What is the meaning of Langbaum's quote, "dramatic monologue is in disequilibrium with what the speaker reveals and understands"?Please discuss...

As discussed by Glennis Byron in title="Dramatic Monologue by Glennis Byron. Page 15."
href="http://books.google.com/books?id=Q5TKGnF2tU0C&pg=PA15&lpg=PA15&dq=dramatic+monologue+is+in+disequilibrium&source=bl&ots=O9ZdGJTmit&sig=V_B8bhsb4_mlLOkLtPtjHKnx1c4&hl=en&ei=OISiTPywAcOB8gbKubGlAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=dramatic%20monologue%20is%20in%20disequilibrium&f=false">Dramatic
Monologue, Robert Langbaum in 1957 said "the meaning of the
dramatic monologue is in disequilibrium with what the speaker reveals and understands.
... we understand, if not more, at least something other than the speaker understands."
Byron explains that what this means is that the reader distinguishes two distinct
voices, the poetic speaker and the poet, thus creating a disequilibrium in the
monologue, which, since two voices are recognized, is not a monologue after all. The
poet can be recognized most readily in the poetic structure and in the
diction.

The poetic speaker is revealed in the narrative
s/he is involved in. In "Porphyria's Lover," the speaker reveals the doubts and
hesitations of love stolen in secret and the desperate lover's macabre solution. What
the speaker doesn't understand--understand in the sense that meta-fiction reveals poetic
self-consciousness--is that there is a larger structure from within which s/he speaks.
Yet the reader is fully aware of the larger structure, in fact, the reader is first
aware of the larger structure while being equally aware of the speaker and the speaker's
story.

For instance, in "Porphyria's Lover" the reader
knows about the poet through the iambic pentameter that has an a b a b
b etc. rhyme scheme with an ending couplet, while in diction, the poet
employs elision to pare words down for a fit with the meter (e.g., "o're" and "soil'd"
and "look'd"). In "Telephone Conversation" the poet's voice underlies the poetic
speaker's voice and is opened to the reader's knowledge also through structure and the
treatment of diction.

The structure is free verse with no
particular metrical pattern, but there is a cadence built from two contrasting accents
that don't match in individual cadence: (1) “Madam,” I warned, / “I hate a wasted
journey—I am African” in contrast with (2) "ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?" There is no
traditional rhyme scheme but there is the repetition of vowel or consonant sounds at the
end of lines as in "rolled" and "foully" and "lived," "remained," "warned." As for
diction, specific words and phrases are in all capital letters, a stylistic choice that
directly announces the presence of a controlling poet behind the poetic speaker's
narrative.

Again, poetic structure and diction reveal a
voice in the dramatic monologue that is a voice other than the poetic speaker's voice
and that creates disequilibrium in which the reader knows what the speaker doesn't know
about the poet's poetic presence.

Catcher in the Rye Presentation ProjectI have a project for my final project, this is worth the most marks. We have to make a 10 minute...

There are many approaches that can be taken to this topic
and presentation.  Obviously, you have or would have written the paper on this thesis
and once that is done, you can choose a variety of ways to present it.  The first
element is that you have to make sure what is suggested here is concurrent with what
your instructor is allowing you to do.  If you read of a suggestion here that you like,
check it with the task and your instructor's requirements.  If you wanted to go with a
traditional presentation, you could compose a posterboard with some of the images and
symbols that you identified in your paper which strongly suggest Holden being the
protector of innocence.  Your presentation would be the actual posterboard and talking
about what is on it, why it is there, and its significance.  Another idea that is
similar to this is called, "Character Backpack," where you "pack" a backpack for Holden
of the symbols and images that he would consider to be representative of his protection
of innocence.  If you went with this, you could actually "be" Holden and present your
backpack, "as him."  You would be speaking in his voice, reflecting his clothes, and
mannerisms, and "being" him for ten minutes.  This would be cool if you were able to get
into it and pull it off.  Another option would be to compose a CD or a playlist of songs
that represent the ideas in your thesis.  You could create your own CD cover and inset
for lyrics to songs and explanation behind them.  Finally, if you can use computer
technology, creation of a Powerpoint slide show, or an online medium such as a glog (Go
to glogster.edu for help), a blog (I would go to blogger.com), or a Prezi (go to
prezi.com) could be online forums that can help you display information.  Then you would
be able to use your creation in your presentation.

How did Christopher Columbus' voyages affect Europe?

I would say the Columbus' voyages had a direct impact on
Europe in that it helped to bring out the idea that the Age of Exploration can morph
into the Age of Exploitation quite easily.  The Columbian Exchange would be the primary
example that I could cite to help explain how Europe was directly impacted through
Columbus' voyages.  Once Europeans were able to see how Columbus was able to bring back
rarities and valuable commodities such as food, knowledge, and people in the form of
slaves, the door was swung wide open for nations in Europe to be able to see exploration
as a way of being able to take advantage of indigenous people as Columbus did.  This
ended up increasing more exploration throughout the world and increasing European
profits as a result.

A line is tangent to the curve y=5x^2+1, in a point x=1. What is the equation of tangent line.

The tangent line in a point is the derivative of a
function in that point.

The equation of the tangent line,
in the point x = 1 is:

y - f(1) =
f'(1)(x-1)

We'll calculate f(1), by substituting x by 1 in
the expression of the function:

f(1) = 5*1^2 +
1

f(1) = 5 + 1

f(1) =
6

To calculate f'(1), first we'll have to differentiate the
given function:

f'(x) = (5x^2 +
1)'

f'(x) = 10x

Now, we'll
substitute x by 1 in the expression of the first
derivative:

f'(1) = 10

Now,
we'll substitute f(1) and f'(1) in the expression of the equation of the tangent
line:

y - f(1) = f'(1)(x-1)

y
- 6 = 10(x - 1)

We'll remove the
brackets:

y - 6 = 10x -
10

We'll add 6 both sides:

y =
10x - 10 + 6

y = 10x -
4

The equation of the tangent line, to the
curve y = 5x^2 + 1, is:

y =
10x - 4

In "The Open Window," what makes Mr. Nuttel especially susceptible to Vera's story?

We are told lots of information about Mr. Framton Nuttel
in the first few paragraphs that explain his susceptibility to Vera's storytelling
genius. We know that he is visiting the countryside as part of a "rural retreat" because
he is trying to undergo a "nerve cure". He is only visiting the Sappleton family because
his sister has insisted on arranging invitations for
him:

"I know
how it will be," his sister had said when he was preparing to migrate to this rural
retreat; "you will bury yourself down there and not speak to a living soul, and your
nerves will be worse than ever from moping. I shall just give you letters
of introduction to all the people I know there. Some of them, as far as I can remember,
were quite nice."

Clearly,
although we are given no details about the specifics of his "nervous condition", Framton
Nuttel is a jittery, nervous and shy character. What is key to appreciate is that Vera
is able to read him very accurately and very quickly, assessing his susceptibility to
her story telling. In a sense, she establishes that he is like an "open window", in that
he is so gullible that she can feel free to have some fun with him. It is this that
makes him vulnerable to someone like Vera.

How does "Porphyria's Lover" reflect the prudish "Victorian attitudes" of the time?

Browning has written several dramatic monologues in which
the persona is mentally disturbed (My Last Duchess, etc.) This is
another one in which the speaker is obviously not of sound mind. During Victorian times,
“tableaux vivant” was a popular art form and many believe that Browning was trying to
recreate this art form through his poetry. “Tableaux vivant” means “living picture” in
French and in this art form, human beings, usually artists’ models, were costumed, posed
and put on display as a kind of living painting. Victorian writers were quite interested
in this art form and made many attempts to transfer the concept to their
writing.

As far as the prudish aspects of the Victorian
period that show up in this work, first of all, the speaker is obviously a man, and he
is sitting in his cottage alone. It is cold and rainy outside, but he has let the fire
go out. As soon as Porphyria comes in, she immediately notices this and sets to work to
get the fire going, like a good Victorian woman:

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She shut the cold out and the storm, And kneeled
and made the cheerless grate Blaze up, and all the cottage
warm;

She tries to engage the
man in conversation, but he is brooding, so she tries to love
him:

And,
stooping, made my cheek lie there, And spread, o'er all, her yellow
hair,

He is like the speaker
in Browning’s My Last Duchess – he is a obsessive and possessing,
and wants to possess Porphyria. Her love, though, is not enough to cure him from
whatever is wrong with him. He calls her “weak” – illustrating the popular Victorian
idea that women were the weaker sex: 

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she, Too weak, for all her heart's endeavor,To
set its struggling passion free, From pride, and vainer ties dissever, And give herself
to me forever.

When he looks
at her, though, he surmises that she does indeed love him – but he desires more. He
wants her to worship him:

readability="5">

at last I knew Porphyria worshiped
me:

When he realizes she
worships him, he wants to keep this moment forever. He wants the scene to be a permanent
work of art:

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That moment she was mine, mine, fair, Perfectly
pure and good:

And after he
kills her, it is HE who is in charge. It is now HE who places her head on HIS
shoulder.

I
propped her head up as before, Only, this time my shoulder bore, Her head, which droops
upon it still:

Pretty macho,
pretty Victorian, pretty sick, wouldn’t you say?

How does Evelyn Waugh portray the disintegration of the Last family in London and Hetton ?

Tony and Brenda are a married couple who have completely
opposing goals and desires for their futures. But their differing desires (Tony wishing
for the quiet life on their enormous country estate, Brenda wishing for a more lively
social existence in London) are also a metaphorical representation of changing ways of
life in England at the time. The life of the aristocrats in the countryside is beginning
to be seen as archaic and old-fashioned, and Brenda's grudging affection towards Tony is
portrayed as a kind of boredom.