Editing Dramatic monologue

{{short description|Type of poetry}}
{{more footnotes|date=November 2014}}

'''Dramatic monologue''' is a type of poetry written in the form of a speech of an individual character. [[M.H. Abrams]] notes the following three features of the ''dramatic monologue'' as it applies to poetry:
{{Quotation|
# The single person, who is patently ''not'' the poet, utters the speech that makes up the whole of the poem, in a specific situation at a critical moment […].
# This person addresses and interacts with one or more other people; but we know of the auditors' presence, and what they say and do, only from clues in the discourse of the single speaker.
# The 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.<ref>M. H. Abrams, gen. ed. "Dramatic Monologue." ''A Glossary of Literary Terms.'' 8th ed. Boston: Thomsan Wadsworth, 2005. 70-71.</ref>}}

==Types of dramatic  monologue==

One of the most important influences on the development of the dramatic monologue  is [[romantic poetry]]. However, the long, personal lyrics typical of the Romantic period are not dramatic monologues, in the sense that they do not, for the most part, imply a concentrated narrative. Poems such as [[William Wordsworth]]'s ''[[Tintern Abbey (poem)|Tintern Abbey]]'' and [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]]'s ''[[Mont Blanc (poem)|Mont Blanc]]'', to name two famous examples, offered a model of close psychological observation and philosophical or pseudo-philosophical inquiry described in a specific setting.  The [[conversation poems]] of [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]] are perhaps a better precedent. The genre was also developed by [[Felicia Hemans]] and [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon]], beginning in the latter's case with her long poem ''The Improvisatrice''.<ref>Serena Baiesi. ''Letitia Elizabeth Landon and Metrical Romance'', 2009, p.56-58.</ref>

The novel and plays have also been important influences on the dramatic monologue, particularly as a means of characterization. Dramatic monologues are a way of expressing the views of a character and offering the audience greater insight into that character's feelings. Dramatic monologues can also be used in novels to tell stories, as in [[Mary Shelley]]'s ''[[Frankenstein]]'', and to implicate the audience in moral judgements, as in [[Albert Camus]]' ''[[The Fall (Albert Camus novel)|The Fall]]'' and [[Mohsin Hamid]]'s ''[[The Reluctant Fundamentalist]]''.

== Examples ==

The [[Victorian era|Victorian]] period represented the high point of the dramatic monologue in English poetry.

*[[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]]'s ''[[Ulysses (poem)|Ulysses]]'', published in 1842, has been called the first true dramatic monologue. After ''Ulysses'', Tennyson's most famous efforts in this vein are ''Tithonus'', ''The Lotos-Eaters,'' and ''St. Simon Stylites,'' all from the 1842 ''[[Poems (Tennyson, 1842)|Poems]]''; later monologues appear in other volumes, notably ''[[Idylls of the King]]''.
*[[Matthew Arnold]]'s ''[[Dover Beach]]'' and ''Stanzas from the Grand Chartreuse'' are famous, semi-autobiographical monologues. The former, usually regarded as the supreme expression of the growing [[scepticism (philosophy)|scepticism]] of the mid-Victorian period, was published along with the latter in 1867's ''New Poems.''
*[[Robert Browning]] produced his most famous work in this form. While ''[[My Last Duchess]]'' is the most famous of his monologues, the form dominated his writing career. ''[[The Ring and the Book]]'', ''[[Fra Lippo Lippi (poem)|Fra Lippo Lippi]]'', ''[[Caliban over Setebos|Caliban upon Setebos]]'', ''[[Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister]]'' and ''[[Porphyria's Lover]]'', as well as the other poems in ''[[Men and Women (poetry collection)|Men and Women]]'' are just a handful of Browning's monologues.

Other Victorian poets also used the form.  [[Dante Gabriel Rossetti]] wrote several, including ''Jenny'' and ''The Blessed Damozel''; [[Christina Rossetti]] wrote a number, including ''The Convent Threshold.'' [[Augusta Webster]]'s ''A Castaway,'' ''Circe'', and ''The Happiest Girl in the World'', [[Amy Levy]]'s ''Xantippe'' and ''A Minor Poet,'' and [[Felicia Hemans]]'s ''Arabella Stuart'' and ''Properzia Rossi'' are all exemplars of this technique. [[Algernon Charles Swinburne]]'s ''[[Hymn to Proserpine]]'' has been called a dramatic monologue vaguely reminiscent of Browning's work. Some American poets have also written poems in the genre—famous examples include [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s "[[The Raven]]".

Post-Victorian examples include [[William Butler Yeats]]'s ''The Gift of Harun al-Rashid'', [[Elizabeth Bishop]]'s ''Crusoe in England'', and [[T.S. Eliot]]'s ''[[The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock]]'' and ''[[Gerontion]]''.

==Studies==
A major study of the dramatic monologue was published in 1977 by [[Alan Sinfield]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sinfield |first=Alan |title=Dramatic monologue |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-83848-1 |series=Routledge revivals |location=London |orig-date=1977}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Stream of consciousness (narrative mode)|Stream of consciousness]]
*[[Monologue]]
*[[Persona poetry]]
*[[Soliloquy]]
*[[Verse drama and dramatic verse]]
*[[Thematic focus of Robert Browning poetic work]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book |author=Howe, Elisabeth A. |title=The Dramatic Monologue |publisher=Twayne Publishers |location=Boston |year=1996 |pages= 166 pages|isbn=0-8057-0969-X }}
*{{cite book |author=Byron, Glennis |title=Dramatic monologue |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=2003 |pages=208 pages |isbn=0-415-22937-5 }}
*{{cite book |author=Arco Publishing |title=Arco Master the Ap English Language & Composition Test 2003 (Master the Ap English Language & Composition Test) |publisher=Arco |location=New York |year=2002 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/masterapenglishl00roza/page/n291 288] |isbn=0-7689-0991-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/masterapenglishl00roza }}

[[Category:Drama]]
[[Category:Genres of poetry]]