The Dramatic Monologue by Robert Langbaum

Let me first start off by saying that I’m not familiar with Elizabeth or Robert Browning, in fact I’ve never even heard of them before. I just read The Dramatic Monologue: Sympathy versus Judgment by Robert Langbaum and I could tell that this piece was one of the most important pieces. Although at times I seemed confused, I thought that this piece was very interesting and I just wanted to keep reading.

Summary:

            Robert Browning’s The Dramatic Monologue was one of the pieces of work that was looked at in a conference in London. I don’t think that there is an exact definition as to what dramatic monologue means, but after reading this piece I gather that it could be defined as multiple things. For example, a person (someone who’s not the poet) speaks the speech that makes up the poem in a specific situation or special moment. Langbaum says “The dramatic monologue must have not only a speaker other than the poet, but also a listener, an occasion, and some interplay between speaker and listener”.[1]Another definition of a dramatic monologue could be that this person also addresses and interacts with one or multiple people. We as the readers know exactly what they say/do, but that’s because of the clues that the single speaker gives. In a dramatic monologue, it’s important that the poet’s choice enhances the reader meaning that the piece is interesting and draws people closer. Like I said above, I wanted to keep reading about the monologue because I was so interested in what it actually meant. Some of the most famous monologues from the Browning’s are My Last Duchess and Childe Roland and Caliban. Another quote I found to be interesting was the quote on page 537 “He is doing what Browning does in all the dramatic monologues on religion-making the empiricist argument, starting without any assumptions as to faith and transcendental values”. This quote is stating that even though Blougram may not be completely right because he knows his argument isn’t the best doesn’t mean that it’s necessarily wrong. I think that if someone says something meaningful their “answer” wouldn’t be wrong. As long as that person can back up their answer with information then no answer could be wrong.

 

  

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[1] Robert, Langbaum. "The Dramatic Monologue: Sympathy versus Judgment." Robert Browning's Poetry: Authoritative Texts, Criticism. By Robert Browning and James F. Loucks. New York: Norton, 1979.