Dramatic Monologue

A poem written in the form of a speech of an individual character to an imaginary audience; it compresses into a single vivid scene a narrative sense of the speaker's history and psychological insight into his character. Though the form is chiefly associated with Robert Browning, who raised it to a highly sophisticated level in such poems as “My Last Duchess,” “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at St. Praxed's Church,” and “Fra Lippo Lippi,” it is actually much older. Many Old English poems are dramatic monologues—for instance, “The Wanderer” and “The Seafarer.” The form is also common in folk ballads, a tradition that Robert Burns imitated with broad satiric effect in “Holy Willie's Prayer.” Browning's contribution to the form is one of subtlety of characterization and complexity of the dramatic situation, which the reader gradually pieces together from the casual remarks or digressions of the speaker. The subject discussed is usually far less interesting than what is inadvertently revealed about the speaker himself (“Dramatic Monologue,” par. 1).

Satire

A usually topical literary composition holding up human or individual vices, folly, abuses, or shortcomings to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, sometimes with an intent to bring about improvement (“Satire,” par. 1). See Robert Browning, "My Last Duchess" opens in new window

Ishmael Reed not only uses the dramatic monologue to provide psychological insight into a character but also as social satire. Write an essay that explores the revelations and social criticisms that Reed makes on the speaker of each of these dramatic monologues.

Primary Sources

Reed, Ishmael. "Epistolary Monologue." New and Collected Poems 1964-2007. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2007. 232-233. Print.

---. "The Pope Replies to the Ayatollah Khomeini." New and Collected Poems 1964-2007. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2007. 235-237. Print.

Requirements:

For this essay, do not use any sources other than the poems themselves. You may use a dictionary to help you with words with which you are not familiar, but do not refer to the dictionary definitions in your essay. Base your discussion of the theme on your own close reading of the poems you have selected.

Document your sources by identifying the poems (titles in quotation marks) and the authors. When referring to lines within each poem, you may identify them by line number. When quoting from the poems, quote exactly. Do not change punctuation or capitalization except, as needed, end punctuation. Be sure to use a slash ( / ) to indicate a line break in the original poem. Remember, if you do not need the punctuation at the end of your quote, you may eliminate it or replace it with the punctuation you need to end your sentence. For example, in the following sentence about Shakespeare's poem, "That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold," the comma at the end of the line from the poem is unneeded, but a period is needed to end the sentence:

Shakespeare compares his life to "the twilight of such day / As after sunset fadeth in the west."
Notice the / indicating the line break and the period which ends the sentence replacing the comma in the original.

Proofread carefully the final draft for spelling, grammar, and punctuation as well as clarity, conciseness, and completeness. The final draft should be typed, double spaced, one inch margins, in Arial or Times Roman 12 pt. Your essay should be a minimum of 600 words (two typewritten pages, about five handwritten pages) in length.

Works Cited

"Dramatic Monologue." Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Merriam-Webster, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 26 July 2012.

"Satire." Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Merriam-Webster, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Web. 26 July 2012.