The Dramatic Monologue, or Persona Poem
Stepping out of ourselves.
“From the moment we are children pretending to be our parents, to shamans pretending to inhabit elements of the natural world, to actors and actresses assuming the roles of the famous and infamous, there is something primal about the act of donning the mask, an urgent connection that demands to be made.”
– from A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry, ed. by Stacey Lynn Brown & Oliver de la Paz
I’m a total nerd for persona poetry.
Simply put, a persona poem is written in the first person (I, me, we), from the point of view of anyone/thing but yourself.
I love it because it’s a form that brings together the varied specialties of prose (fiction, sci-fi, history, biography, historical fiction, romance, action, horror, and drama) with the specialties of poetry (sonic devices, metaphors, similes, succinctness, and subtleties).
At its best, the persona poem form uplifts underheard voices through accessible, page-turning stories that are written in rhythmic, lyrical, & sublime ways.
To me, art that can simultaneously move, challenge, engage, and educate, is the absolute best kind of art.
So today I’m sharing some of my favorite books written in this form. (Remember, if you’d like to read these books but their cost is prohibitive, check your local library. If it’s not in their collection, submit an interlibrary loan request. I’ve gotten my hands on out-of-print, wildly costly books this way — it’s a blessing!)
I’m also offering up several fun writing challenges!
Things Given Voices
Some of the most brilliant persona poems give a non-living entity a character and voice. Patricia Smith’s book Blood Dazzler chronicles the “life” & tragic times of Hurricane Katrina through persona poetry. Her poem 8 A.M., SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2005 is a fantastic example. Smith’s Katrina is proud, horrendous, and eager to take the spotlight and bask in a nation’s full attention:
[...] could this be it, finally, my praise day, all my fists at once?
Hadara Bar-Nadav’s poem Sun (from her book The New Nudity) hints at the dark machinations of our star:
I touch & touch
& touch,
branding the hands
of each child.
Challenge:
Write a persona poem in the voice of one of the following inanimate objects:
a horse’s mane
a telescope
a box that hasn’t been opened in 100 years
water
Try using one of these formats:
a confession
a declaration of love
a pleading
a “where I see myself in 5 years” mock essay
Fictional Characters
Much like fan fiction, persona poems written in the voice of pre-existing fictional characters can be thrilling to read and so much fun to write. You can extend the world around your favorite fairy tale, myth, movie, novel, or cartoon.
When a story or character already exists in public consciousness, your reader comes into the poem armed with context, tangential associations, and feelings. You can play with these, introduce surprise elements, flip expectations on their head, or just rest with, speak with, or listen to a character for a while. You can also change the story, the motivations, or the fate of the character.
Alternatively, you can make up entirely new characters, just like a novelist or short story writer. Ilya Kaminsky’s book Deaf Republic is described on the cover as a “parable in poems” that “unfolds episodically.” In the process of telling a story about the people who live in an occupied territory in wartime, the author also explores deafness, and the horror of “our own collective silence in the face of our time’s atrocities.”
Kaminsky creates vivid characters and scenes; it’s an intense, emotional read. Here’s an excerpt from a poem titled “2. 9AM Bombardment”:
Running down Vasenka street with my lips moving, one of those who run from the trolley that bursts like an intestine in the sun, those who lock the door, lock it with the second key, and who try to speak, stutter but try to speak.
Read more excerpts from Deaf Republic.
Challenge:
Write a persona poem in the voice of one of the following:
a cartoon or comic strip character
a mythological, folk, or fairy tale character
a new character of your own design
Try using one of these formats:
a letter
a diary entry
a lament
a speech at a political rally
Historical Fiction
“The idea that their individual poems or book-length projects might avenge or augment historical neglect of Black heroes is a driving force for many contemporary poets.”
– above, from “Black Lives in Contemporary Persona Poems” by Howard Rambsy II (chapter 19 of A History of African American Autobiography, ed. by Joycelyn K. Moody)
The historical (or historical fiction) persona poem is my favorite kind. These works entertain, birth new worlds, bring the dead to life, tell unheard stories—even as they engage in powerful acts of protest and reclamation.
Protest against erasure, silencing, and the written histories so many of us grew up with in school—those histories that erase so many lives, cultures, communities, crimes, loves, and victories.
Reclamation of all these things, as well as of inner worlds—the minds and hearts of people who’ve come and gone—their thoughts, laments, hopes.
This form lends itself particularly well to large-form works, and contemporary poets have undertaken amazing book-length works that use persona poetry in this way.
Tyehimba Jess
Part fact, part fiction, Jess's much anticipated second book weaves sonnet, song, and narrative to examine the lives of mostly unrecorded African American performers directly before and after the Civil War up to World War I. Olio is an effort to understand how they met, resisted, complicated, co-opted, and sometimes defeated attempts to minstrelize them.
– above, excerpted from the publisher’s description of the book
Tyehimba Jess’ 2016 book OLIO, winner of the Pulitzer Prize, is a masterpiece on every level—from the poems themselves, to their uncanny & brilliant reanimatory power, to the creative layouts that allow the eye to move through the poem in multiple ways.
Read Sissieretta Jones, a poem in the voice of the first African-American opera singer to perform at Carnegie Hall.
(Don’t miss Jess’ book leadbelly, either.)
M. Nzadi Keita
“Simply put: almost nobody with a pen and a platform noticed her long enough to write her into history—FD [Frederick Douglass] included.”
– M. Nzadi Keita in a 2021 interview in The Broadkill Review
In her 2014 book Brief Evidence of Heaven: Poems from the Life of Anna Murray Douglass, poet M. Nzadi Keita imagines the lived experience of Frederick Douglass’ wife, about whom too little is known.
To do this, she deftly and expertly wields the immediacy, intimacy, and power of persona poems. Read an excerpt.
Rita Dove
What’s known today as the Kreutzer Sonata was originally dedicated to Beethoven’s new “mulatto” friend, who premiered it in Vienna to wide acclaim, the ink barely dry on the composer’s pages. So far, so good; but oh, if only George—all but twenty-three years of age—had shown better judgment and not blatantly ogled the object of Ludwig’s affections!
– from the author’s preface to Sonata Mulattica by Rita Dove
Rita Dove’s 2009 book Sonata Mulattica tells the story of violinist George Polgreen Bridgetower (1780–1860) and his (real!) misadventure with Ludwig van Beethoven. The book is far-reaching, imaginative, funny, and dark, all while showcasing Dove’s poetic mastery.
It’s also extremely well-researched. As she states in a disclaimer in the front of the book, “any resemblance to actual people, events, or locales is deliberate,” although “incidental details, behavioral quirks, and philosophical musings are either full-blown figments of the author’s imagination or are amalgams of truth and fantasy, transmuted in the poetic crucible.”
Listen to Dove reading an excerpt.
The Person Behind the Curtain
Just as a historical account can’t help but reveal aspects of its author (you may recall the old adage “history is written by the victors”), a persona poem can reveal a lot about its author, too—including how mindful you’ve been.
When writing historical fiction persona poetry, take care not to co-opt voices that you have no right to speak for. Ask yourself:
Am I (by choice or by birth) a member of a group of people (religion, community, culture, or society) who historically disenfranchised, oppressed, or otherwise harmed this person?
If so, look elsewhere for a voice to reanimate and/or uplift.
Challenge: Historical Fiction
Write a persona poem in the voice of one of the following:
your ancestor
your childhood pet
a historical figure
Try using one of these formats:
a series of text messages
a childhood memory
an angry tirade
I’d love to see what you wrote in response to any of these challenges, and/or how it felt to write in another’s voice! Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments, or email me at ecblair@gmail.com.
Everyone of your lectures is a treasure. Thank you so much.
oooo, getting right in there... I'll give it a go. How are you, your writing, ....?thank you!!