I have the example of my own research on "Travel from Alexandria to India", from Antonio Manutius, which I suppose to be the pattern for "Persian Nights", largely and anonymously written by the prince of Persian poetry, Suleiman the Magnificent himself. For example, Antonio Manutius is portrayed as "the wise Duban". Suleiman must have had fun describing himself as a "Sinbad the Baghdad doorman".

This is interesting, Fred Romano. Self-representation can be a tricky area of research as self-image could be different from objective truth. However, what I find interesting is the fact that self-expression, as in the confessional mode of poetry can be a form of a psychological healing practice.

Do we survive by telling the truth or rather by telling "lies"?! What a complex creature man is!

Also you have one of the most beautiful French poem "El desdichado"

"Je suis le Ténébreux, le Veuf, l'Abandonné,

Le prince d'Aquitaine à la tour abolie

Ma seule étoile est morte et mon luth constellé

Chante le noir soleil de la mélancolie..."

This long poem recalls the secret, hidden story of Occitania. The author, Gerard de Nerval, suicided himself in Paris.

self presentation in poems are really beautiful as it may not the speaker himself talking through the poem. Even the poet himself can jump in, inbetween n convey things or whatever explanations he wanted to about the matter. This can be noted as a recurring phenomenon in regional poems in DIFFERENT REGIONAL LANGUAGES IN India... esp. in malayalam and tamil poetry

@muthana makki mohammedali

Thanks, Cm Meera . This shifting from the biographical to the fictional in poetry is challenging to detect, isn't it? One way of finding out whether the poet is presenting a biographical truth or a poetic one is to compare his/her poetic statements with reliable biographical notes that relate the poetry to the poet's life events. I wonder whether there is any other way of measurement.

If we agree that poetry cannot be taken as a reliable source of biographical truth, isn't it more adequate to talk about the dramatic persona rather than the author's self in the poetry?