What is a dramatic monologue in poetry?

A dramatic monologue is a poem written as the speech of an individual character, compressing a narrative sense of the speaker's history and psychological insight into a single vivid scene. While the form is often associated with the British poet Robert Browning, who utilized it to achieve high levels of subtlety and complexity, it has a much older history, appearing in works ranging from Old English poetry to folk ballads.1

In a dramatic monologue, the speaker typically addresses a second person. The subject matter discussed is often less significant than what is inadvertently revealed about the speaker’s own character through their casual remarks or digressions. This structure parallels novelistic experiments with point of view, requiring the reader to assess the reliability of the narrator.21

Unlike a soliloquy—which is a solo utterance often spoken while a character is alone—the dramatic monologue functions as a specific literary device where the speaker's personality is exposed through their interaction with others or their environment.132