dramatic monologues
One-character theatrical speeches
A dramatic monologue is a poem or speech in which a single character speaks to a silent listener, revealing aspects of their personality, situation, and psychology through their own words.
The form became prominent in Victorian poetry, with Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess" being perhaps the most famous example.
What distinguishes dramatic monologue from simple first-person narration is the presence of an implied audience within the work and the gap between what the speaker intends to convey and what they inadvertently reveal about themselves.
- soliloquyDramatic speech to oneself
- dramatic versePoetry written for performance
- spoken word poetryVerse composed for live delivery
- personaAssumed public identity
- first personGrammatical self-reference perspective
Victorian poetry · dramatic irony · blank verse · stream of consciousness · confession · unreliable narrator · inner voice · storytelling · free verse · character sketch · Renaissance literature · theatrical performance · Robert Browning · dramatic reading · Romanticism · prose poem · Modernism · performance
dramatic monologuesdialogue
Spoken exchange between parties
dialogues · conversation · duologue · colloquy · exchange