Robert Browning
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Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose
dramatic monologue Dramatic monologue is a type of poetry written in the form of a speech of an individual character. M.H. Abrams notes the following three features of the ''dramatic monologue'' as it applies to poetry: Types of dramatic monologue One of the mo ...
s put him high among the
Victorian poets Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...
. He was noted for
irony Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...
,
characterization Characterization or characterisation is the representation of persons (or other beings or creatures) in narrative and dramatic works. The term character development is sometimes used as a synonym. This representation may include direct methods ...
, dark humour,
social commentary Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace ab ...
, historical settings and challenging
vocabulary A vocabulary is a set of familiar words within a person's language. A vocabulary, usually developed with age, serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge. Acquiring an extensive vocabulary is one of the la ...
and
syntax In linguistics, syntax () is the study of how words and morphemes combine to form larger units such as phrases and sentences. Central concerns of syntax include word order, grammatical relations, hierarchical sentence structure ( constituency) ...
. His early long poems ''Pauline'' (1833) and ''Paracelsus'' (1835) were acclaimed, but his reputation dwindled for a time – his 1840 poem ''Sordello'' was seen as wilfully obscure – and took over a decade to recover, by which time he had moved from Shelleyan forms to a more personal style. In 1846 he married fellow poet
Elizabeth Barrett Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime. Born in County Durham, the eldest of 12 children, Elizabe ...
and moved to Italy. By her death in 1861 he had published the collection ''Men and Women'' (1855). His ''Dramatis Personae'' (1864) and book-length
epic poem An epic poem, or simply an epic, is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. ...
''
The Ring and the Book ''The Ring and the Book'' is a long dramatic narrative poem, and, more specifically, a verse novel, of 21,000 lines, written by Robert Browning. It was published in four volumes from 1868 to 1869 by Smith, Elder & Co. Plot outline The boo ...
'' (1868–1869) made him a leading poet. By his death in 1889 he was seen as a sage and philosopher-poet who had fed into Victorian social and political discourse. Societies for studying his work survived in Britain and the US into the 20th century.


Biography


Early years

Robert Browning was born in
Walworth Walworth () is a district of south London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. It adjoins Camberwell to the south and Elephant and Castle to the north, and is south-east of Charing Cross. Major streets in Walworth include the Old ...
in the parish of
Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...
, Surrey, which now forms part of the Borough of Southwark in south London. He was baptised on 14 June 1812, at Lock's Fields Independent Chapel, York Street, Walworth, the only son of Sarah Anna (née Wiedemann) and Robert Browning.Browning, Robert. Ed. Karlin, Daniel (2004) ''Selected Poems'' Penguin, p. 9 His father was a well-paid clerk for the
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...
, earning about £150 per year.John Maynard, ''Browning's Youth'' Browning's paternal grandfather was a slave owner in Saint Kitts, West Indies, but Browning's father was an
abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...
. Browning's father had been sent to the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
to work on a sugar plantation but returned to England following a slave revolt. Browning's mother was the daughter of a German shipowner who had settled in
Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...
, Scotland, and his Scottish wife. His paternal grandmother, Margaret Tittle, had inherited a plantation in St Kitts and was rumoured in the family to have a mixed-race ancestry including some Jamaican blood, but author Julia Markus suggests she was
Kittitian Saint Kitts and Nevis (), officially the Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis, is an island country and microstate consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of ...
rather than Jamaican. The evidence is inconclusive. Robert's father, a literary collector, amassed a library of some 6,000 books; many of them were rare so that Robert grew up in a household with significant literary resources. His mother, to whom he was close, was a devout
nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...
and a talented musician. His younger sister, Sarianna, also gifted, became her brother's companion in his later years, after the death of his wife in 1861. His father encouraged his children's interest in literature and the arts. By the age of 12, Browning had written a book of poetry, which he later destroyed for want of a publisher. After attending one or two private schools and showing an insuperable dislike of school life, he was educated at home by a tutor, using the resources of his father's library. By 14 he was fluent in French,
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, Italian and Latin. He became an admirer of the
Romantic poets Romantic poetry is the poetry of the Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. It involved a reaction against prevailing Enlightenment ideas of the 18t ...
, especially Shelley, whom he followed in becoming an
atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
and a vegetarian. At 16, he studied Greek at
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
, but left after his first year. His parents' evangelical faith prevented his studying at either
Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
or
Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, both then open only to members of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
. He had inherited substantial musical ability through his mother, and composed arrangements of various songs. He refused a formal career and ignored his parents' remonstrations by dedicating himself to poetry. He stayed at home until the age of 34, financially dependent on his family until his marriage. His father sponsored the publication of his son's poems.


First published works

In March 1833, ''"Pauline, a Fragment of a Confession"'' was published anonymously by Saunders and Otley at the expense of the author, Robert Browning, who received the money from his aunt, Mrs Silverthorne. It is a long poem composed in homage to the poet Shelley and somewhat in his style. Originally Browning considered ''Pauline'' as the first of a series written by different aspects of himself, but he soon abandoned this idea. The press noticed the publication. W. J. Fox writing in ''The Monthly Repository'' of April 1833 discerned merit in the work. Allan Cunningham praised it in the ''
Athenaeum Athenaeum may refer to: Books and periodicals * ''Athenaeum'' (German magazine), a journal of German Romanticism, established 1798 * ''Athenaeum'' (British magazine), a weekly London literary magazine 1828–1921 * ''The Athenaeum'' (Acadia U ...
''. However, it sold no copies. Some years later, probably in 1850,
Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...
came across it in the Reading Room of the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
and wrote to Browning, then in
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
to ask if he was the author.
John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...
, however, wrote that the author suffered from an "intense and morbid self-consciousness". Later Browning was rather embarrassed by the work, and only included it in his collected poems of 1868 after making substantial changes and adding a preface in which he asked for indulgence for a boyish work. In 1834, he accompanied the Chevalier George de Benkhausen, the Russian consul-general, on a brief visit to
St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
and began ''Paracelsus'', which was published in 1835. The subject of the 16th-century savant and alchemist was probably suggested to him by the Comte Amédée de Ripart-Monclar, to whom it was dedicated. The publication had some commercial and critical success, being noticed by
Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's '' ...
,
Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
, Landor, J. S. Mill and the already famous
Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
. It is a monodrama without action, dealing with the problems confronting an intellectual trying to find his role in society. It gained him access to the London literary world. As a result of his new contacts he met Macready, who invited him to write a play. '' Strafford'' was performed five times. Browning then wrote two other plays, one of which was not performed, while the other failed, Browning having fallen out with Macready. In 1838, he visited Italy looking for background for ''
Sordello Sordello da Goito or Sordel de Goit (sometimes ''Sordell'') was a 13th-century Italian troubadour. His life and work have inspired several authors including Dante Alighieri, Robert Browning, and Samuel Beckett. Life Sordello was born in the ...
'', a long poem in heroic couplets, presented as the imaginary biography of the Mantuan bard spoken of by
Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...
in the
Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' ( it, Divina Commedia ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun 1308 and completed in around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and ...
, canto 6 of Purgatory, set against a background of hate and conflict during the Guelph-Ghibelline wars. This was published in 1840 and met with widespread derision, gaining him the reputation of wanton carelessness and obscurity. Tennyson commented that he only understood the first and last lines.
Jane Welsh Carlyle Jane Baillie Carlyle ( Welsh; 14 July 1801 – 21 April 1866) was a Scottish writer and the wife of Thomas Carlyle. She did not publish any work in her lifetime, but she was widely seen as an extraordinary letter writer. Virginia Woolf ca ...
, wife of
Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...
(a friend of Browning's who deeply influenced Browning's poetry), quipped that she read the poem through and "could not tell whether Sordello was a 'a book, a city, or a man'". Browning's reputation began to make a partial recovery with the publication, 1841–1846, of ''Bells and Pomegranates'', a series of eight pamphlets, originally intended just to include his plays. Fortunately for Browning's career, his publisher, Moxon, persuaded him to include some "dramatic lyrics", some of which had already appeared in periodicals.


Marriage

In 1845, Browning met the poet
Elizabeth Barrett Elizabeth Barrett Browning (née Moulton-Barrett; 6 March 1806 – 29 June 1861) was an English poet of the Victorian era, popular in Britain and the United States during her lifetime. Born in County Durham, the eldest of 12 children, Elizabe ...
, six years his senior, who lived as a semi-invalid in her father's house in
Wimpole Street Wimpole Street is a street in Marylebone, central London. Located in the City of Westminster, it is associated with private medical practice and medical associations. No. 1 Wimpole Street is an example of Edwardian baroque architecture, compl ...
, London. They began regularly corresponding and gradually a romance developed between them, leading to their marriage and journey to Italy (for Elizabeth's health) on 12 September 1846.Browning, Robert. Ed. Karlin, Daniel (2004) ''Selected Poems'' Penguin p10 The marriage was initially secret because Elizabeth's domineering father disapproved of marriage for any of his children. Mr. Barrett disinherited Elizabeth, as he did each of his children who married: "The Mrs. Browning of popular imagination was a sweet, innocent young woman who suffered endless cruelties at the hands of a tyrannical papa but who nonetheless had the good fortune to fall in love with a dashing and handsome poet named Robert Browning." At her husband's insistence, the second edition of Elizabeth's ''Poems'' included her love sonnets. The book increased her popularity and high critical regard, cementing her position as an eminent Victorian poet. Upon
William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...
's death in 1850, she was a serious contender to become
Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
, the position eventually going to
Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
. From the time of their marriage and until Elizabeth's death, the Brownings lived in Italy, residing first in
Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...
, and then, within a year, finding an apartment in
Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
at Casa Guidi (now a museum to their memory). Their only child, Robert Wiedemann Barrett Browning, nicknamed "Penini" or "Pen", was born in 1849. In these years Browning was fascinated by, and learned from, the art and atmosphere of Italy. He would, in later life, describe Italy as his university. As Elizabeth had inherited money of her own, the couple were reasonably comfortable in Italy, and their relationship together was happy. However, the literary assault on Browning's work did not let up and he was critically dismissed further, by patrician writers such as Charles Kingsley, for the desertion of England for foreign lands.


Political views

Browning identified as a
Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
, supported the emancipation of women, and opposed slavery, expressing sympathy for the North in the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. Later in life, he even championed animal rights in several poems attacking vivisection. He was also a stalwart opponent of anti-Semitism, leading to speculation that Browning himself was Jewish. In 1877 he wrote a poem explaining "Why I am a Liberal" in which he declared: "Who then dares hold – emancipated thus / His fellow shall continue bound? Not I."


Religious beliefs

Browning was raised in an evangelical non-conformist household. However, after his reading of Shelley he is said to have briefly become an atheist.Everett, Glenn
Browning's Religious Views
at
Victorian Web The Victorian Web is a hypertext project derived from hypermedia environments, Intermedia and Storyspace, that anticipated the World Wide Web. Initially created between 1988 and 1990 with 1,500 documents, it grew to 50,000 in the 21st century. In c ...
. Retrieved 19 February 2018
Browning is also said to have made an uncharacteristic admission of faith to Alfred Domett, when he is said to have admired Byron's poetry "as a Christian".Domett, Alfred
Robert Browning's Religious Context and Belief
cited at
Victorian Web The Victorian Web is a hypertext project derived from hypermedia environments, Intermedia and Storyspace, that anticipated the World Wide Web. Initially created between 1988 and 1990 with 1,500 documents, it grew to 50,000 in the 21st century. In c ...
. Retrieved 19 February 2018
Poems such as "Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day" seem to confirm this Christian faith, strengthened by his wife. However, many have dismissed the usefulness of these works at discovering Browning's own religious views due to the consistent use of dramatic monologue which regularly expresses hypothetical views which cannot be ascribed to the author himself.


Spiritualism incident

Browning believed
spiritualism Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and Mind-body dualism, dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century, Spiritualism (w ...
to be fraud, and proved one of
Daniel Dunglas Home Daniel Dunglas Home (pronounced ''Hume''; 20 March 183321 June 1886) was a Scottish physical medium with the reported ability to levitate to a variety of heights, speak with the dead, and to produce rapping and knocks in houses at will. His bi ...
's most adamant critics. When Browning and his wife
Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
attended one of his séances on 23 July 1855,
Donald Serrell Thomas Donald Serrell Thomas (18 July 1934 – 20 January 2022) was a British crime writer. His work primarily included Victorian-era historical, crime and detective fiction, as well as books on factual crime and criminals, in particular several academ ...
. (1989). ''Robert Browning: A Life Within Life''. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. pp. 157–158.
a spirit face materialized, which Home claimed was Browning's son who had died in infancy: Browning seized the "materialization" and discovered it to be Home's bare foot. To make the deception worse, Browning had never lost a son in infancy. After the séance, Browning wrote an angry letter to ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', in which he said: "the whole display of hands, spirit utterances etc., was a cheat and imposture." In 1902 Browning's son
Pen A pen is a common writing instrument that applies ink to a surface, usually paper, for writing or drawing. Early pens such as reed pens, quill pens, dip pens and ruling pens held a small amount of ink on a nib or in a small void or cavity wh ...
wrote: "Home was detected in a vulgar fraud." Elizabeth, however, was convinced that the phenomena she witnessed were genuine, and her discussions about Home with her husband were a constant source of disagreement.


Major works

In Florence, probably from early in 1853, Browning worked on the poems that eventually comprised his two-volume '' Men and Women'', for which he is now well known, although in 1855, when they were published, they made relatively little impact. In 1861, Elizabeth died in Florence. Among those whom he found consoling in that period was the novelist and poet
Isa Blagden Isa or Isabella Jane Blagden (30 June 1816 or 1817 – 20 January 1873) was an English-language novelist, speaker, and poet born in the East Indies or India, who spent much of her life among the English community in Florence. She was notably frie ...
, with whom he and his wife had a voluminous correspondence. The following year Browning returned to London, taking Pen with him, who by then was 12 years old. They made their home in 17
Warwick Crescent Warwick Crescent is a street in Little Venice, London. It connects Harrow Road with Westbourne Terrace Road, running along the southern edge of the Grand Union Canal. The street began to be built up around 1852 when William Buddle purchased 12 p ...
,
Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is ...
. It was only when he became part of the London literary scene—albeit while paying frequent visits to Italy (though never again to Florence)—that his reputation started to take off. In 1868, after five years work he completed and published the long blank-verse poem ''
The Ring and the Book ''The Ring and the Book'' is a long dramatic narrative poem, and, more specifically, a verse novel, of 21,000 lines, written by Robert Browning. It was published in four volumes from 1868 to 1869 by Smith, Elder & Co. Plot outline The boo ...
''. Based on a convoluted murder-case from 1690s Rome, the poem is composed of 12 books: essentially 10 lengthy dramatic monologues narrated by various characters in the story, showing their individual perspectives on events, bookended by an introduction and conclusion by Browning himself. Long even by Browning's standards (over twenty-thousand lines), ''The Ring and the Book'' was his most ambitious project and is arguably his greatest work; it has been called a ''tour de force'' of dramatic poetry. Published in four parts from November 1868 to February 1869, the poem was a success both commercially and critically, and finally brought Browning the renown he had sought for nearly 40 years.Browning, Robert. Ed. Karlin, Daniel (2004) ''Selected Poems'' Penguin p11 The Robert Browning Society was formed in 1881 and his work was recognised as belonging within the British literary canon.


Last years and death

In the remaining years of his life Browning travelled extensively. After a series of long poems published in the early 1870s, of which ''Balaustion's Adventure'' and '' Red Cotton Night-Cap Country'' were the best-received, the volume '' Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper'' included an attack against Browning's critics, especially
Alfred Austin Alfred Austin (30 May 1835 – 2 June 1913) was an English poet who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1896, after an interval following the death of Tennyson, when the other candidates had either caused controversy or refused the honour. It was cl ...
, who was later to become
Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch ...
. According to some reports Browning became romantically involved with
Louisa Caroline Stewart-Mackenzie Louisa Caroline Baring, Lady Ashburton (; 5 March 1827 – 2 February 1903), was a Scottish art collector and philanthropist who had close connections with several artistic and literary figures of the period. Early life Louisa Caroline Stewart ...
, Lady Ashburton, but he refused her proposal of marriage, and did not remarry. In 1878, he revisited Italy for the first time in the seventeen years since Elizabeth's death, and returned there on several further occasions. In 1887, Browning produced the major work of his later years, ''Parleyings with Certain People of Importance in Their Day''. It finally presented the poet speaking in his own voice, engaging in a series of dialogues with long-forgotten figures of literary, artistic, and philosophic history. The Victorian public was baffled by this, and Browning returned to the brief, concise lyric for his last volume, '' Asolando'' (1889), published on the day of his death. Browning died at his son's home
Ca' Rezzonico Ca' Rezzonico () is a palazzo and art museum on the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro ''sestiere'' of Venice, Italy. It is a particularly notable example of the 18th century Venetian baroque and rococo architecture and interior decoration, and disp ...
in Venice on 12 December 1889. He was buried in
Poets' Corner Poets' Corner is the name traditionally given to a section of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey in the City of Westminster, London because of the high number of poets, playwrights, and writers buried and commemorated there. The first poe ...
in
Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
; his grave now lies immediately adjacent to that of
Alfred Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
. During his life Browning was awarded many distinctions. He was made
LL.D. Legum Doctor (Latin: “teacher of the laws”) (LL.D.) or, in English, Doctor of Laws, is a doctorate-level academic degree in law or an honorary degree, depending on the jurisdiction. The double “L” in the abbreviation refers to the early ...
of Edinburgh, a life Governor of London University, and had the offer of the Lord Rectorship of Glasgow. But he turned down anything that involved public speaking.


History of sound recording

At a dinner party on 7 April 1889, at the home of Browning's friend the artist Rudolf Lehmann, an Edison cylinder phonograph recording was made on a white wax cylinder by Edison's British representative,
George Gouraud George Edward Gouraud (30 June 1842 – 20 February 1912) was an American Civil War recipient of the Medal of Honor who later became famous for introducing the new Edison Phonograph cylinder audio recording technology to England in 1888. Civil ...
. In the recording, which still exists, Browning recites part of ''
How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix" is a poem by Robert Browning published in ''Dramatic Romances and Lyrics'', 1845. The poem, one of the volume's "dramatic romances", is a first-person narrative told, in breathless galloping met ...
'' (and can be heard apologising when he forgets the words). When the recording was played in 1890 on the anniversary of his death, at a gathering of his admirers, it was said to be the first time anyone's voice "had been heard from beyond the grave."


Legacy

Browning's admirers have tended to temper their praise with reservations about the length and difficulty of his most ambitious poems, particularly ''Sordello'' and, to a lesser extent, ''The Ring and the Book''. Nevertheless, they have included such eminent writers as
Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
,
Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
,
George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...
, G. K. Chesterton,
Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
,
Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known bo ...
, and
Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...
. Among living writers,
Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
's '' The Dark Tower'' series and A. S. Byatt's ''
Possession Possession may refer to: Law * Dependent territory, an area of land over which another country exercises sovereignty, but which does not have the full right of participation in that country's governance * Drug possession, a crime * Ownership * ...
'' refer directly to Browning's work. Today Browning's critically most esteemed poems include the monologues ''
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" is a narrative poem by English author Robert Browning, written on January 2, 1852, and first published in 1855 in the collection titled '' Men and Women''. The poem is often noted for its dark and atm ...
'', '' Fra Lippo Lippi'', '' Andrea Del Sarto'', and ''
My Last Duchess "My Last Duchess" is a poem by Robert Browning, frequently anthologised as an example of the dramatic monologue. It first appeared in 1842 in Browning's '' Dramatic Lyrics''. The poem is composed in 28 rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter. In ...
''. His most popular poems include ''
Porphyria's Lover "Porphyria's Lover" is a poem by Robert Browning which was first published as "Porphyria" in the January 1836 issue of ''Monthly Repository''. Browning later republished it in ''Dramatic Lyrics'' (1842) paired with "Johannes Agricola in Meditat ...
'', ''
How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix" is a poem by Robert Browning published in ''Dramatic Romances and Lyrics'', 1845. The poem, one of the volume's "dramatic romances", is a first-person narrative told, in breathless galloping met ...
'', the
diptych A diptych (; from the Greek δίπτυχον, ''di'' "two" + '' ptychē'' "fold") is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world w ...
''
Meeting at Night "Meeting at Night" is a Victorian English love poem by Robert Browning. The original poem appeared in ''Dramatic Romances and Lyrics'' (1845) in which "Night" and "Morning" were two sections. In 1849, the poet separated them into the two poems ...
'', the patriotic ''
Home Thoughts from Abroad "Home Thoughts, from Abroad" is a poem by Robert Browning. It was written in 1845 while Browning was on a visit to northern Italy, and was first published in his ''Dramatic Romances and Lyrics''. It is considered an exemplary work of Romantic ...
'', and the children's poem ''
The Pied Piper of Hamelin The Pied Piper of Hamelin (german: der Rattenfänger von Hameln, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany. The legend dates back to ...
''. His abortive dinner-party recital of ''How They Brought The Good News'' was recorded on an Edison
wax cylinder Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to give low ...
, and is believed to be one of the oldest surviving recordings made in the United Kingdom of a notable person (a recording of Sir Arthur Sullivan's voice was made about six months earlier). Browning is now popularly known for such poems as ''
Porphyria's Lover "Porphyria's Lover" is a poem by Robert Browning which was first published as "Porphyria" in the January 1836 issue of ''Monthly Repository''. Browning later republished it in ''Dramatic Lyrics'' (1842) paired with "Johannes Agricola in Meditat ...
'', ''
My Last Duchess "My Last Duchess" is a poem by Robert Browning, frequently anthologised as an example of the dramatic monologue. It first appeared in 1842 in Browning's '' Dramatic Lyrics''. The poem is composed in 28 rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter. In ...
'', ''
How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix" is a poem by Robert Browning published in ''Dramatic Romances and Lyrics'', 1845. The poem, one of the volume's "dramatic romances", is a first-person narrative told, in breathless galloping met ...
'', and ''
The Pied Piper of Hamelin The Pied Piper of Hamelin (german: der Rattenfänger von Hameln, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany. The legend dates back to ...
'', and also for certain famous lines: "Grow old along with me!" (''
Rabbi Ben Ezra "Rabbi ben Ezra" is a poem by Robert Browning about the famous Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra (10921167), one of the great Jewish poets and scholars of the 12th century. He wrote on grammar, astronomy, the astrolabe, and other topics. Analysis The ...
''), "A man's reach should exceed his grasp" and "Less is more" ('' Andrea Del Sarto''), "It was roses, roses all the way" (''The Patriot''), and "God's in His heaven—All's right with the world!" (''
Pippa Passes ''Pippa Passes'' is a verse drama by Robert Browning. It was published in 1841 as the first volume of his ''Bells and Pomegranates'' series, in a low-priced two-column edition for sixpence, and republished in his collected ''Poems'' of 1849, ...
''). His critical reputation rests mainly on his
dramatic monologue Dramatic monologue is a type of poetry written in the form of a speech of an individual character. M.H. Abrams notes the following three features of the ''dramatic monologue'' as it applies to poetry: Types of dramatic monologue One of the mo ...
s, in which the words not only convey setting and action but reveal the speaker's character. In a Browning monologue, unlike a soliloquy, the meaning is not what the speaker voluntarily reveals but what he inadvertently gives away, usually while rationalising past actions or
special pleading Special pleading is an informal fallacy wherein one cites something as an exception to a general or universal principle, without justifying the special exception. It is the application of a double standard. In the classic distinction among mate ...
his case to a silent auditor. These monologues have been influential, and today the best of them are often treated by teachers and lecturers as paradigm cases of the monologue form. One such example used by teachers today is his satirisation of the sadistic attitude in his ''Soliloquy in a Spanish Cloister''.
Ian Jack Ian Grant Jack (7 February 1945 – 28 October 2022) was a British reporter, writer and editor. He edited the ''Independent on Sunday'', the literary magazine ''Granta'' and wrote regularly for ''The Guardian''. Early life Jack was born in Fa ...
, in his introduction to the Oxford University Press edition of Browning's poems 1833–1864, comments that
Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...
,
Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...
,
Ezra Pound Ezra Weston Loomis Pound (30 October 1885 – 1 November 1972) was an expatriate American poet and critic, a major figure in the early modernist poetry movement, and a Fascism, fascist collaborator in Italy during World War II. His works ...
and T. S. Eliot "all learned from Browning's exploration of the possibilities of dramatic poetry and of colloquial idiom". In Oscar Wilde's dialogue '' The Critic as Artist'', Browning is given a famously ironical assessment: "He is the most Shakespearean creature since Shakespeare. If Shakespeare could sing with myriad lips, Browning could stammer through a thousand mouths. ..Yes, Browning was great. And as what will he be remembered? As a poet? Ah, not as a poet! He will be remembered as a writer of fiction, as the most supreme writer of fiction, it may be, that we have ever had. His sense of dramatic situation was unrivalled, and, if he could not answer his own problems, he could at least put problems forth, and what more should an artist do? Considered from the point of view of a creator of character he ranks next to him who made
Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...
. Had he been articulate, he might have sat beside him. The only man who can touch the hem of his garment is
George Meredith George Meredith (12 February 1828 – 18 May 1909) was an English novelist and poet of the Victorian era. At first his focus was poetry, influenced by John Keats among others, but he gradually established a reputation as a novelist. ''The Ord ...
. Meredith is a prose Browning, and so is Browning. He used poetry as a medium for writing in prose." Probably the most adulatory judgment of Browning by a modern critic comes from
Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking wor ...
: "Browning is the most considerable poet in English since the major Romantics, surpassing his great contemporary rival
Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
and the principal twentieth-century poets, including even
Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...
, Hardy, and
Wallace Stevens Wallace Stevens (October 2, 1879 – August 2, 1955) was an American modernist poet. He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, educated at Harvard and then New York Law School, and spent most of his life working as an executive for an insurance compa ...
. But Browning is a very difficult poet, notoriously badly served by criticism, and ill-served also by his own accounts of what he was doing as a poet.... Yet when you read your way into his world, precisely his largest gift to you is his involuntary unfolding of one of the largest, most enigmatic, and most multipersoned literary and human selves you can hope to encounter."
Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was described as "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking wor ...
(2004). ''The Best Poems of the English Language: From Chaucer through Robert Frost''. HarperCollins. pp. 656–657.
His work has nevertheless had many detractors, and most of his voluminous output is not widely read. In a largely hostile essay
Anthony Burgess John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993), who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer. Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his dystopian satire ''A Clockwork ...
wrote: "We all want to like Browning, but we find it very hard." Gerard Manley Hopkins and
George Santayana Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, known in English as George Santayana (; December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952), was a Spanish and US-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. Born in Spain, Santayana was raised ...
were also critical. The latter expressed his views in the essay "The Poetry of Barbarism," which attacks Browning and
Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...
for what he regarded as their embrace of irrationality.


Cultural references

In 1914, the American modernist composer Charles Ives created the ''Robert Browning Overture'', a dense and darkly dramatic piece with gloomy overtones reminiscent of the Second Viennese School. In 1917, the U.S. composer
Margaret Hoberg Turrell Margaret B. Hoberg Turrell (1890 – 1948) was an American composer, organist, and philanthropist who with her husband Herbert Turrell founded the Turrell Fund in 1935 to aid at-risk children. She published her music under the name Margaret Hoberg. ...
composed a song based on Browning's poem "Love: Such a Starved Bank of Moss". In 1920, the U.S. composer Anne Stratton composed one based on Browning's poem "Parting at Morning". In 1930, the story of Browning and his wife was made into the play ''
The Barretts of Wimpole Street ''The Barretts of Wimpole Street'' is a 1930 play by the Dutch/English dramatist Rudolf Besier, based on the romance between Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett, and her father's unwillingness to allow them to marry. The play gave actress Ka ...
'', by
Rudolph Besier Rudolf Wilhelm Besier (2 July 1878 – 16 June 1942) was a Dutch/English dramatist and translator best known for his play ''The Barretts of Wimpole Street'' (1930). He worked with H. G. Wells, Hugh Walpole and May Edginton on dramatisations. Ear ...
. It was a success and brought popular fame to the couple in the United States. The role of Elizabeth became a signature role for the actress Katharine Cornell. It was twice adapted into film. It was also the basis of the stage musical ''
Robert and Elizabeth ''Robert and Elizabeth'' is a musical with music by Ron Grainer and book and lyrics by Ronald Millar. The story is based on an unproduced musical titled ''The Third Kiss'' by Judge Fred G. Moritt, which in turn was adapted from the play ''The ...
'', with music by
Ron Grainer Ronald Erle Grainer (11 August 1922 – 21 February 1981) was an Australian composer who worked for most of his professional career in the United Kingdom. He is mostly remembered for his television and film score music, especially the theme mus ...
and book and lyrics by
Ronald Millar Sir Ronald Graeme Millar (12 November 1919 – 16 April 1998) was an English actor, scriptwriter, and dramatist. Life and career After attending Charterhouse School, Millar studied at King's College, Cambridge for a year before joining th ...
. In '' The Browning Version'' (
Terence Rattigan Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...
's 1948 play or one of several film adaptations), a pupil makes a parting present to his teacher of an inscribed copy of Browning's translation of the ''
Agamemnon In Greek mythology, Agamemnon (; grc-gre, Ἀγαμέμνων ''Agamémnōn'') was a king of Mycenae who commanded the Greeks during the Trojan War. He was the son, or grandson, of King Atreus and Queen Aerope, the brother of Menelaus, the husb ...
''.
Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
's '' The Dark Tower'' was chiefly inspired by Browning's ''Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came'', whose full text was included in the final volume's appendix.
Michael Dibdin Michael Dibdin (21 March 1947 – 30 March 2007) was a British crime writer, best known for inventing Aurelio Zen, the principal character in 11 crime novels set in Italy. Early life Dibdin was born in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire (now West M ...
's 1986 crime novel "A Rich Full Death" features Robert Browning as one of the lead characters. Lines from ''Paracelsus'' were recited by the character
Fox Mulder Fox William Mulder () is a fictional FBI Special Agent and one of the two protagonists of the Fox science fiction-supernatural television series ''The X-Files'', played by David Duchovny. Mulder's peers dismiss his many theories on extraterre ...
at the beginning and the end of the 1996 ''
The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation ...
'' episode " The Field Where I Died".
Mark Alburger Mark Alburger (born April 2, 1957 in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania) is a San Francisco Bay area composer and conductor. He is the founder and music director of the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, as well as the music director of Goat ...
's 2004 opera
The Pied Piper of Hamelin The Pied Piper of Hamelin (german: der Rattenfänger von Hameln, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany. The legend dates back to ...
sets the Browning poem in the time of
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
and Osama bin Laden. Gabrielle Kimm's 2010 novel ''His Last Duchess'' is inspired by ''My Last Duchess''. A memorial plaque on the site of Browning's London home, in Warwick Crescent,
Maida Vale Maida Vale ( ) is an affluent residential district consisting of the northern part of Paddington in West London, west of St John's Wood and south of Kilburn. It is also the name of its main road, on the continuous Edgware Road. Maida Vale is ...
, was unveiled on 11 December 1993. A song named Galuppi Baldassare, by Kris Delmhorst ( 2016 album Strange Conversation), partial writing credit to Robert Browning and referencing him by name throughout the song. Locations named for him include the following: *Robert Browning Elementary School,
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, Texas, USA *Ways in areas known as "Poets' Corner": **Browning Trail in Barrie, Ontario **Browning Close in
Royston, Hertfordshire Royston is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Hertfordshire, District of North Hertfordshire and county of Hertfordshire in England. It is situated on the Prime meridian (Greenwich), Greenwich Meridian, which brush ...
**Browning Street in
Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...
**Browning Street in
Yokine, Western Australia Yokine is a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. Its local government area is the City of Stirling. History The name Yokine was derived from a Nyungar language word meaning " dingo" (which early settlers referred to as the "native dog"). The n ...
**Browning Avenue in
Ottawa, Canada Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
*Browning Street and Robert Browning School in
Walworth Walworth () is a district of south London, England, within the London Borough of Southwark. It adjoins Camberwell to the south and Elephant and Castle to the north, and is south-east of Charing Cross. Major streets in Walworth include the Old ...
, London (near to his birthplace in
Camberwell Camberwell () is a district of South London, England, in the London Borough of Southwark, southeast of Charing Cross. Camberwell was first a village associated with the church of St Giles and a common of which Goose Green is a remnant. This e ...
) *Two culs-de-sac in
Little Venice Little Venice is a district in West London, England, around the junction of the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, the Regent's Canal, and the entrance to Paddington Basin. The junction forms a triangular shape basin. Many of the buildi ...
, London (Browning Close and Robert Close). (An adjacent third one, Elizabeth Close, is named after his wife.)


List of works

This section lists the plays and volumes of poetry Browning published in his lifetime. Some individually notable poems are also listed, under the volumes in which they were published. (His only notable
prose Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...
work, with the exception of his letters, is his ''Essay on Shelley''.) *''Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession'' (1833) *''Paracelsus'' (1835) *'' Strafford'' (play) (1837) *''
Sordello Sordello da Goito or Sordel de Goit (sometimes ''Sordell'') was a 13th-century Italian troubadour. His life and work have inspired several authors including Dante Alighieri, Robert Browning, and Samuel Beckett. Life Sordello was born in the ...
'' (1840) *''
Bells and Pomegranates Bells may refer to: * Bell, a musical instrument Places * Bells, North Carolina * Bells, Tennessee * Bells, Texas * Bells Beach, Victoria, an internationally famous surf beach in Australia * Bells Corners, Ontario Music * Bells, directly stru ...
'' (1841–6) **''Bells and Pomegranates No. I:
Pippa Passes ''Pippa Passes'' is a verse drama by Robert Browning. It was published in 1841 as the first volume of his ''Bells and Pomegranates'' series, in a low-priced two-column edition for sixpence, and republished in his collected ''Poems'' of 1849, ...
'' (play) (1841) ***''The Year's at the Spring'' **''Bells and Pomegranates No. II: King Victor and King Charles'' (play) (1842) **'' Bells and Pomegranates No. III: Dramatic Lyrics'' (1842) ***''
Porphyria's Lover "Porphyria's Lover" is a poem by Robert Browning which was first published as "Porphyria" in the January 1836 issue of ''Monthly Repository''. Browning later republished it in ''Dramatic Lyrics'' (1842) paired with "Johannes Agricola in Meditat ...
'' ***''
Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister" is a soliloquy written by Robert Browning, first published in his collection '' Dramatic Lyrics'' (1842). It is written in the voice of an unnamed Spanish monk. The poem consists of nine eight-line stanzas and i ...
'' ***''
My Last Duchess "My Last Duchess" is a poem by Robert Browning, frequently anthologised as an example of the dramatic monologue. It first appeared in 1842 in Browning's '' Dramatic Lyrics''. The poem is composed in 28 rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter. In ...
'' ***''
The Pied Piper of Hamelin The Pied Piper of Hamelin (german: der Rattenfänger von Hameln, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany. The legend dates back to ...
'' ***'' Count Gismond'' ***'' Johannes Agricola in Meditation'' **''Bells and Pomegranates No. IV:
The Return of the Druses ''The Return of the Druses'' is a tragedy in blank verse by Robert Browning. It was originally published as the fourth number (No. IV) of ''Bells and Pomegranates'' in 1843. The manuscript was first named ''Mansoor the Hierophant''.Scudder 18 ...
'' (play) (1843) **''Bells and Pomegranates No. V:
A Blot in the 'Scutcheon ''A Blot in the 'Scutcheon'' is a tragedy in blank verse by Robert Browning, published in 1843 and acted in the same year.Keller 1924, p. 95. Characters * Mildred Tresham * Thorold, Earl Tresham * Henry, Earl Mertoun * Guendolen Tresham ...
'' (play) (1843) **''Bells and Pomegranates No. VI:
Colombe's Birthday ''Colombe's Birthday'' is a play written by Robert Browning. In 1843, he was approached by William Macready's rival Charles Kean to write a play for him. Browning took up the offer and finished the play in 1844. In March of that year, he read th ...
'' (play) (1844) **''Bells and Pomegranates No. VII:
Dramatic Romances and Lyrics ''Dramatic Romances and Lyrics'' is a collection of English poems by Robert Browning, first published in 1845 in London, as the seventh volume in a series of self-published books entitled ''Bells and Pomegranates''. Contents Many of the origin ...
'' (1845) ***''
The Laboratory "The Laboratory" is a poem and dramatic monologue by Robert Browning. The poem was first published in June 1844 in '' Hood's Magazine and Comic Miscellany'', and later ''Dramatic Romances and Lyrics ''Dramatic Romances and Lyrics'' is a colle ...
'' ***''
How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix" is a poem by Robert Browning published in ''Dramatic Romances and Lyrics'', 1845. The poem, one of the volume's "dramatic romances", is a first-person narrative told, in breathless galloping met ...
'' ***''The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church'' ***'' The Lost Leader'' ***''
Home Thoughts from Abroad "Home Thoughts, from Abroad" is a poem by Robert Browning. It was written in 1845 while Browning was on a visit to northern Italy, and was first published in his ''Dramatic Romances and Lyrics''. It is considered an exemplary work of Romantic ...
'' ***''
Meeting at Night "Meeting at Night" is a Victorian English love poem by Robert Browning. The original poem appeared in ''Dramatic Romances and Lyrics'' (1845) in which "Night" and "Morning" were two sections. In 1849, the poet separated them into the two poems ...
'' **''Bells and Pomegranates No. VIII: Luria ''and'' A Soul's Tragedy'' (plays) (1846) *''
Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day ''Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day, a Poem'' (1850) is, despite the title, often treated as two poems by Robert Browning, rather than as one poem in two parts. It was the first new work published by Robert Browning after his marriage to Elizabeth Ba ...
'' (1850) *'' Men and Women'' (1855) **'' Evelyn Hope'' **''
Love Among the Ruins Love Among the Ruins may refer to: Literature * "Love Among the Ruins" (poem), a poem by Robert Browning * ''Love Among the Ruins. A Romance of the Near Future'', a novel by Evelyn Waugh * ''Love Among the Ruins'', a novel by Warwick Deeping * ''L ...
'' **''
A Toccata of Galuppi's "A Toccata of Galuppi's" is a poem by Robert Browning, originally published in the 1855 collection ''Men and Women''. The title refers to the fact that the speaker is either playing or listening to a toccata by the 18th-century Venetian compos ...
'' **''
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" is a narrative poem by English author Robert Browning, written on January 2, 1852, and first published in 1855 in the collection titled '' Men and Women''. The poem is often noted for its dark and atm ...
'' **'' Fra Lippo Lippi'' **'' Andrea Del Sarto'' **''The Patriot'' **''The Last Ride Together'' **''Memorabilia'' **''Cleon'' **''How It Strikes a Contemporary'' **''The Statue and the Bust'' **''A Grammarian's Funeral'' **''An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of Karshish, the Arab Physician'' **''Bishop Blougram's Apology'' **''Master Hugues of Saxe-Gotha'' **''By the Fire-side'' *''
Dramatis Personae Dramatis personae (Latin: 'persons of the drama') are the main characters in a dramatic work written in a list. Such lists are commonly employed in various forms of theatre, and also on screen. Typically, off-stage characters are not considere ...
'' (1864) **''
Caliban upon Setebos ''Caliban upon Setebos'' is a poem written by the British poet Robert Browning and published in his 1864 ''Dramatis Personae'' collection. It deals with Caliban, a character from Shakespeare's '' The Tempest'', and his reflections on Setebos, the ...
'' **''
Rabbi Ben Ezra "Rabbi ben Ezra" is a poem by Robert Browning about the famous Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra (10921167), one of the great Jewish poets and scholars of the 12th century. He wrote on grammar, astronomy, the astrolabe, and other topics. Analysis The ...
'' **''Abt Vogler'' **''Mr. Sludge, "The Medium"'' **''Prospice'' **''A Death in the Desert'' *''
The Ring and the Book ''The Ring and the Book'' is a long dramatic narrative poem, and, more specifically, a verse novel, of 21,000 lines, written by Robert Browning. It was published in four volumes from 1868 to 1869 by Smith, Elder & Co. Plot outline The boo ...
'' (1868–69) *''Balaustion's Adventure'' (1871) *'' Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society'' (1871) *'' Fifine at the Fair'' (1872) *'' Red Cotton Night-Cap Country, or, Turf and Towers'' (1873) *''Aristophanes' Apology'' (1875) **''Thamuris Marching'' *''The Inn Album'' (1875) *'' Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper'' (1876) **''Numpholeptos'' *''The Agamemnon of Aeschylus'' (1877) *''La Saisiaz'' and ''The Two Poets of Croisic'' (1878) *''Dramatic Idyls'' (1879) *''Dramatic Idyls: Second Series'' (1880) **''Pan and Luna'' *'' Jocoseria'' (1883) *'' Ferishtah's Fancies'' (1884) *''Parleyings with Certain People of Importance in Their Day'' (1887) *'' Asolando'' (1889) **''Prologue'' **'' Summum Bonum'' **''Bad Dreams III'' **''Flute-Music, with an Accompaniment'' **''Epilogue''


References


Further reading

* * Berdoe, Edward.
The Browning Cyclopædia
'' 3rd ed. (Swan Sonnenschein, 1897) * Birrell, Augustine
"On the Alleged Obscurity of Mr. Bowning's Poetry," from ''Obiter Dicta''
New York, Chas. Scribner's Sons, 1885. * Chesterton, G. K. ''Robert Browning'' (Macmillan, 1903) *DeVane, William Clyde. ''A Browning Handbook''. 2nd Ed. (Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1955) * Dowden, Edward. ''Robert Browning'' (J.M. Dent & Company, 1904) *Drew, Philip. ''The Poetry of Robert Browning: A critical introduction.'' (Methuen, 1970) * Finlayson, Iain. ''Browning: A Private Life.'' (HarperCollins, 2004) *Garrett, Martin (ed.). ''Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning: Interviews and Recollections''. (Macmillan, 2000) *Garrett, Martin. ''Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning''. (British Library Writers' Lives Series). (British Library, 2001) *Hudson, Gertrude Reese. ''Robert Browning's Literary Life From First Work to Masterpiece.'' (Texas, 1992) *Karlin, Daniel. ''The Courtship of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett.'' (Oxford, 1985) *Kelley, Philip et al. (eds.) ''The Brownings' Correspondence.'' 27 vols. to date. (Wedgestone, 1984–) (Complete letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning, so far to 1860.) * *Litzinger, Boyd and Smalley, Donald (eds.) ''Robert Browning: the Critical Heritage''. (Routledge, 1995) *Markus, Julia. ''Dared and Done: the Marriage of Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning''. (Bloomsbury, 1995) *Maynard, John. ''Browning's Youth.'' (Harvard Univ. Press, 1977) *Neville-Sington, Pamela. ''Robert Browning: A Life After Death''. (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 2004) *Ryals, Clyde de L. ''The Life of Robert Browning: a Critical Biography.'' (Blackwell, 1993) *Woolford, John and Karlin, Daniel. ''Robert Browning''. (Longman, 1996)


External links


Profile and poems written and audio at the Poetry ArchiveProfile and poems at Poets.orgThe Brownings: A Research Guide (Baylor University)The Browning Letters Project (Baylor University)The Browning Collection at Balliol College, University of OxfordThe Browning Society
*Archival Material a
Leeds University Library
* * * *
An analysis of "Home Thoughts, From Abroad"Browning archive
at the
Harry Ransom Center The Harry Ransom Center (until 1983 the Humanities Research Center) is an archive, library and museum at the University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the Americas and Europe for the pur ...
at
The University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

The British Library – Robert Browning read by Robert Hardy and Greg Wise
Hear audio recordings of Browning's poetry with accompanying biography and discussion * Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning Collection. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Browning, Robert 1812 births 1889 deaths 19th-century English poets Victorian poets 19th-century English writers English people of Scottish descent English people of German descent Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford Alumni of University College London People from Camberwell Burials at Westminster Abbey English male poets