Dramatic monologue

Literary Term Dramatic Monologue

1. BACKGROUND STUDY: The Dramatic Monologue by Vaibhav Atmaram Gangane Kholeshwar College , Ambajogai

2. Monologue in poetry and drama 2 In poetry or in drama, dramatic monologue is often a long speech given dramatically. Such speeches are seen throughout the history of English literature. Elements of dramatic monologues can be seen in the theater from ancient Greece literature to romantic period, in the works of William Wordsworth, John Keats and S. T. Coleridge.

3. Monologue in poetry and drama: Ancient Greece 3 The Idylls of Theocritus , written in 3 rd C. BC. was acknowledged as a very primary source of monologues, which includes long speeches . (Dramatic in form) Ovid’s Heroides , 1 st C. BC. is a collection of letters or speeches attributed to various figures from myth and literature. In ancient Greek literature, monologues were often performed by female characters, Heroides

4. Monologue in poetry and drama: Renaissance 4 who look at the actions of their heroic men from an emotional and domestic viewpoint. This talent for dramatizing emotion is apparent in Ovid’s Love Lyrics and other poems as well, which later became influential throughout Europe during middle ages and Renaissance. In English literature the early practitioner of this phenomenon were Chaucer, The Earl of Surrey, Spencer and Samuel Daniel etc.

5. Monologue in poetry and drama: Shakespearean Age 5 Further, William Shakespeare’s A Lovers Complaint is an example of dramatic monologue which is full of dramatic in feeling. In the metaphysical school of poetry, John Donne and his followers made much use of monologues and sudden shifts of emotions. Donne’s Canonization , George Herbert’s The Collar and Andrew Marvell’s The Nymph Complaining for the Death of her Faun are the metaphysical versions of monologues. A Lovers Complaint 1609

6. Monologue in poetry and drama: Romantic Age 6 While at the beginning of Romanticism, the dramatic potential of the lyric took on new importance. Several poets draw on the use of monologue and dialogue in the traditional ballad. Ex. Wordsworth’s The Thorn , Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Keats’s La Belle Dame sans Merci .

7. Monologue in poetry and drama: Victorian age 7 In its most fully developed form, the dramatic monologue is a Victorian genre . The form as it is understood today was invented in the  Victorian era . Robert Browning, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Christina Rossetti were early pioneers. In their dramatic monologues, a fictional character reveals important information about their personality, situation, actions, or emotional state. Queen Victoria

8. Monologue in poetry and drama: Modern age 8 The form remained popular in the 20th century. In the  Modernist era , T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound wrote persona poems, including Eliot’s famous The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Pound’s  Personae , a collection of short poems written in the voice of different characters. In the 1950s and 1960s, Gwendolyn Brooks, John Berryman, and Sylvia Plath all made notable contributions by writing dramatic monologues that grappled with subjects like the African American urban experience, mental illness, addiction, and suicidal ideation .

9. 9 What is Dramatic Monologue?

10. 10 It is a literary form where the writer takes on the voice of a character and speaks through them. (without interruption) Within the poem’s/drama’s framework, the speaker/character reveals surprising information about their character or situation to an implied or explicit audience.

11. 11 It is a narrative sense of the speaker’s history and psychological insight into his character. A dramatic monologue is also called a persona poem , and the character speaking in the poem is referred to as a “persona”.

12. Monologue One character addresses other character. (speaking to other characters There can be two types of audience; the real one and the audience within the play. A long speech. Soliloquy The character is addressing to him or herself. No audience except the audience sitting in the theatre. A series of unspoken reflections Used in drama 12 Monologue and Soliloquy

13. 13 Soliloquy Monologue

14. 14 What are the characteristics of Dramatic Monologue?

15. Characteristics: It is a long speech by a single person To say that the poem is a monologue means that these are the words of one speaker with no dialogue coming from any other character. A speaker is a single person who is not a poet. The speech of this character makes up the whole of the verse. This character addresses & interacts with one or more people. The subject of the monologue is self-revelation. The rhyme scheme is not important in Dramatic Monologue. 15

16. Why Writers Use Dramatic Monologues? Purpose: To give insight into character’s personality. To indicate to the reader the character’s background and history. It adds theatrical qualities to the poem. 16

17. Popular Examples of Dramatic Monologues 17 My Last Duchess  by Robert Browning The Bishop Orders His Tomb  by Robert Browning Andrea del Sarto   by Robert Browning Men and Women  by Robert Browning C hristmas Eve and Easter Day  by Robert Browning Dramatis Personae  by Robert Browning The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock  by Eliot Ulysses  by Tennyson

18. Thanks ! 18