Dramatic Monologue & Epic or Heroic Poem - 8443608

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DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE
Meaning of a Dramatic Monologue

 Dramatic monologue is a type of poetry written in the form of a speech of an individual character.
 A lyric poem, not a narrative poem, not a descriptive poem. Lyric poem 
 Dramatic manologue is not a component of a play. narrative poem 
 A dramatic monologue is part drama, part poetry. descriptive poem 
component of a play. 
3 Essential Features of a Daramatic Monologue
1. The Single speaker must not be the poet himself.
2. One or more than one silent listener : Their presence is suggested by the various cues/ clues in the discourse of the single
speaker.
3. The lyric speaker reveals the speaker's temperament and character to the reader. (It enhances the interest of the poem.)
Aim of a dramatic manologue

 The aim of a dramatic manologue is character-study or psychological analysis of the solo-speaker (not of the poet) of the
poem.
 The poet is intent on showing us the inner man.
 The focus of interest is primarilly on the speaker’s elaborately ingenious argument, rather than on the character he
inadvertently reveals in the course of arguing.
Examples of Dramatic Monologuesz

 Robert Browning is the master of dramatic monologues.
 The Victorian period represented the high point of the dramatic monologue in English poetry.
Famous Dramatic Monologues
Victorian examples
1. Alfred, Lord Tennyson's 1. Ulysses (1842) : The first true dramatic monologue.
2. Tithonus (1842)
3. The Lotos-Eaters (1842)
2. Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach.
3. Robert Browning 1. My Last Duchess

2. Fra Lippo Lippi
3. Caliban upon Setebos
4. Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister
5. Porphyria's Lover
6. The Bishop Orders His Tomb
7. Andrea del Sarto
PRB Poets : 4. Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s The Blessed Damozel;

Pre-Raphaelite 5. Christina Rossetti’s The Convent Threshold.
Brotherhood 6. Algernon Charles Swinburne's Hymn to Proserpine
7. The American poet Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven
Post-Victorian examples
8. William Butler Yeats' The Gift of Harun al-Rashid
9. T.S. Eliot's 1. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

2. Gerontion.
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EPIC or HEROIC POEM

 Renaissance critics ranked the epic as the highest of all genres.
 Aristotle ranked the epic as second only to tragedy.
Definition of the Epic:
Epic is a long verse narrative on a great or serious subject, told in a formal and elevated (grand /sublime/ ceremonial)
style, and centred on a heroic or quasi-divine figure on whose actions depends of a tribe, a nation, or the
human race.
or
Epic is a long narrative poem celebrating the life, heroic deeds and achievements of a national hero, whether historical
or legendary.
Characteristics of the Epic:
1. A long verse narrative (It is told)

2. The setting of the epic is ample in scale: worldwide or larger
3. Heroic deeds and achievements of a national hero or a quasi-divine figure are told
4. The action involves extraordinary/ heroic deeds in battle
5. Supernatural Machinery: In the actions the gods and other supernatural beings take an interest or an active part.
6. Written on a great or serious subject having a very high magnitude.
7. Elevated / grand /sublime/ ceremonial style: i. Formal diction (language): full of grandeur
ii. Elaborate and stylized syntax
iii. Use of epic similies or Homeric similies
iv. Use of epithets
v. Division of the epic into books and cantos.
Epic Conventions:
1. The narrator begins by stating an arguement or epic theme

2. After it, the narrator invokes a muse or guiding spirit to inspire to inspire him in his great undertaking.
3. Then he addresses to the muse the epic question, the answer to which starts the narrative proper.
4. The narrative starts in media ras ( in the middle of things), at a critical point in the action.
5. There are catalogues of some of the principal characters,introduced in formal detail.
Two Types of Epics:
1.Traditional Epics 2. Literary Epics

(Folk Epics or Primary Epics)
Written verions of what has originally been Were composed by individual poetic craftsman
oral poems about a tribal or national hero in deliberate imitation of the traditional form
during a warlike age.
Examples: Examples:
CLASSICAL EPICS:
Homer’s “Iliad” 1. Virgil’s “Aeneid” (Latin)
“Odyssey” 2. Dante’s “ Divine Comedy” (Italian)
ENGLISH EPICS:
1. Spenser’s “ Faerie Queene” (1590-96)
2. John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” (1667)
3. John Keats’ “Hyperion” ( Fragmentary epic)
4. William Blake’s “Prophetic books” :
1. The Four Zoas
2. Milton
3. Jerusalem
Note: The literary epic is certainly the most ambitious of poetic enterprises because of its immense demands on a
poet’s knowledge, invention, and the skill to sustain the scope and grandeur.
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MOCK- EPIC or MOCK- HEROIC POEM

(Treatment of a low subject with epic dignity)
Definition
 Mock-epic (also called mock-heroic or heroi-comic) is a long narrative poem written in mock-heroic
style, intended to be humorous.
 More specifically, mock-epic is a parody of the epic style or manner by treating a trivial subject
seriously.
 Mock-epic is a type of high burlesque. Style: high or epic or sublime or ceremonial

Subject: low or trivial or commonplace
Technique used in mock-epics

Satire is a fundamental technique used in all mock-epics.
Literary devices such as irony,
exaggeration, and
sarcasm
Salient Features of a Mock-Epic:
(A.) Mock-heroic
1. A sarcastic tone.
2. A trivial or insignificant subject.
3. A protagonist with exaggerated heroic qualities such as, stupidity, amorality, etc.
4. Mockery of heroic style.
(B.) Epic-specific Conventions:

1. Invocation in epic tradition.
2. A formal statement of theme.
3. Elaborate descriptions of battles, warriors and their weapons.
4. Use of supernatural machinery.
5. Journeys on water and down to the underworld.
6. Long discussions.
7. Boasting speeches.
8. Use of grand and exalted style of the serious epic.
9. Use of epic similes, or elaborate comparisons similar to Homer.
10.Division of the work into books and cantos.
Best Mock-Epics:
Mock-epic flourished in England during the late 17th and early 18th-century Neoclassical period
1. John Dryden’s “Mac Flecknoe” (1682)
2. Alexander Pope’s “The Rape of the Lock” (1714) {Masterpiece of the mock-epic}
“The Dunciad”
3. Thomas Gray’s “Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat”(1748)
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Meaning of a Dramatic Monologue

Aim of a dramatic manologue

Examples of Dramatic Monologuesz

Famous Dramatic Monologues

2. Matthew Arnold's Dover Beach.

3. Robert Browning 1. My Last Duchess

PRB Poets : 4. Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s The Blessed Damozel;

7. The American poet Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven

8. William Butler Yeats' The Gift of Harun al-Rashid

9. T.S. Eliot's 1. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

EPIC or HEROIC POEM

Definition of the Epic:

Characteristics of the Epic:

1. A long verse narrative (It is told)

1. The narrator begins by stating an arguement or epic theme

Two Types of Epics:

1.Traditional Epics 2. Literary Epics

MOCK- EPIC or MOCK- HEROIC POEM

 Mock-epic is a type of high burlesque. Style: high or epic or sublime or ceremonial

Technique used in mock-epics

Salient Features of a Mock-Epic:

(B.) Epic-specific Conventions:

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