Key concepts: The poet Agard's experiences are referenced in the poem. It's a theatrical monologue that seems like a discourse about non-European history: the poet instructs the reader on his "history." This is important to understand because it means that even though this poem was written in 1730, many of its ideas were still being discussed hundreds of years later in the 20th century. 3. Answers: Yes, checking out your history is a dramatic monologue. It's a quotation from Shakespeare's As You Like It: "What's past is prologue; what's future, scene." In other words, what happened earlier is important for understanding what's happening now and what will happen later on. 4. Quotation marks: Dramatic monologues usually use quotation marks to indicate that they're not actual conversations but rather poetic speeches or scripts. 5. Verses: Many dramatic monologues are presented in poems or plays.