dramatic monologue english language coursework

dramatic monologue

What is a dramatic monologue definition, usage, and literary examples, dramatic monologue definition.

Dramatic monologue  (druh-MAT-ik MON-uh-log) is a literary form where the writer takes on the voice of a character and speaks through them. Although dramatic monologues also occur in  theater  and  prose , the term most frequently refers to a  poetic  form where the poet creates a character who speaks without interruption. Within the poem’s framework, the speaker reveals surprising information about their character or situation to an implied or explicit audience, often not intended to be the reader.

A dramatic monologue is also called a persona  poem , and the character speaking in the poem is referred to as a “persona.” The narrator of a persona poem or dramatic monologue is most frequently a person, but dramatic monologues can also be told by animals, objects, places, or abstract concepts (such as love or destiny).

Poets who write dramatic monologues or persona poems are occasionally referred to as monologists.

History of the Dramatic Monologue

While elements of the dramatic monologues can be seen in the theater of ancient Greece, as well as the work of  Romantic  poets like William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 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 speaks without interruption to an audience, revealing important information about their personality, situation, actions, or emotional state.

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 or “masks.” In the 1950s and 1960s, despite the prevailing trend of  confessionalism  in poetry, 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.

While, for the most part, the dramatic monologue was written in the voice of a fictional character, the form sometimes makes use of a character who is already well-known so the poet can explore larger themes. Since the latter half of the 20th century, the form has taken on a political dimension as poets began writing dramatic monologues in the voices of misunderstood historical figures (as in Robert Hayden’s “A Letter from Phillis Wheatley, London, 1773”) or reclaimed racial stock figures (Cornelius Eady’s  Brutal Imagination ).

Types of Dramatic Monologues

Dramatic monologues fall into three main categories.

• Romantic monologues are poems where a character speaks about a romantic relationship, either past, current, or desired.  “Dilemma”  by Anthony Hecht is an example of a romantic monologue.
• Conversational monologues are poems where the dramatic monologue is presented by the speaker as if it is part of a conversation. Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s  “The Eolian Harp”  is one example.
• Philosophical monologues are poems where the character explicates their personal philosophy or theories about the world.  “Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Alley”  by William Wordsworth is one example of a philosophical monologue.

Why Writers Use Dramatic Monologues

Poets use dramatic monologues because it allows them to write about situations and subject matter that is not taken from their own lives. Readers often assume other writers, like novelists or playwrights, create characters wildly different than the writers themselves. But with poetry, readers tend to believe poems are about the writer’s personal experience. Writing dramatic monologues give poets the same artistic freedom and permission to create outside  narratives , characters, and situations that writers in other genres take for granted.

The form is also a powerful way to create narrative tension as the speaker reveals crucial information to the reader in a way that allows the reader to feel as if they are there.

Dramatic Monologues in Other Genres

While the term  dramatic monologue  primarily refers to  poetry , dramatic monologues also occur in fiction and  theater . They contain the same elements of the dramatic monologue poem:

• A character speaks in an uninterrupted flow
• The audience may be either present or absent
• The speaker reveals something about his or her character or situation through the monologue

Unlike a dramatic monologue poem, the form in theater and fiction is not self-contained. These dramatic monologues occur in the context of a longer narrative where multiple characters interact and speak. While these dramatic monologues can be viewed as excerpts of larger works, they cannot truly stand alone.

Notable Dramatic Monologue Poets

Though they may not have exclusively written dramatic monologues, the following poets have made notable contributions to the form:

• John Berryman,  “Dream Song 14”
• Frank Bidart,  “Ellen West”
• Gwendolyn Brooks,  “A Sunset of the City”
• Robert Browning,  “Porphyria’s Lover”
• Cornelius Eady,  “The Cab Driver Who Ripped Me Off”
• T. S. Eliot,  “Portrait of a Lady”
• Louise Erdrich, “The Butcher’s Wife”
• Louise Gluck,  “Daisies”
• Robert Hayden,  “Night, Death, Mississippi”
• Dante Gabriel Rossetti,  “A Last Confession”
• Christina Rossetti,  “The Convent Threshold”
• Sylvia Plath,  “The Applicant”
• Ezra Pound,  “The River Merchant’s Wife: A Letter”
• Alfred Lord Tennyson,  “Ulysses”

Examples of Dramatic Monologue in Literature

1. Robert Browning,  “My Last Duchess”

Browning’s famous  poem  “My Last Duchess” was one of the first dramatic monologues of the Victorian era. The poem’s speaker is presumed to be Alfonso II d’Este, the fifth Duke of Ferrara. Set during the  Italian Renaissance , the Duke is giving a tour of his art collection to an emissary from his prospective bride’s family. As part of this tour, the Duke shows a painting of his late wife and retells the story of their marriage.

In this excerpt, the reader becomes aware that the Duke was enraged by his late wife’s friendliness and wanted to make sure she smiled only for him:

[…] Oh, sir, she smiled, no doubt,

Whene’er I passed her; but who passed without

Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;

Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands

As if alive.”

At this moment, readers realize that the Duke’s commands led to his wife’s death. Either he directed someone to kill her, or by commanding her to stop smiling, he in some way contributed to her eventual death. Browning himself suggested that the Duke simply sent his first wife away.

2. T. S. Eliot, “ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ”

Eliot began writing his famous dramatic monologue in his early 20s. The titular character narrates the poem; Prufrock is an older man confronting his increasing age, evaluating his unrequited romantic and carnal opportunities, and a life he believes was wasted. Prufrock admits:

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;

am an attendant lord, one that will do

To swell a progress, start a scene or two,

Advise the prince; no doubt an easy tool,

Deferential, glad to be of use

In this moment, Prufrock acknowledges he is not the hero of his life. Instead, he is a minor figure on the world stage—useful to other, more important people but not the star of the show.

3. Gwendolyn Brooks, “ We Real Cool ”

In her well-known poem, Brooks takes on the collective voice of seven young pool players at The Golden Shovel pool parlor. The short poem reads as follows:

THE POOL PLAYERS.

SEVEN AT THE GOLDEN SHOVEL

We real cool. We

Left school. We

Lurk late. We

Strike straight. We

Sing sin. We

Thin gin. We

Jazz June. We

In this brief dramatic monologue, the characters speak in one voice, detailing the fast and dangerous lives they inhabit.

4. Louise Gluck,  “The Wild Iris”

Gluck’s Pulitzer-Prize winning book  The Wild Iris  is written in a series of dramatic monologues from the point of view of different plants, trees, parts of the landscape, and the wind. The titular poem, “The Wild Iris,” presents an iris speaking to humanity. The flower describes its experience as a perennial:

It is terrible to survive

as consciousness

buried in the dark earth.

In this excerpt, the plant is explaining what it feels like to be a bulb buried in the ground every winter, waiting to grow and blossom again each spring.

5. Sylvia Plath,  “Lady Lazarus”

In this poem, Plath presents a speaker describing her numerous attempts at suicide:

Is an art, like everything else.

I do it exceptionally well.

It’s easy enough to do it in a cell.

It’s easy enough to do it and stay put.

It’s the theatrical

Comeback in broad day

To the same place, the same face, the same brute

Amused shout:

‘A miracle!’

That knocks me out.

In this excerpt, Plath’s speaker describes how good she has been at “dying” during her multiple suicide attempts. She points out that her real talent is her ability to return to life, to create a theatrical miraculous resurrection.

Further Resources on Dramatic Monologues

The Academy of American Poets has an excellent article detailing the history of  persona poems  / dramatic monologues.

Billy Mills wrote an excellent article about the Victorian roots of the dramatic monologue for  The Guardian .

Poet Camille Rankine penned a useful essay for  The Poetry Foundation  about the dangers of appropriating the identities of marginalized people in dramatic monologues.

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Related Terms

• Persona poem

Dramatic Monologue; Definition, Characteristics & Examples

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Table of Contents

A dramatic monologue is a long speech by a single person. It differs from soliloquy which means the expression of ideas by a character in a play. On the other hand, dramatic monologue is a kind of lyric which was used and improved by Robert Browning.

These poems are dramatic in the sense that they have a theatrical quality i.e. the poem is meant to be read to an audience. 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.

The reason poets choose to write poems like this is to express a point of view through the words of a character. However, often the opinion stated by that characters are not the same as the views of the poet. Most of the time, the speaker tries to convince someone of something & may or may not be telling the whole truth.

Characteristics

• A speaker is a single person who is not a poet.
• The views of the speaker may contradict with those of the poet.
• The speech of this character makes up the whole of the verse, in a specific situation at a crucial moment.
• This character addresses & interacts with one or more people, but we know of the others’ presence & what they say or do only from clues in the poetic dialogues of the speaker.
• The primary focus of the poet is to tell the readers and audience a story having a moral in a way that boosts the curiosity towards it, the speaker’s temperament & character.
• The subject of the monologue is self-revelation. These are some of the features of dramatic monologue.
• The rhyme scheme is not important in Dramatic Monologue.

These were some of the key features of dramatic monologue.

• 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

These are some of the famous dramatic monologues.

Ulysses as a Dramatic Monologue

• Ulysses, the single character, who is the main speaker is of the view that living with his wife in the house is not worthy.
• He desires to go away for new experiences.
• He wants to attain knowledge which would forever develop his wisdom and understanding.
• The poem is a protest against the idealism of the Romantic Age , which Ulysses’s wife is a symbol of.

How to Write a Dramatic Monologue

• You need to think about a character, the speech of whom will be in the verse form.
• Give specific traits to the character.
• The audience and the readers should be able to understand the nature of the character.
• Compose the dialogues in the form of a poem.
• The dialogues should be clear enough to describe the character, the other character present there and the surroundings.
• Check for errors.
• Rewrite the script.
• Share with your friends.

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Dramatic Monologue

Definition of dramatic monologue.

Dramatic monologue means self-conversation, speech, or talks which include an interlocutor presented dramatically. It means a person, who is speaking to himself or someone else speaks to reveal specific intentions of his actions. However, in literature, it is a poetic form or a poem that presents the speech or conversation of a person in a dramatic manner.

Features of a Dramatic Monologue

A dramatic monologue has these common features in them.

• A single person delivering a speech on one aspect of his life
• The audience may or may not be present
• Speaker reveals his temperament and character only through his speech

Types of Dramatic Monologue

There are three major types of dramatic monologues such as:

• Romantic monologue
• Philosophical and psychological monologue
• Conversational monologue

Characteristics/Elements of Dramatic Monologue

Dramatic monologues have distinct features and characteristics of their own to make them eligible to be called a separate genre . It, however, is a literary device that poets can use in their poetry. Its important elements are as given below.

• Implied audience / Interlocutor
• No conversation
• Fictional persona
• Argumentative tone

Tips for Writing Dramatic Monologues

When writing a dramatic monologue, the following points must be kept in mind.

• A dramatic monologue must have a context in a play or drama or poetic piece.
• It must start with a striking hook that should attract the readers.
• It must be a long thought such as a rumination over some past event.
• It must express strong feelings of either love or hate.
• It must have a good storyline and a good ending.

History of Dramatic Monologue

Although some ruminations and expressions of thoughts are founded in Greek plays and Roman literature, they cannot be categorized as dramatic monologues and have some constraints. Victorians, especially Robert Browning is stated to have created this literary genre. For example, ‘ My Last Duchess ’ and ‘ Porphyria’s Lover ’ are his best dramatic monologues. Alfred Tennyson and Dante Rossetti are two famous authors, known as their contemporaries who wrote amazing dramatic monologues in their work. Hence, it could be termed a distinct Victorian genre.

Dramatic Monologue Examples from Literature

My Last Duchess by Robert Browning

“That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall, Looking as if she were alive. I call That piece a wonder, now ; Fra Pandolf’s hands Worked busily a day, and there she stands. Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said “Fra 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.”

This extract is from the famous monologue of a duke. He tells his audience, possibly the father of his new bride, about his last duchess who could not survive his severity. It is a type of psychological monologue which tells the psychological state of mind of the speaker . Browning has exposed the duke’s cruel state of mind through the poem “My Last Duchess.”

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T. S. Eliot

  “Let us go then, you and I, When the evening is spread out against the sky Like a patient etherized upon a table; Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets, The muttering retreats Of restless nights in one- night cheap hotels And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells: Streets that follow like a tedious argument Of insidious intent To lead you to an overwhelming question … Oh, do not ask, “What is it?” Let us go and make our visit.”

This extract is from the poem “ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ” by T. S. Eliot, a famous and popular modern poet. He has highlighted the thoughts of a modern young man who is madly in love but still hesitates from expressing it. Therefore, he faces an existential dilemma . The poem highlights his psychological state of mind through this contemporary monologue. This extract highlights this dilemma of hesitation in the very first line and then is repeated in the last line.

  Example #3

Lady Lazarus by Sylvia Plath

  I have done it again. One year in every ten I manage it— A sort of walking miracle, my skin Bright as a Nazi lampshade, My right foot A paperweight, My face a featureless, fine Jew linen.

This extract is from the famous monologue of Sylvia Plath’s “ Lady Lazarus .” It also highlights her psychological state of mind about her act of committing suicide and subsequent failure. She has likened this act to the Holocaust to create her own powerful monologue.

Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold

“The sea is calm tonight. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!”

“ Dover Beach ” is another example of such an autobiographical monologue by Matthew Arnold. He has highlighted his own situation and his reaction to the sorrow that he is experiencing. This monologue expressed his thoughts about his bride when they were on honeymoon on the same breach. He recalls the past and writes about the sea again.

  Hawk’s Monologue by Ted Hughes

  “I sit in the top of the wood, my eyes closed. Inaction, no falsifying dream Between my hooked head and hooked feet: Or in sleep rehearse perfect kills and eat. The convenience of the high trees ! The air’s buoyancy and the sun’s ray Are of advantage to me; And the earth’s face upward for my inspection.”

These are the first two stanzas of the famous monologue of Ted Hughes. This poem presents a hawk perching high on a tree, thinking about his power and dreams . It presents a psychological state of mind of personified megalomaniac bird and how he thinks when he holds power over the lives of other weak birds. This dramatic monologue is an example of how powerful people think when they have control over others.

Examples of Dramatic Monologue from Movies

• “… What’d you say a minute ago? They had to wait and save their money before they even ought to think of a decent home. Wait? Wait for what? Until their children grow up and leave them? Until they’re so old and broken down that they … Do you know how long it takes a working man to save $5,000? Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you’re talking about … they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community . Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn’t think so. People were human beings to him. But to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they’re cattle. Well in my book, my father died a much richer man than you’ll ever be!” – It’s a wonderful life
• Good day, gentlemen. This is a prerecorded briefing made prior to your departure and which for security reasons of the highest importance has been known on board during the mission only by your H-A-L 9000 computer. Now that you are in Jupiter’s space and the entire crew is revived it can be told to you. Eighteen months ago the first evidence of intelligent life off the Earth was discovered. It was buried 40 feet below the lunar surface near the crater Tycho. Except for a single very powerful radio emission aimed at Jupiter the four-million year old black monolith has remained completely inert. Its origin and purpose are still a total mystery . – 2001: A Space Odyssey
• I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world, there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. Soldiers! Don’t give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men – machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure . Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite! Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up Hannah! The clouds are lifting! The sun is breaking through! We are coming out of the darkness into the light! We are coming into a new world; a kindlier world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed, and brutality. Look up, Hannah! The soul of man has been given wings and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow! Into the light of hope, into the future! The glorious future, that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up, Hannah. Look up! – The Great Dictator

Dramatic Monologue Function

A monologue functions as a tool to give vent to one’s thoughts. It provides an opportunity for the poets to use powerful words spoken through their characters. So, the characters can express themselves or their ideas without an obstacle or hindrance. A dramatic monologue is also a convenient device to present different characters and their inner thoughts through verses .

Synonyms of Dramatic Monologue

Although Dramatic Monologue doesn’t have the exact replaceable words, the following synonyms come very close to it in meanings. They are discourse , lecture, harangue , soliloquy , speech, descant, and harangue. It, however, must be kept in mind that almost all of them are literary devices in their own right.

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The Best Examples of the Dramatic Monologue

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The dramatic monologue is a literary form that really came of age in the 1830s, thanks to Tennyson and Browning most of all. Below, we’ve selected some of the greatest examples of the dramatic monologue: a poem spoken by a character (rather than the poet themselves) in a dramatic situation, whereby that character reveals their personality through their speech.

There are some brilliant examples of dramatic monologues in English and American literature, so we hope you enjoy this pick of some of the best.

1. Elizabeth Barrett Browning, ‘ The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point ’.

Our wounds are different. Your white men Are, after all, not gods indeed, Nor able to make Christs again Do good with bleeding. We who bleed . . .

As well as writing some of the most famous love poetry of the Victorian era, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61) also explored and tackled social issues in her poetry.

In this poem, the first example of a dramatic monologue on this list, she writes in the character of a black female slave in the United States, on the run having endured a series of horrors: her lover has been murdered and she has been raped, and the baby that resulted was deemed ‘too white’ because of its mixed ethnicity.

A tragic poem (we won’t give away the ending here though the stanzas below provide a clue), the poem is still a powerful indictment of the treatment of black slaves in nineteenth-century America. The poem was written to raise funds for the abolitionist cause.

2. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, ‘ Ulysses ’.

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink Life to the lees: All times I have enjoy’d Greatly, have suffer’d greatly, both with those That loved me, and alone, on shore, and when Thro’ scudding drifts the rainy Hyades Vext the dim sea: I am become a name …

Writers of dramatic monologues have often turned to mythical characters for their subjects and speakers, and this early Tennyson poem is such an example.

A poem about growing old, but written when Tennyson was a young man in his early twenties, ‘Ulysses’ has been read as a response to the death of Tennyson’s friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who had died suddenly in 1833, in his early twenties. The poem takes the warrior Ulysses (the Roman name for Odysseus) as its focus, and reveals an ageing king who, having returned from the Trojan war, yearns to don his armour again and ride off in search of battle, glory, and adventure (leaving his poor wife Penelope behind, we might add!).

Tennyson uses the dramatic monologue to stirring effect, but the dramatic situation also invites us to question Ulysses’ actions, and especially the impact they will have on his wife and son whom he leaves behind (again). Can Ulysses really sail off again in search of glory, or is he deluding himself?

3. Robert Browning, ‘ Porphyria’s Lover ’.

That moment she was mine, mine, fair, Perfectly pure and good: I found A thing to do, and all her hair In one long yellow string I wound Three times her little throat around, And strangled her. No pain felt she; I am quite sure she felt no pain …

Nobody took the dramatic monologue to such a dark place in the nineteenth century as Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s husband, Robert Browning (1812-89). ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ is spoken by a murderer who strangles his beautiful blonde upper-class lover with her own hair.

It was one of Browning’s first great poems, published in 1836 (as ‘Porphyria’) when the poet was still in his mid-twenties. It was also one of his earliest experiments in the dramatic monologue. Despite the poem’s reputation as one of Browning’s finest dramatic monologues, it – like much of Browning’s early work – was largely ignored during his lifetime.

4. T. S. Eliot, ‘ The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock ’.

Written in around 1910 while Eliot was still in his early twenties, this poem is one of the most famous modernist examples of the dramatic monologue. Eliot is following French Symbolists like Jules Laforgue – who was fond of adopting personae or characters as the speakers of his poems – rather than Victorians like Tennyson and Browning, while the dramatic quality of Prufrock’s speech is drawn from the Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatists Eliot so revered.

Prufrock, a middle-aged balding man who feels uncomfortable attending social gatherings while he ponders some ‘overwhelming question’, makes us laugh but also invites our pity and communal sympathy for his feeling of ‘not fitting in’.

5. H. D., ‘ Eurydice ’.

Many of the greatest examples of dramatic monologues in the twentieth century were written by women. Although this is a dramatic monologue spoken by the wife of Orpheus – the musician from Greek mythology – like many of the poems of Hilda Doolittle or H. D. (1886-1961), the poem clearly had its origins in Doolittle’s own life.

Written during the First World War when H. D. lost her brother and her marriage to Richard Aldington began to fail (their first child was also stillborn in 1915), ‘Eurydice’ is about the myth involving a woman sent to the Underworld.

Orpheus travels to Hades to ask that Eurydice be returned to the land of the living, and Hades grants his wish, on condition that Orpheus doesn’t look back at his wife as they leave the Underworld. Orpheus can’t wait, and looks back at Eurydice before she’s clear of the Underworld, and as a result she is destined to remain in Hades forever.

H. D. saw the feminist potential for such a story, and here gives Eurydice a voice, as she accuses her husband of thwarting her chances at life. ‘Dramatic’ in more ways than one!

6. Elizabeth Bishop, ‘ Crusoe in England ’.

Writers of dramatic monologues haven’t just drawn on myth; sometimes they’ve taken their inspiration from existing literary characters. This dramatic monologue from the twentieth-century American poet Elizabeth Bishop imagines Robinson Crusoe looking back on his life, after he’s been rescued from his island and has returned to England as an older man.

What does Defoe’s character have left, after his life of adventure and toil? The poem is an interesting example of a female poet taking on a male character’s persona and re-examining it: the Crusoe we encounter is altogether more ‘modern’ and introspective than the depiction in Defoe’s novel over two centuries before.

7. Judith Wright, ‘ Eve to Her Daughters ’.

This dramatic monologue sees the Biblical Eve transported to a post-nuclear landscape where man has succeeded in destroying the Edenic paradise of the world as we know it. Wright manages to weave in anti-war sentiments, feminist ideas, and some clever Biblical jokes, as Eve addresses her daughters and maintains, ‘It was not I who began it.’

8. Carol Ann Duffy, ‘ Medusa ’.

What would it be like to have the Gorgon Medusa’s powers, from Greek mythology – to be able to turn things to stone when they merely glance at you? Here we get a ginger cat transformed into a brick, a pig turned into a boulder, and much else – before Perseus, addressed by Medusa in the final stanzas, arrives with his cunning mirror-shield to deliver Medusa’s comeuppance.

This poem is taken from Duffy’s collection The World’s Wife .

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5 thoughts on “The Best Examples of the Dramatic Monologue”

So pleased to see EBB getting her dues. Best wishes to you all.

I’m surprised Browning’s “My Last Duchess” isn’t on the list.

I am grateful for this instalment on Dramatic Monologues. Now I must find The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point by Elizabeth Browning.

My personal favourite is Fra Lippo Lippi.

Wishing Happiness to the folks at Interesting Literature.

Thank you very much! And all the best to you too :)

As I have mentioned before when I was at secondary school Browning was the first poet who ‘clicked’ with me. I found his dramatic monologues ‘modern’ in the sense that you could imagine the characters speaking. Looking back, it seems bizarre that he would appeal to a 15 yr old schoolboy in the early 60s!

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What is a Dramatic Monologue? || Oregon State Guide to Literary Terms

"what is a dramatic monologue": a literary guide for english students and teachers.

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What is a Dramatic Monologue? Transcript (English & Spanish Subtitles Available in Video, Click HERE for Spanish Transcript)

By Neil Davison , Oregon State Professor of Modern Literatures

12 April 2021

The Dramatic Monologue is a kind of Lyric Poem, the second-oldest form of poetry in the Western world after the Epic . But unlike long narrative Epics with their heroes and gods, Lyric Poetry developed as a short, meditative poem in Greek culture spoken over cords struck on a harp-like instrument called a Lyre to mostly aristocratic audiences. The instrument gave the poetic form its name, and in turn is where we derive the term Lyrics to refer to the words of a song.

image_of_lyre.jpg

From its origins in Hellenic culture all the way through the end of the 18th century, however, the voice of lyric poetry was always assumed to be that of the poet him or herself, offering in elaborate musical rhythms and provocative metaphors his/her own experiences or thoughts directly to an audience of readers or listeners.

Poets of the Romantic movement in Europe of the 1780’s and beyond began to write a different kind of Lyric poem called the Dramatic Monologue. In this type of poem, the poet adopts a persona (a voice and character other than his or her own) very much like a playwright puts his or her thoughts into the mouths of characters in a drama. But in the Dramatic Monologue poem, the voice/persona reveals through observation that he/she is most often speaking to an audience other than the reader—addressing another figure in the poem or even one the speaker imagines needs to hear some pressing matter while not actually present at the moment.

In the Romantic Dramatic Monologue, the persona usually has a tale to tell that suggests the struggles and victories of everyday people, often in rural settings, and how they might find solace in human ideals like the peace of nature, spiritual fulfillment, or loving relations between family, friends, or lovers. The themes of these poems attempt to teach the reader a lesson about ethics or beauty and are stated directly to this implied audience with an urgent sincerity. In Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s 1798 poem, Rime of the Ancient Mariner , for example, an old sailor stops a wedding guest on his way to the ceremony and explains to him what he has learned about devotion, love, and respect for all living thing—concluding his monologue with the Romantic sentiment that “He prayeth best who loveth best/All things great and small/For the dear God who loveth us/He made and loveth all.”

rime_of_the_anvient_mariner.jpg

In 19th century England, the Dramatic Monologue form became a staple kind of poem for the generation of English people referred to as Victorians after their Queen, who ruled for 70 years. Since the novel was the most popular form of literature during that era, the Dramatic Monologue appears to have appealed to Victorian audience’s fascination with fictional characters.

During this period as well, one poet in particular, Robert Browning, single-handedly changed the Dramatic monologue by introducing personae whom were so troubled, delusional, or egotistical that, as they explain themselves to their audience, they indirectly reveal their misperceptions and failings—which they never appear to grasp themselves. Thus even before the advent of the Unreliable Narrator in Modern fiction, these Dramatic-monologue personae functioned in poems in the same manner I explained in a previous video in this series about that other narrational mode.  In one of Browning’s most famous Dramatic Monologues, entitled “My Last Duchess,” a Renaissance Duke is conducting a tour of his magnificent home with a Count’s agent, who has come to discuss the terms of the Duke’s next marriage. The Duke feels compelled to explain to him how he came to lose his first wife, the Duchess of the poem’s title. When the pair encounter a painting with a curtain drawn over it, the Duke draws the drapes to reveal a portrait of his former wife. He explains to the agent that his last Duchess never learned that she was to have showed him respect and adoration above all things in her world—as the aristocratic culture of his era dictated. But the Duke explains further that the Duchess had

my_last_duchess.jpg

            A heart—how shall I say?— too soon made glad, 

Too easily impressed; she liked whate’er 

She looked on, and her looks went everywhere. 

Sir, ’twas all one! My favour at her breast, 

The dropping of the daylight in the West, 

The bough of cherries some officious fool 

Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule 

She rode with round the terrace—all and each 

Would draw from her alike the approving speech, 

Or blush, at least. She thanked men—good! but thanked 

Somehow—I know not how—as if she ranked 

My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name 

With anybody’s gift.

In this passage, the Duke indeed reveals himself to be a total control-freak; in the next breath, he implies he had the Duchess killed for what he perceived was her insolence! Although the agent never speaks nor judges the Duke, we as readers eavesdrop on their conversation and are allowed to see in the Duke’s control of his wife (even over who he allows to view her portrait), that his obsession with being worshipped goes well beyond the matrimonial assumptions of his era. In this way, readers of the poem are being encouraged to understand the Duke’s explanations ironically , and through this, to grasp Browning’s Feminist denouncement of the Duke’s control and abuse of his wife.

Browning’s update on the Dramatic Monologue went on to influence how the form was used by most 20th Century poets, from T.S. Eliot’s influential 1917 poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” to Sylvia Plath’s 1965 “Lady Lazarus” to Ai’s 1979 “Killing Floor” to Rita Dove’s 1980 “The House Slave.” Each of these very different poets recognized that the Dramatic Monologue allows the writer to imply ironic distance from a persona’s observations in the poem. As careful readers, we too recognize that we are being pushed to listen to the persona ironically, and just as with the Unreliable Narrator, share an understanding of the persona’s psychology along with the author, to which the persona remains blind, wrapped as he or she is in misperceptions and delusions about him or herself, other people, and the world.

Want to cite this?

MLA Citation: Davison, Neil. "What is a Dramatic Monologue?" Oregon State Guide to English Literary Terms, 12 Apr. 2021, Oregon State University, https://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/wlf/what-dramatic-monologue. Accessed [insert date].

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Dramatic Monologue | Definition, Explanation, Features, Uses, Examples and Synonyms of Dramatic Monologue

Dramatic Monologue Meaning: A Dramatic Monologue is referred to as a type of poetry written in the form of a speech of an individual character. It compresses into a single vivid scene, a narrative sense of the speaker’s history and a psychological insight into his character. One of the most important influences in a Dramatic Monologue is romantic poetry.

It is a form of self conversation or a speech that includes interlocutor presented dramatically. Dramatic Monologuein English literature is a poetic form that offers the discussion of the person in a dramatic manner.

Students can also check the  English Summary  to revise with them during exam preparation.

How To Write Dramatic Monologue?

In a Dramatic Monologue, only one character speaks. The character tends to direct his emotions towards a listener who is either inferred or is existing. Its main work is to reveal insight into the character.

An example of the Dramatic Monologue may include Robert Browning’s “My Last Dutchess”, in which an imagined speaker addresses a silent listener.

Dramatic Monologue Features

The features of Dramatic Monologue

• A single person or character is delivering a speech on the aspect of his life and surroundings.
• The audience might or might not be present in front of the speaker.
• The speaker or personality reveals his temperament.

Famous Dramatic Monologues in Film and Television

Television is rising to new heights with everyone streaming television series, and there are some excellent monologues from television. President Bartlet’s monologue in the church in “Two Cathedrals” is the epitome of one of the best television Dramatic Monologues. “How to Get Away with Murder” (2018) has the ingredients for a crucial educating moment with a poignant text told with self-possession.

The best Dramatic Monologues in cinema or movies can be found in every genre. Some top examples of Dramatic Monologues from movies include Jack Nicholson’s stern warning monologue, “you can’t handle the truth” in “A Few Good Men” and Alec Baldwin’s sales incentive monologue, “coffee for closures”.

Dramatic Monologues from movies share several characteristics and are well-acted and highly moving, having a significant impact on the audience.

Why Do Writers Use Dramatic Monologues?

Dramatic Monologues present the point of view of a single character. Often it features the main character facing a dramatic situation, or they might highlight a secondary character who has a unique perspective on events.

Writers use Dramatic Monologues because they serve a specific purpose in storytelling to give the audience more in-depth detail about a particular character or a plot.

It is used very carefully and is a great way to share the internal thoughts or the back story of a character or to give more specific details about the plot.

Dramatic Monologues allow for a distance between the author and the speaker. The person using the “I” is, by definition, not the author. With space, the burden of self-disclosure is lifted.

The Dramatic Monologue tends to preclude self-pity or gut=wrenching confession. Sometimes, the author and the speaker’s distance allows for more personal revelation since the writer does not have to claim the material as autobiographical.

Dramatic Monologues Examples

Example #1 “Set down, set down your honourable load…”-Lady Anne Neville from “Richard III”

When it comes to drama, Shakespeare’s “Richard III” does not fall short. This monologue was spoken by the complex and emotionally-driven Lady Anne.

“Set down, set down your honourable load,

If honour may be shrouded in a hearse,

Whilst I awhile obsequiously lament

The untimely fall of virtuous Lancaster.

The poor key-cold figure of a holy king!

Pale ashes of the house Lancaster!

Though bloodless remnant of that royal blood!

Be it lawful that I invocate thy ghost,

To hear the lamentations of Poor Anne,

Wife to thy Edward, to the slaughter’d son.

Stabb’d by the selfsame hand that made these wounds!”

Example #2 “And for that matter, I have no secrets.” – Julie from “Miss Julie.”

Miss Julie’s woeful tale dates back to the year 1888, which was written by playwright

August Strindberg has been adapted into modern works such as the National Theatre’s production of ‘Julie.’

“And for that matter, I have no secrets. You see, my mother was not of noble birth. She was brought up with ideas of equality, woman’s freedom and all that. She had very decided opinions against matrimony, and when my father courted her, she declared that she would never be his wife- but she did so for all that I came into the world for my mother’s wishes, I discovered, and was brought up like a child of nature by my mother, and taught everything that a boy must know as well;

I was to be an example of a woman being as good as a man- I was made to go about in boy’s clothes and take care of the horses and harness and saddle and hunt, and all such things; in fact, all over the estate women servants were taught to do men’s work, with the result that the property came near being ruined- and so we became the laughing stock of the countryside.”

Dramatic Male Monologues Poem

Example #1 “Is this a dagger which I see before me…” Macbeth in “Macbeth”

The Scottish Play- a story filled with intensity and anguish.

“Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling as to sight? Or art, though but

A dagger of the mind, a false creation,

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?

I see thee yet, in form as palpable

As this which now I draw.

Thou Marshall’s me the way that I was going;

And such an instrument I was to use.

Mine eyes are made the fools’s the other senses,

Or else worth all the rest; I see thee still,

And on thy blade and dungeon gouts of blood, which was not so before. There’s no such thing:

It is the bloody business that informs

Thus to mine eyes. Now o’er the one half world

Nature seems dead and wicked dreams abuse

The curtain’d sleep; witchcraft celebrates

Pale Hecate’s offerings, and wither’d murder,

Alarum’d by his sentinel, the wolf,

Whose howl’s his watch, thus with his stealthy pace.

With Tarquin’s ravishing strides towards his design

Moves like a ghost. Thou sure and firm-set earth,

Hear not my steps. Which way they walk, for fear

Thy very stones prate of my whereabout, And take the present horror from the time,

Which now suits it. Whiles I threat, he lives:

Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath give.

[A bell rings]

I go, and it is done; the bell invites me.

Hear it not, Duncan; for it is a knell

That summons thee to heaven or to hell.”

Example #3 “I’m celebrating because I’ve got a friend who tells me all the things that ought to be told me.”-George Gibbs from “Our Town”

“I’m celebrating because I’ve got a friend who tells me all the things that ought to be told me. I’m glad you spoke to me as you did. But you’ll see. I’m going to change. And Emily, I want to ask you a favour. Emily, if I go away to State Agricultural College next year, will you write me a letter? The day wouldn’t come when I wouldn’t want to know everything about our town. Y’ know, Emily, whenever I meet a farmer I ask him if he thinks it’s important to go to Agricultural School to be a good farmer. And some of them say it’s even a waste of time. And like you say, being gone all that time- in other places, and meeting other people. I guess new people probably aren’t any better than old ones. Emily- I feel that you’re as good a friend as I’ve got. I don’t need to go and meet the people in other towns. Emily, I’m going to make up my mind right now- I won’t go. I’ll tell Pa about it tonight.”

Examples of Dramatic Monologues in Plays

Example #1 Deafening Applause- A dramatic female monologue from the play “Dreams in Captivity.”

“I remember how everyone got quiet okay?

Quiet… and still. Like they were all connected to me. All a part of me.. they were… seeing me.

I mean, really seeing me. And at the end of the show, when I stepped forward to take my bow the applause was-was- It was deafening.”

Example #2 A rose by any other name “Romeo and Juliet” Act 2 Scene 2.

“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.

‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would were he not Romeo call’d,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,

And for that name which is no part of thee

Take all myself.”

Dramatic Monologue Synonyms

A few words that the readers might find similar to the meaning of “Dramatic Monologue” are discourse, speech, sermon, lecture, soliloquy and descant.

Related Literary Terms

• Voices: It is a literary device used in a Dramatic Monologue where the voice expresses the narrator or the author’s emotions, attitudes, tones and point of view. It may be formal or informal.
• Speech: In a Dramatic Monologue, the speaker reveals his thoughts to the audience.

Other Resources

• Read: What are the functions of a Dramatic Monologue
• Read: Types of monologues
• Watch: Hamlet by William Shakespeare

What is dramatic monologue example?

A poem in which an imagined speaker addresses a silent listener, usually not the reader. Examples include Robert Browning’s “My Last Duchess,” T.S. Eliot’s “The Love Song of J.

What is dramatic monologue in literature?

A dramatic monologue (q.v.) is any speech of some duration addressed by a character to a second person. A soliloquy (q.v.) is a type of monologue in which a character directly addresses an audience or speaks his thoughts aloud while alone or while the other actors keep silent.

What are characteristics of dramatic monologue?

Also known as a dramatic monologue, this form shares many characteristics with a theatrical monologue: an audience is implied; there is no dialogue; and the poet takes on the voice of a character, a fictional identity, or a persona.

What are the 5 ingredients of a dramatic monologue *?

5 Tips for Writing Dramatic Monologues

• Start with a compelling opening line. Monologues lack action and dialogue, which can leave the audience unengaged. …
• Present a strong point of view. …
• Develop a storyline. …
• Know your parameters. …
• Wrap up with parting words.

What is the purpose of a dramatic monologue?

Dramatic monologues are a way of expressing the views of a character and offering the audience greater insight into that character’s feelings.

EngLangBlog

A blog for A Level English Language students and teachers

Saturday, January 07, 2017

Nea commentary.

• What representation did you intend to create? 
• What purpose does the language level that you have employed serve?
• Ensure that you make a comments on the way the audience, writer and subjected are positioned along the way.
• When you are analysing your work, it is important to consider a range of language levels. Avoid just focusing on the ones you feel most confident with using. A good spread of language levels that are appropriate and meaningful to justifying your ideas is better than repeating the same ones constantly. 
• You need to contextualise your own piece of work. Ensure that you comment on the purpose, form, topic, audience and how the subject is being represented. Do not generalise here. You need to be very specific. Generalisations will not help you reach high marks.
• You also need to introduce your style model. Why have you selected it? How does it relate to your own original writing piece? 

"My style model is in the genre of a dramatic monologue. There are different sections in the text with scene changes indicated by 'Go to Black' or 'Fade.' The monologue explores a character who is not fully self-aware and I have reflected this in my Original Writing piece... My monologue is similar to Bennett's in many ways, whilst also having differences..."  

• Remember that you need to integrate linguistic description where possible, e.g. The pre-modifying attributive adjective ‘gold’ used within the noun phrase ‘the gold star’ is used to represent it as ….
• Once you have commented on your own piece of work, you then need to make sure that you make connections to the style model. It might also be the case that there are marked differences in how you have used the language levels. This is equally acceptable but you need to explain why, as this will enable you to discuss contextual factors shaping the production.
• Remember that you need to engage in meanings. Think about the way the linguistic strategies and language levels used create a representation.
• Adopt an interwoven comparison throughout rather than writing about the style model and your own production piece in isolation.
• Referring to the assessment criteria, you will note that it asks you to ‘guide’ the reader through. You will need to develop a coherent line of thought here. In order to guarantee this, you need to avoid leading with A01 features and instead developing topic sentences that enable the reader to understand the connections and points of comparisons being made. 
• Both the style model and original writing piece employ … but to create different representations…
• Within the style model, it utilises … which has been imitated in my original writing piece to …
• Throughout the style model there is use of …. This is mirrored in my original writing piece … so that the subject of … is represented …
• Whilst the style model utilises …. To represent the subject as … I have employed them in a different way so that the topic can be represented as … 
• Ensure that you refer closely to your style model by quoting specific examples from it. Likewise, you will need to do the same with your own original writing piece. If you provide no evidence, credit for A01 features cannot be given regardless of how vast a range of features you have employed. 

"As monologues are spoken, it is important to represent speech. Bennett employs ellipsis to make it sound spontaneous and realistic. For example, Marjory says 'Said it was Rawdon anyway." This has been imitated in my own original writing piece through..." 

• Overall, my original writing piece employs a range of language levels that are similar to my style model to represent the subject as … 
• Emulate / Mirror / Employ / Reflected / Imitated / Utilised / Mimics / Aligns /
• Represents / Portrays / Illustrates / Illuminates / Conveys
• The audience are positioned / This positions the audience to …
• Both / Equally / Similarly / In the same way / Using the style model, I have …
• Whereas / In contrast / Unlike / Alternatively / On the other hand

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Meaning of dramatic monologue in English

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• action hero
• alliterative
• alternative history
• fictionally
• framing device
• non-literary
• non-metrical
• nonsense verse
• nursery rhyme
• tartan noir
• But the largest, if not the greatest work in the volume must be sought for, not in the romances, properly speaking, nor in the lyrics, but in the dramatic monologues.  
• Clive, the most popular in style, and certainly one of the finest poems in the volume, is a dramatic monologue very much akin, in subject, treatment and form, to the narratives in the first series.  
• Hence his persistent use of the dramatic monologue.  
• The larger part of the volume consists of dramatic monologues.  
• To Browning belongs the credit of having created a new poetic form,—the dramatic monologue.  

dramatic monologue | American Dictionary

Examples of dramatic monologue, translations of dramatic monologue.

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