I wouldn't say Michael's point is one of definition so much as valuation. That is, the genre isn't defined by multiple levels and the authorial wink, though such are often present in excellent examples. I think Maryann is right that technically there needs to be an addressee and a dramatic situation--witness "My Last Duchess." I tend to extend the term to a poem with narrative elements in which the speaker is clearly a character; e.g., "Porphyria's Lover" doesn't really have an addressee, unless it's Porphyria's dead body, but I would still teach it as a dramatic monologue. I would say the dramatic monologue consists of the speech of a single character from within a story, usually to another character, which serves both to tell the story and illuminate the character.
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