DRAMATIC LYRIC VS. DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE
Definitions taken from the University of Victoria Writer’s Guide at:
http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/LTDramLyric.html and
http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/LTDramMono.html
In a dramatic lyric, the speaker operates within a particular dramatic situation,
and addresses one or more silent auditors (recognized only indirectly by the
reader). Emphasis is placed upon the poem's subject rather than the speaker's
character (compare Dramatic Monologue ). John Donne's "The
Canonization" (1633) and Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" (1798) are examples.
Quoted below is the first stanza of Donne's "The Flea" (1633), in which the
speaker addresses his mistress in the dramatic moment of seduction; the main
interest of the poem is his ingenious (perhaps over-ingenious) argument
comparing a flea bite with the act of love.
A dramatic monologue is a species of lyric poem in which the speaker is a
persona created by the poet; the speaker's character is revealed unintentionally
through his or her attitudes in the dramatic situation (compare soliloquy. In
addition, the speaker may address and interact with silent auditors (see
dramatic lyric ).