Browning, Robert

From New World Encyclopedia
(Imported)
 
 
(22 intermediate revisions by 10 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
−
[[Image:Robert_Browning.jpg|right|thumb|Robert Browning]]
+
{{Copyedited}}{{Paid}}{{Approved}}{{Images OK}}{{submitted}}
−
'''Robert Browning''' ([[May 7]], [[1812]] – [[December 12]], [[1889]]) was an [[England|English]] [[poet]] and [[playwright]].
+
{{epname|Browning, Robert}}
 +
[[File:Robert Browning by Herbert Rose Barraud c1888.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Portrait of Robert Browning]]
 +
'''Robert Browning''' (May 7, 1812 – December 12, 1889) was an [[England|English]] [[poetry|poet]] and playwright who, along with [[Alfred Lord Tennyson]] is perhaps one of the most well-remembered poets of the [[Victorian era]]. Browning lived in a time of transition in British poetry; the great sweep of [[Romanticism]] had reached its end, and it would be some decades well after Browning's death before the new excitement of the [[modernism|modern]] would burst onto the poetic scene. This period of interregnum in English literature would become dominated by poets attempting to transmute the wild energy of the Romantic age into new and tempered forms. Despite this reputation, much of the great advances and revolutions in poetic thinking that would sweep the world beginning in the twentieth century had their genesis in the Victorian era, and one of the greatest poets of this age was Browning.
  
−
Robert Browning was born in Camberwell, England, on May 7, 1812, the first
+
Browning was influenced strongly by [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]], and in particular Shelley's lengthier dramatic poems such as ''Prometheus Unbound'', which inspired him to the dramatic poetry which would ultimately cement his own reputation. Browning was an accomplished lyric poet, but he would be famous (and, for a time, notorious) for his insistence on vast forms.
−
son of Robert and Sarah Wiedemann Browning. His father was a man of fine intellect and equally fine character, who worked as a well-paid clerk in the [[Bank of England]] and so managed to amass a library of around 6,000 books — many of them highly obscure and arcane. Thus Robert was raised in a household with good [[literature|literary]] resources. His mother, to whom he was ardently attached, was a devout [[Nonconformist]], the daughter of a German shipowner who had settled in [[Dundee]], and was alike intellectually and morally worthy of his affection. The only other member of the family was a younger sister, also highly gifted, who was the sympathetic companion of his later years.  They lived simply, but his father encouraged Robert's interest in literature and the arts.
+
{{toc}}
 +
Browning’s most famous and infamous works, ''Sordello'', ''Men and Women'', and ''The Ring and the Book'', are all mammoth volumes of narrative, sharing perhaps as much in common with [[John Milton]], [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], and [[William Shakespeare]] as they do with the poetic fashions of Browning's own times. Although he was severely underrated by his immediate successors in the twentieth century, Browning's impact on the evolution of poetic narrative is significant. His narrative poetry and his influence on the tone and style of modern poetry impacts deeply the epics of [[T.S. Eliot]] and [[William Carlos Williams]] as well as the [[Confessional School]] of the latter twentieth century. Although it had largely fallen out of favor in the mid-nineteenth century, Browning was one of the key pioneers in revitalizing dramatic poetry.
  
−
In his childhood he was distinguished by his love of poetry and natural history. At 12 he had written a book of poetry which he destroyed when he could not find a publisher. After being at one or two private schools, and showing an insuperable dislike to school life, he was educated by a [[tutor]].
+
==Early Life==
 +
Browning was born in Camberwell, England, on May 7, 1812, the first son of Robert and Sarah Wiedemann Browning. His father was a man of fine intellect and equally fine character, who worked as a well-paid clerk in the [[Bank of England]] and so managed to amass a library of around six thousand books—many of them highly obscure and arcane. His mother, to whom he was ardently attached, was a devout nonconformist, the daughter of a German ship owner who had settled in Dundee, and was alike intellectually and morally worthy of his affection. The only other member of the family was a younger sister, also highly gifted, who was the sympathetic companion of his later years. They lived simply, but his father encouraged Robert's interest in literature and the arts.
  
−
He was a rapid learner and by the age of fourteen was fluent in [[French language|French]], [[Greek language|Greek]], [[Italian language|Italian]], and [[Latin]] as well as his native [[English language|English]]. He became a great admirer of the [[Romantic poetry|Romantic]] poets, especially [[Percy Bysshe Shelley|Shelley]]. In imitation of the latter, he briefly became an [[atheist]] and a [[vegetarian]], but in later life he looked back on this as a passing phase. At age sixteen he attended [[University College, London]], but dropped out after his first year.
+
In his childhood he was distinguished by his love of poetry and natural history. At 12 he had written a book of poetry which he destroyed when he could not find a publisher. After attending one or two private schools, and showing an insuperable dislike to school life, he was educated by a tutor.
  
−
Through his mother he inherited some musical talent, and composed settings, for various songs. His grandmother also was of [[Louisiana Creole people|Creole]] blood. Thomas Chase wrote of Browning's skin complexion as dark, and his hair as curly. The same went for his [[Jamaica]]n English born wife, Elizabeth Barrett.
+
He was a rapid learner and by the age of fourteen was fluent in French, Greek, Italian, and [[Latin]] as well as his native English. He became a great admirer of the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] poets, especially [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]]. In imitation of the latter, he briefly became an [[atheism|atheist]] and a [[vegetarianism|vegetarian]], but in later life he looked back on this as a passing phase. At age sixteen he attended University College in [[London]], but dropped out after his first year.
  
−
==Publication==
+
==Early Publications==
−
In May 1833, Browning's ''[[Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession]]'' was published [[anonymity|anonymously]] by [[Saunders and Otley]], in many ways a vanity publication financed by his family, and this marked the beginning of his career as a poet. A lengthy [[confession]]al [[poem]], it was intended by its young author to be merely one of a series of works produced by various fictitious versions of himself (the poet, the composer, etc.), but Browning abandoned the larger project. He was much embarrassed by ''Pauline'' in later life, contributing a somewhat contrite preface to the 1868 edition of his ''[[Collected Poems]]'' asking for his readers' indulgence when reading what in his eyes was practically a piece of [[childhood|juvenilia]], before undertaking extensive revisions to the poem in time for the 1888 edition, with the remark "twenty years' endurance of an eyesore seems long enough".
+
In May 1833, Browning's ''Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession'' was published anonymously by Saunders and Otley, in many ways a vanity publication financed by his family, and this marked the beginning of his career as a poet. A lengthy confessional poem, it was intended by its young author to be merely one of a series of works produced by various fictitious versions of himself (the poet, the composer, etc.), but Browning abandoned the larger project. He was much embarrassed by ''Pauline'' in later life, contributing a somewhat contrite preface to the 1868 edition of his ''Collected Poems'' asking for his readers' indulgence when reading what in his eyes was practically a piece of [[childhood|juvenilia]], before undertaking extensive revisions to the poem in time for the 1888 edition, with the remark "twenty years' endurance of an eyesore seems long enough."
  
−
In 1834, he paid his first visit to Italy, in which so much of his future life was to be passed.  
+
In 1835 Browning wrote the lengthy dramatic poem ''Paracelsus'', essentially a series of monologues spoken by the [[Switzerland|Swiss]] doctor and [[alchemy|alchemist]] [[Paracelsus]] and his colleagues. Published under Browning's own name, in an edition financed by his father, the poem was a small commercial and critical success and gained the notice of [[Thomas Carlyle]], [[William Wordsworth]], and other men of letters, giving him a reputation as a poet of distinguished promise. Around this time the young poet was very much in demand in literary circles for his ready wit and flamboyant sense of style, and he embarked upon two ill-considered ventures: a series of plays for the theater, all of which were dismally unsuccessful and none of which are much remembered today, and ''Sordello'', a very lengthy poem in blank verse on the subject of an obscure feud in [[Middle ages|medieval]] northern [[Italy]]. Full of obscure references and verbose language, the poem became something of a target for critics' anti-Browning sentiments, and the young poet was made an object of derision and shunned by many of the literati. The effect on Browning's career was catastrophic, and he would not recover his good public standing—and the good sales that accompanied it—until the publication of ''The Ring and the Book'' nearly thirty years later.
  
−
In 1835, Browning wrote the lengthy dramatic poem ''[[Paracelsus (poem)|Paracelsus]]'', essentially a series of monologues spoken by the [[Switzerland|Swiss]] [[Physician|doctor]] and [[alchemy|alchemist]] [[Paracelsus]] and his friends. Published under Browning's own name, in an edition financed by his father, the poem was a small commercial and critical success and gained the notice of [[Thomas Carlyle|Carlyle]], [[William Wordsworth|Wordsworth]], and other men of letters, giving him a reputation as a poet of distinguished promise.  Around this time the young poet was very much in demand in literary circles for his ready [[wit]] and flamboyant sense of style, and he embarked upon two ill-considered ventures: a series of plays for the theatre, all of which were dismally unsuccessful and none of which are much remembered today, and ''[[Sordello]]'', a very lengthy poem in [[blank verse]] on the subject of an obscure feud in [[Middle ages|medieval]] [[north]]ern [[Italy]]. Full of obscure references and verbose language, the poem became something of a scapegoat for critics' anti-Browning sentiments, and the young poet was made an object of derision and shunned by many of the literati. The effect on Browning's career was catastrophic, and he would not recover his good public standing — and the good sales that accompanied it — until the publication of ''[[The Ring and the Book]]'' nearly thirty years later.
+
Throughout the early 1840s he continued to publish volumes of plays and shorter poems, under the general series title ''Bells and Pomegranates''. Although the plays, with the exception of ''Pippa Passes''—in many ways more of a dramatic poem than an actual play—are almost entirely forgotten, the volumes of poetry (''Dramatic Lyrics'', first published in 1842, and 1845's ''Dramatic Romances and Lyrics'') are often considered to be among the poet's best work, containing many of his most well-known poems. Though much admired now, the volumes were largely ignored at the time in the wake of the ''Sordello'' debacle.
  
−
Throughout the early 1840s he continued to publish volumes of [[play]]s and shorter poems, under the general series title ''[[Bells and Pomegranates]]''. Although the plays, with the exception of ''[[Pippa Passes]]'' — in many ways more of a dramatic poem than an actual play — are almost entirely forgotten, the volumes of poetry (''[[Dramatic Lyrics]]'', first published in 1842, and 1845's ''[[Dramatic Romances and Lyrics]]'') are often considered to be among the poet's best work, containing many of his most well-known poems. Though much admired now, the volumes were largely ignored at the time in the wake of the ''Sordello'' debacle.
+
==Marriage==
 +
[[File:Thomas B. Read (American, 1822-1872) - Portraits of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning.jpg|thumb|300px|Portraits of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning]]
 +
In early 1845 Browning began corresponding with [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning]], a poet in her own right, and the two conducted a secret courtship away from the eyes of her domineering father before marrying in secret in 1846—a union of ideal happiness—by eloping to Italy. Their son, the painter and critic Robert Wiedemann Browning, known to the family as "Pen," was born in Florence in 1849.
  
−
==Marriage==
+
The Brownings continued to write and publish poetry from their Italian home throughout the 1850s, with Elizabeth far overshadowing Robert in both critical and commercial reception. Robert Browning's first published work since marriage was the lengthy religious piece ''Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day'', published in 1850. ''Men and Women'', a series of fifty dramatic poems recited by fifty different fictional and historical characters, with a fifty-first, "One Word More", featuring Browning himself as the narrator and dedicated to his wife, was published in 1855. ''Men and Women''—its title taken from a line in his wife's ''Sonnets from the Portuguese''—is generally considered his most successful collection by modern critics, and many have singled it out as one of the finest books published in Victorian England, but the collection elicited little response when first published and sales remained poor.  
−
In early 1845, Browning began corresponding with [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning|Elizabeth Barrett]], a semi-invalid, and the two conducted a secret courtship away from the eyes of her domineering father before marrying in secret in 1846 - a union of ideal happiness - and eloping to Italy. Their son, the painter and critic [[Robert Wiedemann Browning]], known to the family as "Pen", was born in [[Florence, Italy|Florence]] in 1849. The Brownings continued to write and publish poetry from their Italian home throughout the 1850s, with Elizabeth far outshadowing Robert in both critical and commercial reception. Robert Browning's first published work since marriage was the lengthy religious piece ''[[Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day]]'', published in 1850. ''[[Men and Women (poetry collection)|Men and Women]]'', a series of fifty dramatic poems recited by fifty different fictional and historical characters, with a fifty-first, "One Word More", featuring Browning himself as the narrator and dedicated to his wife, was published in 1855. ''Men and Women'' — its title taken from a line in his wife's ''[[Sonnets from the Portuguese]]'' — is generally considered his most successful collection by modern critics, and many have singled it out as one of the finest books published in [[Victorian era|Victorian]] England, but the collection elicited little response when first published and sales remained poor.
 
  
−
Following Elizabeth's death in 1861, Browning and his son returned to London, paying, however, frequent visits to Italy. When his first new work in nine years, ''[[Dramatis Personae]]'', was published in 1864, Browning's reputation was undergoing a critical and popular re-evaluation; a collected edition of his poetry published the previous year had sold reasonably well, as had a number of volumes of selected poems. ''Dramatis Personae'' was a collection of eighteen poems, many of which were somewhat darker in tone than those found in ''Men and Women'', the central theme again being dramatic poems narrated by historical, literary and fictional characters. The religious controversies of the time, as well as the depiction of marital distress, increasingly came to the fore of Browning's work. ''Dramatis Personae'' was the first volume of Browning poetry to sell well enough to merit a second edition, though sales were still hardly spectacular. His literary status was recognised by the award of an [[honor]]ary fellowship at [[Balliol College, Oxford]] in 1867.  
+
In the volume's famous last poem, "One Word More," one can distinguish all the characteristic notes of Browning's approach: his simplicity of language, married to his adherent devotion to form. Browning's use of regular meter is strict, at times almost monotonous, but in doing so he also lends the poem (like so many of his long, narrative poems) an engrossing, hypnotic power that thrusts the reader through the verse even if, at times, not everything is clear. In this respect one can recognize one of the qualities that makes Browning a characteristically Victorian poet—the use of sound effects (such as "Her/Her/Her" in stanza III, "Did/Did/Die" in stanza II, and the repetition of "cheek" in stanza I) rather than images or metaphors to give a poem its resounding force.  
  
−
[[Image:Robert Browning skit - Cartoon from Punch magazine - 1891 - Project Gutenberg eText 13994.png|thumbnail|250px|right|'''True literary exclusiveness'''<br>
+
Following Elizabeth's death in 1861, Browning and his son returned to London, while still paying frequent visits to Italy. When his first new work in nine years, ''Dramatis Personae'', was published in 1864, Browning's reputation was undergoing a critical and popular re-evaluation; a collected edition of his poetry published the previous year had sold reasonably well, as had a number of volumes of selected poems. ''Dramatis Personae'' was a collection of eighteen poems, many of which were somewhat darker in tone than those found in ''Men and Women'', the central theme again was dramatic poems narrated by historical, literary and fictional characters. The religious controversies of the time, as well as the depiction of marital distress, increasingly came to the fore of Browning's work. ''Dramatis Personae'' was the first volume of Browning poetry to sell well enough to merit a second edition, though sales were still hardly spectacular.
−
"Don't you admire Robert Browning as a poet, Mr. Fitzsnook?"<br>
 
−
"I used to, once; but everybody admires him now, dontcherknow - so I've had to give him up!"<br>
 
−
<small>Cartoon from [[Punch (magazine)|Punch]], Vol. 101, [[October 10]], [[1891]]</small>]]
 
  
 
==Late success==
 
==Late success==
−
In 1868, Browning finally completed and published the long blank verse poem ''The Ring and the Book'', which would finally make him rich, famous and successful, and which ensured his critical reputation among the first rank of English poets. Based on a convoluted murder case from 1690s [[Rome]], the poem is composed of twelve volumes, essentially comprising ten lengthy dramatic poems narrated by the various characters in the story showing their individual take on events as they transpire, bookended by an introduction and conclusion by Browning himself. Extraordinarily long even by Browning's own standards (over twenty thousand lines), ''The Ring and the Book'' was the poet's most ambitious project and has been hailed as a tour de force of dramatic poetry. Published separately in four volumes from November 1868 through to February 1869, the poem was a huge success both commercially and critically, and finally brought Browning the renown he had sought and deserved for nearly thirty years of work.[[Image:Robert_browning_cartoon.png|thumb|right|1882 Caricature from Punch]]
+
In 1868 Browning finally completed and published the long blank verse poem ''The Ring and the Book'', which would finally make him rich, famous and successful, and which ensured his critical reputation among the first rank of English poets. Based on a convoluted murder case from 1690s [[Rome]], the poem is composed of twelve volumes, essentially comprising ten lengthy dramatic poems narrated by the various characters in the story showing their individual take on events as they transpire, bookended by an introduction and conclusion by Browning himself. Extraordinarily long even by Browning's own standards (over twenty thousand lines), ''The Ring and the Book'' was the poet's most ambitious project and has been hailed as a ''tour de force'' of dramatic poetry. Published separately in four volumes from November 1868 through to February 1869, the poem was a huge success both commercially and critically, and finally brought Browning the renown he had sought and deserved for nearly thirty years of work.
  
−
With his fame and fortune secure, Browning again became the prolific writer he had been at the start of his career. In the remaining twenty years of his life, as well as travelling extensively and frequenting London literary society again, he managed to publish no less than fifteen new volumes. None of these later works gained the popularity of ''The Ring and the Book'', and they are largely unread today. However, Browning's later work has been undergoing a major critical re-evaluation in recent years, and much of it remains of interest for its poetic quality and psychological insight. After a series of long poems published in the early 1870s, of which ''[[Fifine at the Fair]]'' and ''[[Red Cotton Night-Cap Country]]'' were the best-received, Browning again turned to shorter poems. The volume ''[[Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper]]'' included a spiteful attack against Browning's critics, especially the later [[Poet Laureate]] [[Alfred Austin]]. 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 [[philosophy|philosophic]] history. Once more, the Victorian public was baffled by this, and Browning returned to the short, concise lyric for his last volume, ''[[Asolando]]'' (1889).
+
With his fame and fortune secure, Browning again became the prolific writer he had been at the start of his career. In the remaining twenty years of his life, as well as traveling extensively and frequenting London literary society again, he managed to publish no less than fifteen new volumes. None of these later works gained the popularity of ''The Ring and the Book'', and they are largely unread today. However, Browning's later work has been undergoing a major critical re-evaluation in recent years, and much of it remains of interest for its poetic quality and psychological insight. After a series of long poems published in the early 1870s, of which ''Fifine at the Fair'' and ''Red Cotton Night-Cap Country'' were the best-received, Browning again turned to shorter poems. The volume ''Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper'' included a spiteful attack against Browning's critics, especially the later Poet Laureate [[Alfred Austin]]. 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 dialogs with long-forgotten figures of literary, artistic, and philosophic history. Once more, the Victorian public was baffled by this, and Browning returned to the short, concise lyric for his last volume, ''Asolando'' (1889).
−
 
 
−
According to some reports Browning became romantically involved with [[Lady Ashburton]] in the 1870s, but did not re-marry. In 1878, he returned to Italy for the first time since Elizabeth's death, and returned there on several occasions. He died at his son's home [[Ca' Rezzonico]] in [[Venice]] on 12 December 1889, the same day ''[[Asolando]]'' was published, and was buried in [[Poets' Corner]] in  [[Westminster Abbey]]; his grave now lies immediately adjacent to that of [[Alfred Tennyson]].
 
−
 
 
−
==Trivia==
 
−
 
 
−
The last two lines of the famous "Song" from [[Pippa Passes]] - "God's in his heaven, All's right in the world!" - are parodied in [[Aldous Huxley]]'s ''[[Brave New World]]'' with the hypnopaedic slogan:
 
−
"Ford's in his flivver, all's right with the world!"
 
−
 
 
−
The lines are also used in the Japanese animations [[Neon Genesis Evangelion]] and [[RahXephon]].
 
−
 
 
−
Robert Browning was the first person to ever have his voice heard after his death.  On a recording[http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=1545] made by [[Thomas Edison]] in 1889, Browning reads "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix" (including apologizing when he forgets the words).  It was first played in Venice in 1890.
 
  
 
==Complete list of works==
 
==Complete list of works==
−
 
+
* ''Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession'' (1833)
−
* ''[[Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession]]'' (1833)
+
* ''Paracelsus'' (1835)
−
* ''[[Paracelsus (poem)|Paracelsus]]'' (1835)
+
* ''Strafford'' (play) (1837)
−
* ''[[Strafford (play)|Strafford]]'' (play) (1837)-
+
* ''Sordello'' (1840)  
−
* ''[[Sordello]]'' (1840)  
+
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. I: Pippa Passes'' (play) (1841)  
−
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. I: [[Pippa Passes]]'' (play) (1841)  
+
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. II: King Victor and King Charles'' (play) (1842)  
−
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. II: [[King Victor and King Charles]]'' (play) (1842)  
+
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. III: Dramatic Lyrics'' (1842)  
−
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. III: [[Dramatic Lyrics]]'' (1842)  
+
**"Porphyria's Lover"  
−
**"[[Porphyria's Lover]]"  
+
**"Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister"  
−
**"[[Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister]]"  
+
**"My Last Duchess"  
−
**"[[My Last Duchess]]"  
+
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. IV: The Return of the Druses'' (play) (1843)  
−
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. IV: [[The Return of the Druses]]'' (play) (1843)  
+
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. V: A Blot in the 'Scutcheon'' (play) (1843)  
−
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. V: [[A Blot in the 'Scutcheon]]'' (play) (1843)  
+
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. VI: Colombe's Birthday'' (play) (1844)  
−
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. VI: [[Colombe's Birthday]]'' (play) (1844)  
+
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. VII: Dramatic Romances and Lyrics'' (1845)
−
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. VII: [[Dramatic Romances and Lyrics]]'' (1845)
+
** "The Laboratory"
−
** " [[The Laboratory]]"
+
**"How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix"  
−
**"[[How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix]]"  
+
**"The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church"  
−
**"[[The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church]]"  
+
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. VIII: Luria ''and'' A Soul's Tragedy'' (plays) (1846)  
−
* ''Bells and Pomegranates No. VIII: [[Luria]] ''and'' [[A Soul's Tragedy]]'' (plays) (1846)  
+
* ''Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day'' (1850)  
−
* ''[[Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day]]'' (1850)  
+
* ''Men and Women'' (1855)  
−
* ''[[Men and Women (poetry collection)|Men and Women]]'' (1855)  
+
**"A Toccata of Galuppi's"  
−
**"[[A Toccata of Galuppi's]]"  
+
**"Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came"  
−
**"[[Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came]]"  
+
**"Fra Lippo Lippi"  
−
**"[[Fra Lippo Lippi (poem)|Fra Lippo Lippi]]"  
+
**"Andrea Del Sarto"  
−
**"[[Andrea Del Sarto (poem)|Andrea Del Sarto]]"  
+
**"A Grammarian's Funeral"  
−
**"[[A Grammarian's Funeral]]"  
+
**"An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of Karshish, the Arab Physician"  
−
**"[[An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of Karshish, the Arab Physician]]"  
+
* ''Dramatis Personae'' (1864)  
−
* ''[[Dramatis Personae]]'' (1864)  
+
**"Caliban upon Setebos"  
−
**"[[Caliban upon Setebos]]"  
+
**"Rabbi Ben Ezra"  
−
**"[[Rabbi Ben Ezra]]"  
+
* ''The Ring and the Book'' (1868-1869|9)  
−
* ''[[The Ring and the Book]]'' ([[1868]]-[[1869|9]])  
+
* ''Balaustion's Adventure'' (1871)  
−
* ''[[Balaustion's Adventure]]'' (1871)  
+
* ''Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society'' (1871)  
−
* ''[[Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society]]'' (1871)  
+
* ''Fifine at the Fair'' (1872)  
−
* ''[[Fifine at the Fair]]'' (1872)  
+
* ''Red Cotton Night-Cap Country, or, Turf and Towers'' (1873)  
−
* ''[[Red Cotton Night-Cap Country|Red Cotton Night-Cap Country, or, Turf and Towers]]'' (1873)  
+
* ''Aristophanes' Apology'' (1875)  
−
* ''[[Aristophanes' Apology]]'' (1875)  
+
* ''The Inn Album'' (1875)  
−
* ''[[The Inn Album]]'' (1875)  
+
* ''Pachiarotto, And How He Worked in Distemper'' (1876)  
−
* ''[[Pachiarotto, And How He Worked in Distemper]]'' (1876)  
+
* ''The Agamemnon of Aeschylus'' (1877)  
−
* ''[[The Agamemnon of Aeschylus]]'' (1877)  
+
* ''La Saisiaz'' and ''The Two Poets of Croisic'' (1878)  
−
* ''[[La Saisiaz]]'' and ''[[The Two Poets of Croisic]]'' (1878)  
+
* ''Dramatic Idyls'' (1879)  
−
* ''[[Dramatic Idyls]]'' (1879)  
+
* ''Dramatic Idyls: Second Series'' (1880)  
−
* ''[[Dramatic Idyls: Second Series]]'' (1880)  
+
* ''Jocoseria'' (1883)  
−
* ''[[Jocoseria]]'' (1883)  
+
* ''Ferishtah's Fancies'' (1884)  
−
* ''[[Ferishtah's Fancies]]'' (1884)  
+
* ''Parleyings with Certain People of Importance In Their Day'' (1887)  
−
* ''[[Parleyings with Certain People of Importance In Their Day]]'' (1887)  
+
* ''Asolando'' (1889)
−
* ''[[Asolando]]'' (1889)
 
−
 
 
−
==Timeline==
 
−
 
 
−
<timeline>
 
−
ImageSize  = width:450 height:450
 
−
PlotArea  = left:50 right:0 bottom:10 top:10
 
−
 
 
−
DateFormat = yyyy
 
−
Period    = from:1810 till:1890
 
−
TimeAxis  = orientation:vertical
 
−
ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1810
 
−
ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:1810
 
−
 
 
−
PlotData=
 
−
  color:red mark:(line,black) align:left fontsize:S
 
−
  shift:(25,0) # shift text to right side of bar
 
−
 
 
−
  # there is no automatic collision detection, fontsize:XS
 
−
  # so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap shift:(25,-10)
 
−
 
 
−
  at:1812            text:Born in Camberwell
 
−
  at:1835            text:Publishes Paracelsus
 
−
  at:1840 shift:(25,-5) text:Publishes Sordello
 
−
  at:1841            text:Publishes Bells and Pomegranates
 
−
  at:1846            text:Marries to Elizabeth Barrett
 
−
  from:1846 till:1861 text:Lives chiefly in Italy
 
−
  at:1861            text:Elizabeth dies; ~ Robert returns to England, continues to write
 
−
  at:1864            text:Publishes Dramatis Personae
 
−
  at:1869            text:Publishes The Ring and the Book
 
−
  at:1889            text:Publishes Asolando; dies.
 
−
</timeline>
 
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
−
{{wikiquote}}
+
All links retrieved December 14, 2022.
−
{{wikisource author}}
 
 
* [http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/182 Robert Browning biography and select bibliography]
 
* [http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/182 Robert Browning biography and select bibliography]
 
* [http://www.browningsociety.org/ The Browning Society]
 
* [http://www.browningsociety.org/ The Browning Society]
Line 133: Line 91:
 
* {{gutenberg author | id=Robert_Browning | name=Robert Browning}}
 
* {{gutenberg author | id=Robert_Browning | name=Robert Browning}}
 
* [http://www.sanjeev.net/poetry/browning-robert/index.html Poetry Archive: 135 poems of Robert Browning]
 
* [http://www.sanjeev.net/poetry/browning-robert/index.html Poetry Archive: 135 poems of Robert Browning]
−
* [http://us.imdb.con/titles/tt0024865 ''The Barretts of Wimpole Street] at [[The Internet Movie Database|IMDb]]
 
−
* [http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=1545 A recording] of Browning reciting five lines from "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix"
 
−
******
 
  
−
[[Category: Art, music, literature, sports and leisure]]
+
 
 +
[[Category:Writers and poets]]
 +
 
 +
 
 
{{credit|55980586}}
 
{{credit|55980586}}

Latest revision as of 03:13, 15 December 2022

Portrait of Robert Browning

Robert Browning (May 7, 1812 – December 12, 1889) was an English poet and playwright who, along with Alfred Lord Tennyson is perhaps one of the most well-remembered poets of the Victorian era. Browning lived in a time of transition in British poetry; the great sweep of Romanticism had reached its end, and it would be some decades well after Browning's death before the new excitement of the modern would burst onto the poetic scene. This period of interregnum in English literature would become dominated by poets attempting to transmute the wild energy of the Romantic age into new and tempered forms. Despite this reputation, much of the great advances and revolutions in poetic thinking that would sweep the world beginning in the twentieth century had their genesis in the Victorian era, and one of the greatest poets of this age was Browning.

Browning was influenced strongly by Percy Bysshe Shelley, and in particular Shelley's lengthier dramatic poems such as Prometheus Unbound, which inspired him to the dramatic poetry which would ultimately cement his own reputation. Browning was an accomplished lyric poet, but he would be famous (and, for a time, notorious) for his insistence on vast forms.

Browning’s most famous and infamous works, Sordello, Men and Women, and The Ring and the Book, are all mammoth volumes of narrative, sharing perhaps as much in common with John Milton, Geoffrey Chaucer, and William Shakespeare as they do with the poetic fashions of Browning's own times. Although he was severely underrated by his immediate successors in the twentieth century, Browning's impact on the evolution of poetic narrative is significant. His narrative poetry and his influence on the tone and style of modern poetry impacts deeply the epics of T.S. Eliot and William Carlos Williams as well as the Confessional School of the latter twentieth century. Although it had largely fallen out of favor in the mid-nineteenth century, Browning was one of the key pioneers in revitalizing dramatic poetry.

Early Life

Browning was born in Camberwell, England, on May 7, 1812, the first son of Robert and Sarah Wiedemann Browning. His father was a man of fine intellect and equally fine character, who worked as a well-paid clerk in the Bank of England and so managed to amass a library of around six thousand books—many of them highly obscure and arcane. His mother, to whom he was ardently attached, was a devout nonconformist, the daughter of a German ship owner who had settled in Dundee, and was alike intellectually and morally worthy of his affection. The only other member of the family was a younger sister, also highly gifted, who was the sympathetic companion of his later years. They lived simply, but his father encouraged Robert's interest in literature and the arts.

In his childhood he was distinguished by his love of poetry and natural history. At 12 he had written a book of poetry which he destroyed when he could not find a publisher. After attending one or two private schools, and showing an insuperable dislike to school life, he was educated by a tutor.

He was a rapid learner and by the age of fourteen was fluent in French, Greek, Italian, and Latin as well as his native English. He became a great admirer of the Romantic poets, especially Percy Bysshe Shelley. In imitation of the latter, he briefly became an atheist and a vegetarian, but in later life he looked back on this as a passing phase. At age sixteen he attended University College in London, but dropped out after his first year.

Early Publications

In May 1833, Browning's Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession was published anonymously by Saunders and Otley, in many ways a vanity publication financed by his family, and this marked the beginning of his career as a poet. A lengthy confessional poem, it was intended by its young author to be merely one of a series of works produced by various fictitious versions of himself (the poet, the composer, etc.), but Browning abandoned the larger project. He was much embarrassed by Pauline in later life, contributing a somewhat contrite preface to the 1868 edition of his Collected Poems asking for his readers' indulgence when reading what in his eyes was practically a piece of juvenilia, before undertaking extensive revisions to the poem in time for the 1888 edition, with the remark "twenty years' endurance of an eyesore seems long enough."

In 1835 Browning wrote the lengthy dramatic poem Paracelsus, essentially a series of monologues spoken by the Swiss doctor and alchemist Paracelsus and his colleagues. Published under Browning's own name, in an edition financed by his father, the poem was a small commercial and critical success and gained the notice of Thomas Carlyle, William Wordsworth, and other men of letters, giving him a reputation as a poet of distinguished promise. Around this time the young poet was very much in demand in literary circles for his ready wit and flamboyant sense of style, and he embarked upon two ill-considered ventures: a series of plays for the theater, all of which were dismally unsuccessful and none of which are much remembered today, and Sordello, a very lengthy poem in blank verse on the subject of an obscure feud in medieval northern Italy. Full of obscure references and verbose language, the poem became something of a target for critics' anti-Browning sentiments, and the young poet was made an object of derision and shunned by many of the literati. The effect on Browning's career was catastrophic, and he would not recover his good public standing—and the good sales that accompanied it—until the publication of The Ring and the Book nearly thirty years later.

Throughout the early 1840s he continued to publish volumes of plays and shorter poems, under the general series title Bells and Pomegranates. Although the plays, with the exception of Pippa Passes—in many ways more of a dramatic poem than an actual play—are almost entirely forgotten, the volumes of poetry (Dramatic Lyrics, first published in 1842, and 1845's Dramatic Romances and Lyrics) are often considered to be among the poet's best work, containing many of his most well-known poems. Though much admired now, the volumes were largely ignored at the time in the wake of the Sordello debacle.

Marriage

Portraits of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning

In early 1845 Browning began corresponding with Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a poet in her own right, and the two conducted a secret courtship away from the eyes of her domineering father before marrying in secret in 1846—a union of ideal happiness—by eloping to Italy. Their son, the painter and critic Robert Wiedemann Browning, known to the family as "Pen," was born in Florence in 1849.

The Brownings continued to write and publish poetry from their Italian home throughout the 1850s, with Elizabeth far overshadowing Robert in both critical and commercial reception. Robert Browning's first published work since marriage was the lengthy religious piece Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day, published in 1850. Men and Women, a series of fifty dramatic poems recited by fifty different fictional and historical characters, with a fifty-first, "One Word More", featuring Browning himself as the narrator and dedicated to his wife, was published in 1855. Men and Women—its title taken from a line in his wife's Sonnets from the Portuguese—is generally considered his most successful collection by modern critics, and many have singled it out as one of the finest books published in Victorian England, but the collection elicited little response when first published and sales remained poor.

In the volume's famous last poem, "One Word More," one can distinguish all the characteristic notes of Browning's approach: his simplicity of language, married to his adherent devotion to form. Browning's use of regular meter is strict, at times almost monotonous, but in doing so he also lends the poem (like so many of his long, narrative poems) an engrossing, hypnotic power that thrusts the reader through the verse even if, at times, not everything is clear. In this respect one can recognize one of the qualities that makes Browning a characteristically Victorian poet—the use of sound effects (such as "Her/Her/Her" in stanza III, "Did/Did/Die" in stanza II, and the repetition of "cheek" in stanza I) rather than images or metaphors to give a poem its resounding force.

Following Elizabeth's death in 1861, Browning and his son returned to London, while still paying frequent visits to Italy. When his first new work in nine years, Dramatis Personae, was published in 1864, Browning's reputation was undergoing a critical and popular re-evaluation; a collected edition of his poetry published the previous year had sold reasonably well, as had a number of volumes of selected poems. Dramatis Personae was a collection of eighteen poems, many of which were somewhat darker in tone than those found in Men and Women, the central theme again was dramatic poems narrated by historical, literary and fictional characters. The religious controversies of the time, as well as the depiction of marital distress, increasingly came to the fore of Browning's work. Dramatis Personae was the first volume of Browning poetry to sell well enough to merit a second edition, though sales were still hardly spectacular.

Late success

In 1868 Browning finally completed and published the long blank verse poem The Ring and the Book, which would finally make him rich, famous and successful, and which ensured his critical reputation among the first rank of English poets. Based on a convoluted murder case from 1690s Rome, the poem is composed of twelve volumes, essentially comprising ten lengthy dramatic poems narrated by the various characters in the story showing their individual take on events as they transpire, bookended by an introduction and conclusion by Browning himself. Extraordinarily long even by Browning's own standards (over twenty thousand lines), The Ring and the Book was the poet's most ambitious project and has been hailed as a tour de force of dramatic poetry. Published separately in four volumes from November 1868 through to February 1869, the poem was a huge success both commercially and critically, and finally brought Browning the renown he had sought and deserved for nearly thirty years of work.

With his fame and fortune secure, Browning again became the prolific writer he had been at the start of his career. In the remaining twenty years of his life, as well as traveling extensively and frequenting London literary society again, he managed to publish no less than fifteen new volumes. None of these later works gained the popularity of The Ring and the Book, and they are largely unread today. However, Browning's later work has been undergoing a major critical re-evaluation in recent years, and much of it remains of interest for its poetic quality and psychological insight. After a series of long poems published in the early 1870s, of which Fifine at the Fair and Red Cotton Night-Cap Country were the best-received, Browning again turned to shorter poems. The volume Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper included a spiteful attack against Browning's critics, especially the later Poet Laureate Alfred Austin. 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 dialogs with long-forgotten figures of literary, artistic, and philosophic history. Once more, the Victorian public was baffled by this, and Browning returned to the short, concise lyric for his last volume, Asolando (1889).

Complete list of works

  • Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession (1833)
  • Paracelsus (1835)
  • Strafford (play) (1837)
  • Sordello (1840)
  • Bells and Pomegranates No. I: Pippa Passes (play) (1841)
  • Bells and Pomegranates No. II: King Victor and King Charles (play) (1842)
  • Bells and Pomegranates No. III: Dramatic Lyrics (1842)
    • "Porphyria's Lover"
    • "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister"
    • "My Last Duchess"
  • Bells and Pomegranates No. IV: The Return of the Druses (play) (1843)
  • Bells and Pomegranates No. V: A Blot in the 'Scutcheon (play) (1843)
  • Bells and Pomegranates No. VI: Colombe's Birthday (play) (1844)
  • Bells and Pomegranates No. VII: Dramatic Romances and Lyrics (1845)
    • "The Laboratory"
    • "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix"
    • "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church"
  • Bells and Pomegranates No. VIII: Luria and A Soul's Tragedy (plays) (1846)
  • Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day (1850)
  • Men and Women (1855)
    • "A Toccata of Galuppi's"
    • "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came"
    • "Fra Lippo Lippi"
    • "Andrea Del Sarto"
    • "A Grammarian's Funeral"
    • "An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of Karshish, the Arab Physician"
  • Dramatis Personae (1864)
    • "Caliban upon Setebos"
    • "Rabbi Ben Ezra"
  • The Ring and the Book (1868-1869|9)
  • 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)
  • The Inn Album (1875)
  • Pachiarotto, And How He Worked in Distemper (1876)
  • The Agamemnon of Aeschylus (1877)
  • La Saisiaz and The Two Poets of Croisic (1878)
  • Dramatic Idyls (1879)
  • Dramatic Idyls: Second Series (1880)
  • Jocoseria (1883)
  • Ferishtah's Fancies (1884)
  • Parleyings with Certain People of Importance In Their Day (1887)
  • Asolando (1889)

External links

All links retrieved December 14, 2022.


Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.

Retrieved from https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Robert_Browning&oldid=1091471

Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Copyright Logo
Powered by MediaWiki