Loehndorf, Esther
The Master's Voices

Robert Browning, the Dramatic Monologue, and Modern Poetry.

The study examines Browning's conception of the dramatic monologue and its significance for modern poetry. It argues that while the dramatic monologue seems to provide an escape from what is experienced as the poet's "subjectivity," thus testifying to a desire to gain leeway within a system of formalities and constraints, it must also be understood in relation to a growing interest in individuality and the "self". Detailed textual analysis of monologues by W. B. Yeats, Ezra Pound und T. S. Eliot provides a differentiated picture of how the genre was used by Browning's successors and asserts that there is a continuity in the underlying awareness of the complex interrelationships between the speaking and the spoken self. 210 Seiten, gebunden (Schweizer Anglistische Arbeiten/Swiss Studies in English; Band 121/A. Francke Verlag 1997)