Conversing in Verse

Abstract

What does it mean to converse in verse? Stichomythia, where two characters alternate lines or pairs of lines in classical Greek drama, is also, perhaps surprisingly, a frequent feature of nineteenth century popular and literary lyric poems. One probably source is the ballad, where events are often narrated wholly in dialogue. I focus on two Victorian poets in whose work ballads were a strong presence, asking not only what each poet found in the but what each did with the modes of sociability at its core. What happens when we consider Christina Rossetti's devotional poems from the perspective of her pastiches? Or think of Thomas Hardy's elegies for Emma Hardy in light of the ballad expectations aroused by his poems--expectations attached, among other things, to his frequent use of conversational dialogue?