TOPIC: Speaker and Voice
Getting a Sense of the Speaker and Voice
A poem is not merely a collection of words. These words express thoughts and feelings spoken by a specific person, by a speaker. In this way, each poem is the expression of an individual voice. In order to fully understand a poem, we must have a good sense of its speaker and we must be fully attuned to its voice.
Getting a good sense of the speaker does not mean that we need to know every aspect of his/her biography and psychology. But we do need to know enough about the speaker to understand the basic elements of the poem. For example, in a poem about marriage, it may be important to know that the speaker is a woman and a wife. In a poem about childhood innocence, it may be important to know that the speaker is an adult looking back on his youth.
In getting a sense of the speaker, we also need to be aware of the attitudes and emotions that color the speaker's voice. Is the speaker angry or sad? Is the speaker being sarcastic or is the speaker honest and forthright? In order to understand the speaker and to get a clear sense of the speaker's voice, we must be attuned to mood, emotion, and attitude.
Distinguishing the Speaker and the Poet
In analyzing and discussing poetry, we distinguish between the speaker and the poet. For example, the poet may be male, but the speaker of his poem may be a young married woman. Alternately, the poet may be a woman, but the speaker of her poem may be a middle-aged man. The speaker of a poem may have thoughts, feelings, and opinions that are different from those of the poet. When you write about a poem or quote a poem, then, you should indicate that the words belong to the speaker not the poet.
On some occasions, the speaker of the poem will seem to be someone very similar to the poet himself or herself. We must still keep in mind that there is a line of separation between the two. One is real and the other is a creation of words on the page. However, if the two are quite similar, then the speaker of the poem can be termed a persona. A persona is a stand-in for the poet himself/herself, but the term helps us keep in mind that this too is a creation of the poet.
Different Types of Speakers
There are different genres of poetry and each one has a particular kind of speaker.
In the narrative poem, we have a speaker that acts like a narrator in fiction. He or she tells the story, usually in the third person, and may quote bits of dialogue.
In the lyric poem, the speaker focuses on expressing his or her own feelings and experiences. This kind of poem does not usually tell a story relating a sequence of events, but instead it focuses on exploring the speaker's emotional state, which may be one of grief, happiness, rage, or some other heightened emotion. It is in this type of poem that readers tend to confuse the speaker with the poet. Remember that here, too, we have to make sure to separate the speaker or persona from the poet himself/herself.
In the dramatic monologue, the speaker is a fictional speaker in a specific time and place. He or she is also engaged in a dramatic situation and in this way resembles a character in a play. In a dramatic monologue an auditor (or listener) is also present, so we must not only get a sense of the speaker but also of the auditor, the person being spoken to.