Transparency, Translucency, and Obscurity in the Victorian Monologue
The Victorian dramatic monologue is not only a first person poetic speech with a silent audience suggested in the very poem; it is also a complex poetic chiaroscuro in which the speech itself is translucent, but always on the verge of obscurity, since what is at stake in the poem is the question of...
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Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
2013-03-01
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| Series: | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/268 |
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| author | Jean-Charles Perquin |
| author_facet | Jean-Charles Perquin |
| author_sort | Jean-Charles Perquin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Victorian dramatic monologue is not only a first person poetic speech with a silent audience suggested in the very poem; it is also a complex poetic chiaroscuro in which the speech itself is translucent, but always on the verge of obscurity, since what is at stake in the poem is the question of understanding. The speaker has to be understood by the reader, whereas the addressee must be partly kept in the dark. In other words, the reader reconstructs the speech in the back of the voiceless listener’s mind, thus adding to the natural difficulty of poetic language. If poetry rests on the maximal use of the possibilities of language, the genre of the dramatic monologue adds to that condition the indirection of speech, i.e. the fact that the addressee has to miss the message the reader has to understand in order to build an intricate mesh of misunderstandings. Such obscure transparency, or transparent obscurity, is the condition for a poetic genre that cannot rely only on form. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-54908a60bad34063a6d2e23f457ccf16 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0220-5610 2271-6149 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2013-03-01 |
| publisher | Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens |
| spelling | doaj-art-54908a60bad34063a6d2e23f457ccf162025-01-30T10:22:31ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492013-03-017710.4000/cve.268Transparency, Translucency, and Obscurity in the Victorian MonologueJean-Charles PerquinThe Victorian dramatic monologue is not only a first person poetic speech with a silent audience suggested in the very poem; it is also a complex poetic chiaroscuro in which the speech itself is translucent, but always on the verge of obscurity, since what is at stake in the poem is the question of understanding. The speaker has to be understood by the reader, whereas the addressee must be partly kept in the dark. In other words, the reader reconstructs the speech in the back of the voiceless listener’s mind, thus adding to the natural difficulty of poetic language. If poetry rests on the maximal use of the possibilities of language, the genre of the dramatic monologue adds to that condition the indirection of speech, i.e. the fact that the addressee has to miss the message the reader has to understand in order to build an intricate mesh of misunderstandings. Such obscure transparency, or transparent obscurity, is the condition for a poetic genre that cannot rely only on form.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/268transparencyVictorian dramatic monologuepoeticsmeaninglanguageobscurity |
| spellingShingle | Jean-Charles Perquin Transparency, Translucency, and Obscurity in the Victorian Monologue Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens transparency Victorian dramatic monologue poetics meaning language obscurity |
| title | Transparency, Translucency, and Obscurity in the Victorian Monologue |
| title_full | Transparency, Translucency, and Obscurity in the Victorian Monologue |
| title_fullStr | Transparency, Translucency, and Obscurity in the Victorian Monologue |
| title_full_unstemmed | Transparency, Translucency, and Obscurity in the Victorian Monologue |
| title_short | Transparency, Translucency, and Obscurity in the Victorian Monologue |
| title_sort | transparency translucency and obscurity in the victorian monologue |
| topic | transparency Victorian dramatic monologue poetics meaning language obscurity |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/cve/268 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jeancharlesperquin transparencytranslucencyandobscurityinthevictorianmonologue |