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"A dramatic monologue is a poem in which the first-person speaker addresses the reader or an imaginary interlocutor directly and tells a story or makes a series of observations. The monologue reveals the character of the speaker, wherein lies the drama. Tennyson's 1842 poem \"Ulysses\" is often regarded is the first major example of the form and it became popular among Victorian poets, with Tennyson, Browning and Arnold all writing dramatic monologues.\nWhile Browning's dramatic monologues tend to be very sensational, with unhinged speakers demonstrating their monstrous personalities and confessing to appalling deeds, Tennyson's are quieter and more contemplative. The tone of \"Ulysses\" varies from querulous to wistful, with a surge of hopeful energy at the end. It is this, arguably, that makes the monologue dramatic, rather than meditative. Much of the poem is given up to complaint:\n\nHow dull it is to pause, to make an end,\nTo rust unburnish'd, not to shine in use!\nAs tho' to breathe were life!\n\nUlysses describes himself fading away. Most of the heroes with whom he fought are dead, and his survival has got him nothing except a tedious life with an aged wife on a rocky island. The drama comes when he stirs himself to action:\n\n\nDeath closes all: but something ere the end,\nSome work of noble note, may yet be done,\nNot unbecoming men that strove with Gods.\n\nThis inspiring thought leads Ulysses to a conclusion at which he hinted early in the poem:\n\n\nI cannot rest from travel: I will drink\nLife to the lees...\n\nAt the end, however, it is still dramatic when he vows to follow up this principle with decisive action\n\n\nPush off, and sitting well in order smite\nThe sounding furrows; for my purpose holds\nTo sail beyond the sunset, and the baths\nOf all the western stars, until I die.\n\nThe end of the poem, therefore, is the beginning of another adventure."
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