dramatic monologue

English - English

Definition of dramatic monologue in English English dictionary: a poem representing itself as a speech made by one person to a silent listener, usually not the reader Examples include Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess," Alfred lord Tennyson's "Ulysses," and T S Eliot's "The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock " A lyric may also be addressed to someone, but it is short and song-like and may appear to address either the reader or the poet; A poem in which a poetic speaker addresses either the reader or an internal listener at length It is similar to the soliloquy in theater Two famous examples are Browning's "My Last Duchess" and "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister "; A literary, usually verse composition in which a speaker reveals his or her character, often in relation to a critical situation or event, in a monologue addressed to the reader or to a presumed listener; a monologue set in a specific situation and spoken to an imaginary audience; Poem where the speaker is a character created by the poet rather than the poet himself; a poem in which a single fictional or historical character other than the poet speaks to a silent "audience" within the poem; a poem in which the speaker (of that poem) is talking to the other characters who are being quiet and not saying anything in return They just sit and listen The speaker is being very informative and usually says more than he needs to in a dramatic monologue; A literary work which consists of a revealing one-way conversation by a character or persona, usually directed to a second person or to an imaginary audience It typically involves a critical moment of a specific situation, with the speaker's words unintentionally providing a revelation of his character, as in Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess " (See also Interior Monologue, Soliloquy)