Dramatic principle Essay

The Prelude is a long autobiographical poem, described the poet’s love of nature and his own place in the world order. â€Å"Dust as we are, the immortal spirit grows Like harmony in music; there is a dark Inscrutable workmanship that reconciles Discordant elements, makes them cling together In one society. † The Prelude had a great influence in prose poetry (Nichols 66 as quoted by Moore). Lyrical dialogue can be observed in it which shows that through Prelude, he wanted to move away from the monologic lyric. His breaking out from the monologic lyric has created the prose poem. The significant idea that the form of the poem should reflect the experience is denoted by his short poems (Rehder 179 as quoted by Moore). He desired for irregular forms to experience uniqueness (Rehder 206 as quoted by Moore). The poetic genres free verse and prose poetry are actually developed from that idea of uniqueness. Robert Browning had won himself the reputation of a dramatic poet and was able to produce the dramatic monologues. Though at his time a dramatic monologue was not yet a genre, this is considered now as a poetic genre with intriguing characteristics in a sense that it gripped the minds of the scholars. This genre has a characteristic of modern criticism. However, modern criticism stresses on the dramatic part, the dramatic monologue stresses the lyrical characteristics. His monologues incorporate action and conflict in the drama thus it involves outpouring of emotions. It is clearly evident in his work that it is a mixture of lyrical and dramatic (Abou-Bakr). Browning’s collection the Dramatic Lyrics shows his concept of poetic genre particularly about being lyrical and dramatic. It seems that Browning saw the dramatic principle by employing the creation of fictional characters who will take the role of the speaking voice I his poems. These characters or the so-called personae are the ones giving the lyrical utterances or expressions. To Browning, lyrical and dramatic can be differentiated by its proximity from the poet himself. The Confessional exposes not the sin of the persona however it reveals the sin of the priest. It was actually lightened by the humor incorporated in it. You think Priests just and holy men! Before they put me in this den I was a human creature too, With flesh and blood like one of you, A girl that laughed in beauty’s pride Like lilies in your world outside. The father’s head was long and white, With love and truth his brow seemed bright; He told me what he would not tell For hope of heaven or fear of hell; And I lay listening in such pride! And, soon as he had left my side, Tripped to the church by morning-light To save his soul in his despite. Wordsworth’s and Browning’s work are similar in some ways but different in most ways. The main difference of their works is the genre itself. Wordsworth is employing lyrical dialogue in his poems in which he can be one of the persons in the dialogue. He is very effective in showing the beauty of what can be seen due to fact that his poetry are all about those he had highest regard and those he got involve with. His works tell truths of what is truly a happening and there is enthusiasm on it. He developed the prose poetry by employing dialogue in his poems. Browning is more focused on describing what is truly felt. His works dwell on emotions felt by a person in a certain situation. He developed the dramatic monologue which becomes the basis for modern criticism. In his works he makes use of personae to represent the person in the poem. These are actually fictional characters which speak for and express the emotion in the poem. He diverged from what is called tradition of poetry and tried to present his poem in a different view. Works Cited Abou-Bakr, Randa. â€Å"2001. American University in Cairo. Accessed February 8, 2008, from http://www. thefreelibrary. com/ Robert+Browning’s+%22 Dramatic+Lyrics%22: +Contribution+to+a+Genre-a082322117 Brians, Paul. â€Å"Romanticism. † 1998. Accessed Februry 9, 2008, from http://www. wsu. edu /~brians/ hum_303/romanticism. html Moore, Dena L. â€Å"William Wordsworth’s Contribution to Prose Poetry. 2002. Accessed February 8, 2008, from http://www. authorsden. com/visit/viewarticle. asp? AuthorID=3247&id=5659 â€Å"Romantic Movement. † 21st Century Universal Encyclopedia. Eight Edition, 1994. â€Å"Socialist Realism. † 21st Century Universal Encyclopedia. Eight Edition, 1994. â€Å"Social Realism. † Accessed February 9, 2008 from, http://www. freeessays . cc/db/6/ame195. shtml