Dramatic monologue

Dramatic monologue is a lyric poem wherein a single character speaks, often in a specific situation, either directly to the reader or to a listener. Such poem is dramatic since it features theatrical qualities. However, a dramatic monologue is different from a drama in many ways. Firstly, in a drama, characters develop through outward action and conflict, whereas in a dramatic monologue, the development occurs through the clash of motives within the speaker. Secondly, unlike a drama the character’s speech is delivered in monologue rather than dialogue since a single speaker speaks alone while the listener remains silent. However, a monologue should not be confused with a soliloquy. The former is different from the latter in the sense that in a monologue the speaker reveals his thoughts and feelings to the reader, or to any other character; whereas in a soliloquy, the speaker expresses his thoughts to himself.
The salient features of a dramatic monologue are as under:

• The poem begins abruptly to catch the reader’s attention.
• A single speaker talks to a silent listener.
• The speaker is not the poet himself rather a persona created by the poet.
• Psychological analysis and clues to suggest the reader about the mode and temperament of the silent listener.
• The presence of the listener is ascertained only through the poet’s words.

Although this form is very old, the English poet Robert Browning contributed much to improve it. In fact, most of the outstanding instances of dramatic monologues are penned by Browning. Some of his best dramatic monologues include: My Last Duchess, The Bishop Orders His Tomb, Andrea del Sarto, Men and Women, Christmas Eve and Easter Day, Fra Lippo Lippi, Porphyria's Lover, and Dramatis Personae. Other examples include: Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Tennyson’s Ulysses, Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven, and Sylvia Plath's Daddy.