What is interior monologue?

An interior monologue is the depiction of a character’s inner emotional experience to the reader at a particular moment. In has affinity with the stream of consciousness. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock may be called an interior monologue containing the self revelation of a neurotic. It is certainly dramatic, for it is the selfexpression of Prufrock and not of the poet, and it is a monologue, because in it only one character speaks all through. No doubt, there is a ‘you’ in the poem, but this ‘you’ is only the other side of Prufrock who has a split personality. In the Browning’s type of dramatic monologue, what passes within the consciousness of the dramatis personae is organised by will and conscious effort, so that the monologue acquires coherence and there is logical development of thought. The presence of a listener or listeners is implied. But this logical link-up and coherence is lacking in The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. There are sudden mental jumps and free association of ideas, very much like the actual thought process. That is why the critics consider this poem to be an interior monologue. Prufrock is the centre of the poem and what passes within his consciousness forms the substance of the poem.