Robert Browning Popular Books

Robert Browning Biography & Facts

Robert Browning (7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings and challenging vocabulary and syntax. 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 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 The Ring and the Book (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 Browning was born in Walworth in the parish (area or a district which has its own church) of Camberwell, 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. His father was a well-paid clerk for the Bank of England, earning about £150 per year. Browning's paternal grandfather was a slave owner in Saint Kitts, West Indies, but Browning's father was an abolitionist. Browning's father had been sent to the West Indies 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, 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 rather than Jamaican. The evidence is inconclusive. Robert's father, a literary collector, he had 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 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, Italian and Latin. He became an admirer of the Romantic poets, especially Shelley, whom he followed in becoming an atheist and a vegetarian. At 16, he studied Greek at University College London, but left after his first year. His parents' evangelical faith prevented his studying at either Oxford or Cambridge University, both then open only to members of the Church of England. 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. However, it sold no copies. Some years later, probably in 1850, Dante Gabriel Rossetti came across it in the Reading Room of the British Museum and wrote to Browning, then in Florence, to ask if he was the author. John Stuart Mill, 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 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, Dickens, Landor, J. S. Mill and the already famous Tennyson. 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, a long poem in heroic couplets, presented as the imaginary biography of the Mantuan bard spoken of by Dante in the Divine Comedy, canto 6 of Purgatory, set against a background of hate and conflict during the wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. 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, wife of Thomas Carlyle (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, six years his senior, who lived as a semi-invalid in her father's house in Wimpole Street, London. They began regularly corresponding and gradually a romance developed between t.... Discover the Robert Browning popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Robert Browning books.

Best Seller Robert Browning Books of 2024

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    Edward Dowden

    The natural prelude volume on Browning autobiographical one, to be drawn from his own letters and poems. They reveal what it was that made the interpretation of Browning so congeni...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    Robert Browning & Aidan Day

    First Published in 1991. This edition draws upon a wide range pf Browning's poetry and prose, inducing selections from his 'Dramatic Lyrics', 'Dramatic Romances and...

  • The Poetry Of Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    The Poetry Of Robert Browning

    Stopford Augustus Brooke

    It is a difficult task to explain or analyze the treatment of Nature by Browning. It is easy enough to point out his remarkable love of her color, his vivid painting of brief lands...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    Edward Dowden

    With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world. Who are w...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    Gilbert Keith Chesterton

    This book is a biography of the great English poet.

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    G. K. Chesterton

    G.K. Chesterton was an English writer often referred to as "the prince of paradox."  Chesterton wrote on a variety of different subjects including mystery fiction, religion, a...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    G. K. Chesterton

    This early work by G. K. Chesterton was originally published in 1903. Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in London in 1874. He studied at the Slade School of Art, and upon graduatin...

  • Robert Browning. synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning.

    Victorian Poetry

    Recent months have brought forth various studies of Robert Browning, ranging from pleasing and careful popularization; to examinations of language, tropes, and gender; to notes and...

  • The Complete Poems of Robert Browning - 22 Poetry Collections in One Edition synopsis, comments

    The Complete Poems of Robert Browning - 22 Poetry Collections in One Edition

    Robert Browning

    The Ring and the Book is a long dramatic narrative poem, and, more specifically, a verse novel, of 21,000 lines. The book tells the story of a murder trial in Rome in 1698, whereby...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    John Woolford & Daniel Karlin

    Robert Browning (181289) rivals Tennyson as the major Victorian poet with such important works as Dramatic Lyrics, Dramatic Romances and Lyrics, Men and Women, Dramatic Personae an...

  • Complete Plays of Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Complete Plays of Robert Browning

    Robert Browning

    This carefully crafted ebook: "Complete Plays of Robert Browning" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Robert Browning (1812 188...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    G. K. Chesterton

    Gilbert Keith Chesterton (18741936) was an English writer, lay theologian, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, literary and art critic, biographer, and Christian apol...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    G. K. Chesterton

    Chesterton declares that it is fashionable to boast that one cannot understand Browning but he reveals in this fascinating literary biography how Browning ‘combines the greatest br...

  • Works of Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Works of Robert Browning

    Robert Browning

    This collection was designed for optimal navigation on iPad and other electronic devices. It is indexed alphabetically, chronologically and by category, making it easier to access...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    G. K. Chesterton

    This book is perfectly adapted and layout for a pleasant reading on a tablet, smartphone or computer. To improve your reading experience, this digital version has been edited and f...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    G. K. Chesterton

    Chesterton declares that it is fashionable to boast that one cannot understand Browning but he reveals in this fascinating literary biography how Browning ‘combines the greatest br...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    Daniel Coenn

    This book is a collection of 128 fundamental quotes and aphorisms of Robert Browning:“It is the glory and good of Art that Art remains the one way possible of speaking truth,to mou...

  • Life of Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Life of Robert Browning

    William Sharp

    Robert Browning was born in Camberwell (a district now forming part of the Borough of Southwark in south London), the only son of Sarah Anna (née Wiedemann) and Robert Browning. Br...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    G. K. Chesterton

    With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world. Who are w...

  • The Dark Tower Companion synopsis, comments

    The Dark Tower Companion

    Bev Vincent

    A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO STEPHEN KING'S BESTSELLING DARK TOWER SERIES.“A valuable tool for exploring the series. Both newcomers and frequent visitors to MidWorld will be infor...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    Gilbert Keith Chesterton

    On the subject of Browning's work innumerable things have been said and remain to be said; of his life, considered as a narrative of facts, there is little or nothing to say. It wa...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    Charles Harold Herford

    This is the biography of Robert Browning. Browning is confessedly a difficult poet, and his difficulty is by no means all of the kind which opposes unmistakable impediments to the ...

  • The Collected Works of Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    The Collected Works of Robert Browning

    Robert Browning

    This comprehensive eBook presents the complete works or all the significant works the Œuvre of this famous and brilliant writer in one ebook 3805 pages easytoread and easytonavi...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    James Douglas

    This is a 1903 book of literary criticism by James Douglas that features indepth analysis of Robert Browning's poetry, paired with illustrations.

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    G.K. Chesterton

    Gilbert Keith Chesterton was born in Campden hill, Kensington on May 29th 1874. Originally after attending St Pauls School he went to Slade to learn the illustrators art and liter...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    Gilbert Keith Chesterton

    Traduccion de Vicente Corbi. Robert Browning es una de las mejores biografias que se han escrito nunca, aunque (y precisamente porque) no es solo una biografia al uso, en el sentid...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    Stefan Hawlin

    Accessibly written throughout, this guidebook covers biographical details, information on the historical and social contexts of Browning's work, an overview of the full range o...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    Edward Dowden

    Robert Browning Edward Dowden, irish critic and poet (18431913) This ebook presents «Robert Browning», from Edward Dowden. A dynamic table of contents enables to jump directly to t...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    Philip Drew

    First published in 1966. This title complies a selection of critical articles by various authors on the poetry of Robert Browning. The editor has collected a number of important ge...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    G. K. Chesterton

    On the subject of Browning's work innumerable things have been said and remain to be said; of his life, considered as a narrative of facts, there is little or nothing to say. It wa...

  • Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning

    Robert Browning

    Mr. Gosse gives an account of the impression made by this poem upon men so diverse as the Rev. William Johnson Fox, John Stuart Mill, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, to all of whom, in...

  • Complete Works of Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Complete Works of Robert Browning

    Robert Browning

    The Delphi Poets Series offers readers the works of literature's finest poets, with superior formatting. This volume presents the complete works of Robert Browning, with beautiful ...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    G.K. Chesterton

    G.K. Chesterton was an English writer, theologian and poet.  Chesterton, also known as the prince of paradox, wrote on a vast variety of subjects using an unorthodox yet inter...

  • The Road to the Dark Tower synopsis, comments

    The Road to the Dark Tower

    Bev Vincent

    AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE DARK TOWER SERIESINCLUDING BOOKBYBOOK ANALYSIS AND INSIGHT INTO STEPHEN KING'S CREATIVE PROCESS.In 1970, Stephen King embarked on what would become the cr...

  • The Dante Chamber synopsis, comments

    The Dante Chamber

    Matthew Pearl

    Memories, fears, the fog of nightmares...Five years after a series of Danteinspired killings stunned Boston, a politician is found in a London park with his neck crushed by an enor...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    C. H. Herford

    This is a work of literary criticism on Robert Browning's poetry, written by C.H. Herford and published in 1905.

  • 50 Greatest Poems of Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    50 Greatest Poems of Robert Browning

    Robert Browning

    Robert Browning was born in London in 1812. After showing a dislike of the private schools he attended ,he was educated at home. The initial reaction to Browning’s poetry and plays...

  • Collection of English Poetry synopsis, comments

    Collection of English Poetry

    William Blake, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, G. G. Lord Byron, John Keats, William Shakespeare, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Alfred Lord Tennyson, William Wordsworth & W. B. Yeats

    Table of Contents:William BlakeElizabeth Barrett BrowningRobert BrowningG. G. Lord ByronJohn KeatsWilliam ShakespearePercy Bysshe ShelleyAlfred Lord TennysonWilliam WordsworthW. B....

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    G. K. Chesterton

    Written by the famous British author and philosopher G.K. Chesterton, this 1903 book covers Robert Browning's life, marriage and art.

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    Gilbert Keith Chesterton

    Robert Browning Gilbert Keith Chesterton, english writer, lay theologian, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist (18741936) This ebook presents «Robert Browning», from Gilbert Ke...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    Boyd Litzinger & Donald Smalley

    The Critical Heritage gathers together a large body of critical sources on major figures in literature. Each volume presents contemporary responses to a writer's work, enabling stu...

  • Robert Browning synopsis, comments

    Robert Browning

    C. H. Herford

    With centuries of literature, it's inevitable that some will fall through the cracks. We hunt down public domain works and restore them so they're not lost to the world. Who are w...