Dramatic Monologue+ Assignment

English 109: Poetry through Performance

Goals
The Dramatic Monologue+ Assignment aims to allow you to:

Continue reading poems carefully;

Continue working to perform poems accurately and movingly;
Creatively and critically engage the act of performance.

Description
There are a few different options for the Dramatic Monologue+ Performance:
1. You can create a performance with three main parts:

a discussion of a dramatic monologue that reveals the monologues key features,

focusing on its significant performance demands;
a display and a discussion of an inaccurate performance (that is, in a way that does
not convey some of the poems clear performance demandsthis may be a video or a
audio recording of the poem);
a display of your own accurate and moving performance of the poem.

2. A slight alternative to the above is for you to find a poem that can be performed
accuratelyviablyin two different ways, and then to discuss the poem, and reveal how
the two different versions are embedded in it, and then, of course, perform the versions.
3. Creative versions of the above. Please note that Im open to new ideas in regard to this
assignment. For example, Im willing to consider collaborations for this project
(typically, not more than two students / project). Creative versions must have a strong
rationale, and must be cleared with me.
The dramatic monologue that will serve as a basis for a project must come from A Face to Meet
the Faces. Poems, however, also must be at least one-and-a-half times the length of a sonnet
that is, at least 20 lines long, and at least 160 words. (Poems often will be a good deal longer
than this)
The total performance time will be approximately 11 minutesthough this will vary according
to the length of the poems being performed. Poem performances may be recorded (using
computer video functions, webcams, or flipcams). We will discuss video production and display
during a future class session.
Finding Your Poem

This likely will be the most difficult part of this project. However, engaging closely A Face to
Meet the Faces is one of the points of this project, as is the effort to look beyond the confines of
our class to see where poems are located out in the world. Additionally, while it may take some
time to find your poem, once you have your poem selected, and you determine what you will do
with it, the project should really begin to take shape.
To find performances you might critique or else do a different, viable version of, search online.
As the poems from A Face to Meet the Faces are contemporary, simple Google searches may be
the best option for this work. (An ounce of research for this project may be worth a pound of
invention.) Also, if no other options present themselves to you, you are allowed to create a
version of a Poem Flow performance of the text to then critique that.
And, of course, I also encourage you to consult with me.
The Script
The script is everything you will say in your video about the monologue you are discussing.
Essentially, it is a two-page (600-word) paper in which you succinctly provide an accurate
overview of your poem (including speaker, audience, occasion, major turns, speech acts, and
details such as significant stresses and pauses, etc), and its performance demands, and in which
you discuss the deficiencies of the performance you are critiquing and reveal how your own
version more accurately conveys the poem. Or, depending on the project, you discuss how two
accurate, viable performances may grow out of a single poem. You need not include the two
versions of the poem in your scriptrather, you can write [insert problematic performance
here] and [insert my performance here].
Due Dates

Monday, October 20. Have two options for your Alternative Monologue Project. (See
Moodle for details.)
Monday, October 27. The script for your performance is due.
Wednesday, October 29-Monday, November 10. In-class performances/presentations.
(Details on how to submit electronic files are forthcoming.)

Grades
Your own skillful performance of your poem is worth 15% of your overall course grade. Your
accurate, insightful discussion of the poetic text and the different performances of that text
(adjusted a bit for stylistic matters, including video quality) is worth 10% of your overall course
grade.