First published in 1977, this book looks at the versatile literary form of dramatic monologue. Although it is often associated with Browning and other poets writing between 1830 and 1930, the concept has been employed by diverse poets of multiple periods such as Ovid, Chaucer, Donne, Blake, Wordsworth, Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes. In this study, Alan Sinfield demonstrates and analyses the range and adaptability of the form through detailed examples. He shows that the technique maintains a shifting and uncertain balance between the voices of the poet and of his created speaker; when extended, as in Maud, Amours de Voyage, The Ring and the Book, and The Wasteland, the use of dramatic monologue raises questions of personality and perception. In the second part of the text, the author discusses the origins of Victorian and Modernist dramatic monologue in the dramatic complaint and the Ovidian verse epistle of earlier periods, offering a new interpretation of the value of dramatic monologue to Browning and Tennyson. Through his writing, Alan Sinfield successfully highlights the eternal vibrance of the form.

The dramatic monologue is traditionally associated with Victorian poets such as Robert Browning and Alfred Tennyson, and is generally considered to have disappeared with the onset of modernism in the twentieth century. Glennis Byron unravels its history and argues that, contrary to belief, the monologue remains popular to this day. This far-reaching and neatly structured volume: * explores the origins of the monologue and presents a history of definitions of the term * considers the monologue as a form of social critique * explores issues at play in our understanding of the genre, such as subjectivity, gender and politics * traces the development of the genre through to the present day. Taking as example the increasingly politicized nature of contemporary poetry, the author clearly and succinctly presents an account of the monologue's growing popularity over the past twenty years.

This is the final of the four volumes published from 1868-1869that make up Robert Browning'sThe Ring and the Book, a long blank-verse poem composed of 12 books and over 20,000 lines. This volume includes the booksThe Pope, GuidoandThe Book and the Ring.

Gorgeous, spirited and extravagantly rich, Cora Cash is the closest thing 1890s New York society has to a princess. Her masquerade ball is the prelude to a campaign that will see her mother whisk Cora to Europe, where Mrs Cash wants nothing less than a title for her daughter. In England, impoverished blue-bloods are queueing up for introductions to American heiresses, overlooking the sometimes lowly origins of their fortunes. Cora makes a dazzling impression, but the English aristocracy is a realm fraught with arcane rules and pitfalls, and there are those less than eager to welcome a wealthy outsider...

Reproduction of the original: Browning and the Dramatic Monologue by S.S. Curry

"Bishop Blougram's Apology" is a long poem by the English poet Robert Browning. It takes the form of a sermon spoken by Bishop Blougram to his son, Gerald, on the importance of religion in their daily lives. It also powerfully illustrates a sense of duty and morality that is seen as being more valuable than reason.