So the poet is winking at the reader about the character who is speaking in the poem? Which means that if even a careful reader conflates the speaker with the poet, the poem is a failure (at least to the extent it wants to be a dramatic monologue), because a "character" is created and not just a "persona," which can exist even if perfectly disguised as the poet.
Every now and then someone here posts a poem in which the speaker tells of a terrible personal tragedy, like the death of a child or a fatal diagnosis, and generally the poet discloses "don't worry, I made it up," so people can react without inhibition. I suppose such a disclosure wouldn't be necessary for a "dramatic monologue," because everyone is supposed to be able to figure out that there is an invented character speaking.
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