Insect or affect? : John Ashbery's ‘Daffy Duck in Hollywood’, the dramatic monologue, and lyric theory

Powell, Eric Tyler (author)

This article reads John Ashbery’s poem ‘Daffy Duck in Hollywood’ in relation to theories of the dramatic monologue and the lyric genre. I argue that the poem is meant to make the New Critical model of lyric reading, in which all lyric poems are read as dramatic monologues, self-destruct. I then use the poem to reconsider recent attempts, prominently that of Jonathan Culler, to define lyric poetry in opposition to narrative and the dramatic monologue.

• Language: English
• Keywords: John Ashbery, dramatic monologue, lyric, lyric reading, lyric theory, narrative
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.03 - Other scientific articles
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 182-203
• Numbering: Vol. 39, no. 2
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-167618
• ISSN on article: 0950-236X
• DOI: 10.1080/0950236X.2023.2288120
• Publication date in RUL: 04.03.2025

POWELL, Eric Tyler, 2025, Insect or affect? : John Ashbery’s ‘Daffy Duck in Hollywood’, the dramatic monologue, and lyric theory. Textual practice [online]. 2025. Vol. 39, no. 2, p. 182–203. [Accessed 14 April 2025]. DOI 10.1080/0950236X.2023.2288120. Retrieved from: https://repozitorij.uni-lj.si/IzpisGradiva.php?lang=eng&id=167618

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Textual practice
• Shortened title: Textual pract.
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• ISSN: 0950-236X
• COBISS.SI-ID: 27467264

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• License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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