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Unread 10-16-2010, 08:10 PM
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Gail White Gail White is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Breaux Bridge, LA, USA
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I would say that the essence of a dramatic monologue is that the narrator must have a dramatic story to tell. This eliminates the personal experience of most of us, as well as all first-person accounts of generalized experiences, such as falling in love, being disappointed in love, and wandering lonely as a cloud.

Also, I think it's ALWAYS a mistake, unless you are dealing with a known "confessional" poet, to assume that a first-person poem is an account of first-person experience. I once wrote a poem in which the speaker laments her infertility. Unfortunately, several friends thought I was venting my soul on a personal tragedy,and I was obliged to explain that I was childless by choice.
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