 7th ed., Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999.

Baldick, Chris. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms. 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 2001.

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