Dramatic poetry

1. Dramatic Poetry

2. Dramatic Poetry Defined
•Has elements that closely relate it to
drama, either because it is written in
some kind of dramatic form, or uses a
dramatic technique
•May also suggest a story, but there is
more emphasis on character rather
than on the narrative

3. Forms of Dramatic Poetry
1.Dramatic Monologue
2.Soliloquy
3.Character Sketch

4. 1.Dramatic Monologue
•a combination of drama and poetry
•Presents the speech of a single character
“in a specific situation at a critical moment”
•The speaker addresses one or more
persons who are present and who are
listening to the speaker, but remain silent
•The speaker’s personality and character,
his relationship to others, his sense of
values and attitudes towards life are
indirectly gleaned from his monologue

5. Example of a Dramatic
Monologue
•Ferrara:
That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf's hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will't please you sit and look at her? I said
"Frà Pandolf" by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance,
But to myself they turned (since none puts by
The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)
And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst,
How such a glance came there; so, not the first
Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not
Her husband's presence only, called that spot
Of joy into the Duchess' cheek: perhaps
Frà Pandolf chanced to say "Her mantle laps
Over my Lady's wrist too much," or "Paint
Must never hope to reproduce the faint

6. 2.Soliloquy
•A passage spoken by a speaker in a poem
or a character in a play
•No one present to hear the speaker
•The thoughts expressed, the emotions
displayed, and the revelations made, freely
and without inhibition, give deep insights
into the character
•Used in poetic dramas to enrich and vivify
characterization
•Inform the audience about other
developments in the play

7. Example of Soliloquy
•HAMLET:
•To be, or not to be--that is the question:
•Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
•The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
•Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
•And by opposing end them. To die, to
sleep--
•No more--and by a sleep to say we end
•The heartache, and the thousand natural
shocks
•That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
•Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--
•To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's
the rub,
•For in that sleep of death what dreams may
come
•When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
•Must give us pause. There's the respect
•That makes calamity of so long life.
•For who would bear the whips and scorns of
time,
•Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's
contumely
•The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
•The insolence of office, and the spurns
•That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
•When he himself might his quietus make
•With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
•To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
•But that the dread of something after death,
•The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
•No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
•And makes us rather bear those ills we have
•Than fly to others that we know not of?
•Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
•And thus the native hue of resolution
•Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
•And enterprise of great pitch and moment
•With this regard their currents turn awry
•And lose the name of action. -- Soft you now,
•The fair Ophelia! -- Nymph, in thy orisons
•Be all my sins remembered.

8. 3.Character Sketch
•A poem in which “the writer is
concerned less with matters of story,
complete or implied, than he is with
arousing sympathy, antagonism, or
merely interest for an individual”
•Poet – serves as observer and
commentator
•Incorporates the element of suspense,
conflict, or tension

9. Example of
Character Sketch
Abou Ben Adhem: James Henry Leigh
Hunt
Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe
increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream
of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his
room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An Angel writing in a book of gold:
Exceeding peace had made Ben
Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he
said,
"What writest thou?" The Vision raised
its head,
And with a look made of all sweet
accord
Answered, "The names of those who
love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay,
not so,"
Replied the Angel. Abou spoke
more low,
But cheerily still; and said, "I pray
thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his
fellow men."
The Angel wrote, and vanished.
The next night
It came again with a great
wakening light,
And showed the names whom
love of God had blessed,
And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all
the rest!