Poetry Response- Dramatic Monologue

Anna Cantwell
Mrs. Jernigan
AP English Lit
1 February 2011
A Dramatic Monologue
In the brief, yet potent poem entitled “Hazel Tells LaVerne” by Katharyn Howd Machan, a woman recalls her unique experience with a frog. She addresses the reader as though she were calling up her best friend on her cell phone to spill the latest gossip. Based on her dialect and tone, one can assume she is African-American, with exclamations like “sohelpmegod” and “ya little green pervert.”
I envision a slightly rotund and entirely sassy African-American maid—she says she is in the process of cleaning a “howard johnson ladies room”—who doesn’t know why this frog is talking to her or how he can think she’s a princess or how crazy he must be to ask for a kiss, but she is not here to mess around. Her colloquial tone, exclamatory nature, and spunky attitude reveal her honest and clean-cut personality. She is no-nonsense and doesn’t plan on taking any attitude from anyone—not even a frog.
Machan infuses the poem with a childlike quality, playing up the speaker’s accent to intensify the relation to the reader; the reader can identify easily with her. Despite the playfulness of the poem, a richer thread unravels near the end. The speaker scoffs at the idea of this frog, no matter how unreliable this animal could seem, believing she is a princess. Her shrouded insecurity provides a deeper meaning and relation to the reader.