Heteroglossia in Browning's Monologues: a Dialogic Perspective

‘Heteroglossia’ in literature refers to diversity of voices. Mikhail Bakhtin used the term to describe the multiplicity of voices in literary compositions. ‘Dialogism’ owes a debt to the writings of Bakhtin especially after their translation into English during the 1970s and 1980s. According to Bakhtin it is the interaction between two or more persons that gives birth to language. Language is never born in isolation. Even in an expression which is not explicitly interactive, dialogue could be found. In every speech there are remains of speeches by others. It was under the influence of Modernism that dialogism gained access to the realm of poetry. This essay attempts to explore the dialogical mode that could be traced in the monologues of Robert Browning, the Victorian-Modern.

Keywords: Mikhail Bakhtin, Dialogism, Heteroglossia, Robert Browning, Poetry.