Browning, Robert (1812-1889), was one of the greatest poets of Victorian England. Browning’s works reflect his robust optimism and his faith in the value of human life. In his verse play Pippa Passes (1841), Browning, who held complex and sometimes changing religious beliefs, has the main character express the famous conviction that “God’s in His heaven—All’s right with the world!” His works also reflect his interest in psychology. He was most interested in people who lived in the past and different cultures or who were insane or unconventional.
Browning’s life.
Browning was born on May 7, 1812, in Camberwell, a suburb of London, and grew up there. Browning’s courtship of Elizabeth Barrett and their marriage in 1846 is one of the world’s most famous romances (see Browning, Elizabeth Barrett). The couple lived in Italy from 1846 until Elizabeth’s death in 1861. Browning then returned to London with their young son. He did not achieve recognition as a great poet until he was almost 60 years old. He died on Dec. 12, 1889.
Browning’s poems.
Browning published his first poem, Pauline, in 1833. He wrote many narrative poems and plays before developing his best-known style, the dramatic monologue. In his monologues, he spoke in the voice of some imaginary or historical character. The collection Men and Women (1855) includes many of his best monologues. His most ambitious work, The Ring and the Book (1868-1869), tells in 12 monologues the story of a Roman murder case of the 1600’s.
Browning had a fondness for people who lived during the Renaissance. Two poems in Men and Women, “Fra Lippo Lippi” and “Andrea del Sarto,” are about Renaissance painters. Another poem, “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church,” portrays the dilemma of a Renaissance churchman who is caught between his Catholic faith and his love of the newly rediscovered classical literature. Most of Browning’s monologues portray people at dramatic moments in their lives. By entering into the lives of so many people, he satisfied, at least partly, the desire he stated in Pauline—to “be all, have, see, know, taste, feel, all.”
Some of Browning’s characters are good, and some are evil. With both, he indirectly expressed belief in the value of action, and dislike of passive behavior. In “The Statue and the Bust” (1855), he condemned “the unlit lamp and the ungirt loin.” His works also affirmed his faith that life’s imperfections and strivings are only a prelude to the perfection of the afterlife. In “Andrea del Sarto,” he wrote: “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp,/Or what’s a heaven for?” The poem insists that an artist must continually accept new challenges. This was Browning’s reason for writing about constantly changing characters.
Although Browning’s ideas are important in themselves, the rough verse pattern and rapid movement of his poems are just as important. These qualities show Browning’s respect for physical energy and action. At its best, his verse admirably expresses a spiritual and bodily vitality.
