Browning and the Dramatic MonologueCurry, S. S. (Samuel Silas)
History
Browning and the Dramatic Monologue
Curry, S. S. (Samuel Silas)
Browning, Robert, 1812-1889 -- Criticism and interpretation; Dramatic monologues -- History and criticism
The monologue, as has already been shown, is closely akin to the lyric;
hence, among lyric poems we find in all ages some which are monologues in
spirit. If criticism is to appreciate this form and its function in
literary expression, and show that it is the outcome of advancement in
culture and of the necessity for a broader realization of human nature,
some attention should be given to its early examples.
If we go no farther back than English poetry, and in this only to Sir
Thomas Wyatt (b. 1503) we find that "The Lover's Appeal" has some of the
characteristics of a monologue. The words are spoken by a distinct
character directly to a specific hearer.
"And wilt thou leave me thus?
Say nay! say nay! for shame,
To save thee from the blame
Of all my grief and shame.
And wilt thou leave me thus?
Say nay! say nay!"
Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," beginning--
"Come live with me and be my love,"
also represents a lover talking to his beloved. In reading it we should
picture their relations to each other. The poem may be spoilt by
introducing a transcendence of the dramatic element. It is a simple lyric.
The shepherd is idealized, and expresses the universal love of the human
heart. Still it is not the kind of love that one would directly express to
an audience. The reader will instinctively imagine his character and his
hearer, and, if reading to others, will unconsciously place her a little
to the side. This objective element aids lyric expression. To address it
to an audience, as some public readers do, implies that the loving youth
is a Mormon.
Both these poems imply two characters, one speaking, one listening, and an
adequate interpretation of each poem must suggest a feeling between two
human beings.
In Sir Walter Raleigh's "Reply to Marlowe's Shepherd," the positions of
the listener and the speaker are simply reversed.
These poems are, of course, lyrics. They may be said by any lover. The
emotion is everything. The situation or idea is simple. The expression of
intense personal feeling predominates, and the impetuous, spontaneous
movement of passion subordinates or eliminates all conception of
character. Still, though primarily lyrics, in form these poems are
monologues. In each there is one person directly addressing another. In
the expression of these lyrics, we find the naturalness of the situation
represented by a monologue.
While "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love" is one of the distinctive
lyrics in the language, yet the intense realization of the object loved
will cause the sympathetic interpreter to turn a little away from the
audience. The subjective and personal elements in the poem awaken emotion
so exalted in its nature that the speaker is unconscious of all except his
beloved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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