Robert Browning is a popular English poet and Victorian novelist. His contribution and influence on English literature are remarkable. He visualized all political and physical negotiations that took place in the Victorian Era. His works gained immense popularity internationally due to his formulation of dramatic monologue with a slight mixture of the portrayal of dark humour that is being induced in his works which enlightened the readers enormously.
Browning lived in a period of transition. Browning was motivated strongly by Percy Bysshe Shelley, and especially Shelley’s lengthier artistic poems, including “Prometheus Unbound”, which inspired him in the long run.
Browning changed into an accomplished lyric poet. However, he could be famous and notorious due to his involvement in dramatic forms. Browning’s most well-known and notable writings include “Sordello”, “Men, and Women”, and The Ring and the Book, which are all substantial volumes of narrative. His narrative poetry and his impact on the tone and style of modern poetry deeply influence the saga of T.S. Eliot and William Carlos Williams.
Influence of Browning’s Works on Literature
In The Ring and the Book, Browning’s trick of introducing several characters and bringing the tale of murder into the limelight by several voices that uphold numerous perspectives preserving suspense through the technique of Dramatic Monologues enables the reader to explore various characters to witness an event or version of the character’s life.
It helps the readers to understand the character’s thoughts and actions respectively. Browning reminds us that we must learn to feel the present as nature beholds a tendency to fluctuate depending on the situation. Every person possesses their own vision of replication and interpretation of the story. Poems like “Fra Lippo Lippi” and “Andrea del Sarto” successfully visualize that every character responds differently to certain situations.
Nature also provokes a personality to develop dramatically. His speculation on artistic philosophy would begin by designing an artist and then initially providing it with a logical formulation of artwork. “Fra Lippo Lippi” addresses that art has the power to intensify the minute things of our lives and it captivates the beauty found in the earthly sphere.
In “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church” published in 1845 and “The Statue and the Bust” in 1855 focuses on the architecture which can immortalize figures. It also helps creators to create lively characters.
Robert Browning witnessed the struggle of humans and his quest was to immortalize the effort by applying his artistic philosophy and dramatic technique.
The early life of Robert Browning
Robert Browning was born on May 7 in Walworth, London, United Kingdom. He was a son of Sarah Anna, daughter of a German ship-ship-owner. Robert was incredibly motivated by his mother’s love for melody and his father’s scholarly interests. His father also owned a library with six hundred volumes of books consisting of various languages, which initially affected his development in academics.
Education
Robert Browning belonged to an educated family. His father’s massive collection of writings exposed him to numerous ideologies in unique languages. At the age of fourteen, he had come across various languages like Latin, Greek, Italian and French. His enthusiasm for learning new things enable him to get the help of several tutors in the field of music, and painting.
The works of Percy Bysshe Shelley additionally encouraged him and he became a close observer of poetical forms at the age of twelve. Browning entered University College London at sixteen but left within a year.
Browning’s parents strictly adhered to the spiritual faith restricting him to step into Oxford or Cambridge University because they were members of the Church in England.
Robert met Elizabeth Barrett in London in 1845. They have had a union of terrestrial state of love which enlightened his writings. The couple eventually tied the knot on September 12, 1846, secretly because Barrett’s father disliked Robert. Later they eloped to Italy, where they spent fifteen years, and Elizabeth died in 1861.
Style
A few of his notable works are “Pauline” and “Paracelsus,” which led him to face various criticism, and his later great works remarkably made him famous among the literary groups. Robert efficiently used dramatic monologue techniques, enabling readers to associate an event through the character’s lenses.
Moreover, he has explored the vibrant beauty of the natural world using poetic strategies in his poems, “Fra Lippo Lippi” and “Pictor Ignotus.” The ordinary topics in most of his poems are pain caused by separation and the elegant state of love that took place between two lovers.
Writing Career of Robert Browning
His contribution became a certified poet in 1833 when his first poem, “Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession,” got published. This write-up faced criticism from several authors among which John Stuart Mill, denounced his state-of-the-art writing technique. In 1935, he wrote “Paracelsus,” accompanied by another piece, “Sordello,” in 1940.
Besides poetry, he attempted his talents in playwriting and presented “Strafford” in 1837 and “Bells and Pomegranate” in 1841. Unfortunately, it failed to reach his expectations. Browning was disheartened due to such failure and paused his poetry writing when in 1855, his wife motivated him to publish his collections. Eventually, this boosted his writing career commercially.
In 1869, his “Dramatis Personae” and Ring and the Book enabled him to secure a better position in the circle of Victorian poets. Robert Browning wrote eight plays and fifty-one poems in his life. He introduced the technique of dramatic monologue in his writings where he sketched a poem with a speaker, and a silent listener persisting a constant gap between what the speaker says and what he reveals.
There is a silent listener who never speaks in the poem “My Last Duchess,” Robert Browning formulates the technique of dramatic monologue and ironically upholds the negation of society. A woman must always abide by the male-dictated customs of the society and disobeying such will provoke a man to apply several techniques to achieve their avaricious motives which they refer it as their right. We find a duke claiming the life-like portrait as his own.
The portrait has no right to smile on any other gentleman (ironically) instead she should always smile pouring out her utmost elegance whenever he appears. The way Browning brings the difficulties of women in the Victorian Era fetched him into the limelight.
Marriage was an institution then. Women did not possess any right to raise their voices. They were restricted in the domestic sphere which made them entirely unaware of the professional sphere. After the industrial revolution, a huge population of the village migrated to the city in search of better jobs and living opportunities. Wordsworth could not resist such hustles and bustles of the city and in search of peace and serenity, he escapes into nature. Browning was highly inspired by his writings.
Robert Browning changed into one of the most identified and respected poets of his time as he pointed out the major issues of the age and the struggle of the commoners. His most well-known forms of poetry were his lyrical and romantic poems. He may be compared to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Alfred Lord Tennyson for hovering into different literary figures. Therefore, due to Browning’s simpler and absurd poetry, he has been successful in attracting readers today.
Asolando was published on the day he died in Venice on December 12, 1889, and is buried in the Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey. The Victorian citizens appreciated his writings thoroughly.
FAQs
Is Robert Browning a romantic poet?
Browning is a well-known poet of the romantic period. His contributions like “Love among the Ruins” or his gothic poetries like “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came “are indeed praised by his contemporary authors attracting readers frequently.
What is the poetic style of Robert Browning?
Browning’s reputation has been greatly built due to his writing techniques. Dramatic Monologue is a rare formulation that Robert Browning skillfully introduces in his poems.
