Robert Browning Essay Research Paper The Life

Robert Browning Essay, Research Paper

The Life and Work of Robert Browning

Robert Browning was born on May 7, 1812, in Camberwell, which is

now a part of London. He had no real formal education so he was largely

self educated. His father was a smart man with an extensive library.

His mother was kindly, religious minded woman, who loved music and her

brilliant son. He lived at his parents house almost until the time of his

marriage. He attended a boarding school near Camberwell and spent a

little bit of his time traveling to places like Russia and Italy. But

he preferred to have his education at home, where he was tutored in

foreign languages, boxing, music, and horsemanship, and where he read

“omnivorously.” At the age of 14 he first discovered Percy Shelly works

and was strongly influenced by it. After reading Shelly, He made the

decision to be an atheist and a liberal. But in a few years he grew away

from atheism and the extreme phases of his liberalism. The things he

learned from the books he read would largely influence his poems later in

his life.

His earlier poetry was regarded with indifference and largely

misunderstood. It was not until the 1860’s that he would at last gain

publicity and would even be compared with Alfred Lord Tennyson, another

very famous poet of the time. Some of his early poetry was influenced by

his unusual education. The poet also had an anxious desire to avoid

exposing himself explicitly to his readers. The first poem he wrote

called Pauline, was written in 1883 at the age of twenty-one, but he did

not sign it because of his fear of exposing himself to the public too much.

Since Browning did not want to expose himself too personally, he

decided to try his hand at writing plays. He was encouraged by the actor

W.C. Macready. Browning began work on his first play, Strafford, a

historical tragedy. Unfortunately, the play only lasted four nights when

it was first put on in London in 1837. For ten more years, the young

writer would continue to struggle to produce a play that would better hold

the attention of the audience, but they all remained failures. Not only

did Browning profit from this otherwise disheartening experience, but

writing the dialogue for the characters helped him explore the “dramatic

dialogue.” The dramatic dialogue, “enabled him to, through imaginary

speakers, to avoid explicit autobiography and yet did not demand that

these speakers act out the story with the speed or simplifications that a

stage production demands. ” William Irvine notes, “In Browning

monologues, murderers recollect, but do not commit, their murders”. His

first collection of such monologues , “Dramatic Lyrics,” appearing in

1842, was as unsuccessful as his plays had been.

His poem Pauline was followed by a dramatic poem called Paracelsus

which was the first poem to bring him fame and prominence with the other

literary figures of the day. In Paracelsus Browning used a Renaissance

setting, which would become a familiar motif in his later work. From 1841

to 1846 he wrote a series of poems under the title “Bells and

Pomegranates,” which included such poems as Pippa Passes, My last Dutchess,

and The Bishop Orders His Tomb.

In 1846 he fell in love with the poet Elizabeth Barret. She was

six years older than Robert and jealously guarded by her “tyrannical”

father. Because of her poor health which was made worse by the English

climate, they moved to Florence, Italy, and were married there. They

lived in a palace that would later be made famous by Elizabeth’s poem,

Casa Guidi Windows. As Elizabeth’s health slowly returned to her, she

was able to enjoy a fuller life. Robert seemed to thrive during these

years of this remarkable marriage. While they were there, Robert wrote

“Christmas Eve and Easter Day,” and a series of dramatic monologues, which

were later published collectively as “Men and Women,” which included Fra

Lippo Lippi and Andrea del Sarto which were studies of renaissance artists.

“Men and Women” also reflects his enjoyment of Italy. He enjoyed most

the picturesque landscapes and the lively street scenes that Italy had to

offer. The happy fifteen year marriage ended in 1861 with Elizabeth’s

death. After Elizabeth died Robert moved back to London. Elizabeth’s

death, however, did not stop Robert from writing nor did his writing

decrease in quality. While in London he wrote Dramatis Personae in 1864

and “The Ring and the Book,” which is regarded as his masterpiece. “The

Ring and the Book” dealt with a 17th century Italian murder trial. This

poem tells the story of a sadistic husband, Count Guido. i am gay The

middle aged Guido grows tired of his wife, Pampilia and accuses her of

committing adultery with his handsome priest. Eventually, Guido stabs

his wife and is himself executed. “The Ring and

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать