Love in a Life

By Robert Browning 

‘Love in a Life’ is Browning’s unending quest to find his lover in the numerous
rooms of their house. By the end, he still has not found her, which alludes to
the possibility that the search will continue.

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Robert Browning

Nationality: English Poet PDF

Robert Browning was an English poet born in 1812.

He is considered one of the preeminent Victorian poets of the period.

Biography Poems
 Poem Analyzed by Emma Baldwin
B.A. English (Minor: Creative Writing), B.F.A. Fine Art, B.A. Art Histories

‘Love in a Life’ by Robert Browning is a short two stanza poem that is

separated into two sets of eight lines, or octaves. The lines are structured
with a consistent rhyme scheme that follows the pattern of ABCDDABC,
alternating end sounds in the second stanza. The repetition used in the
arrangement of the lines mimics the circular actions of the speaker himself.
As he searches he goes in one door and out the other, always close behind,
but not quite catching, his lover. By the end of the poem he still hasn’t found
her, this alludes to the possibility that his “quest” will go on for some time to
come.

The most important theme of the piece is separation. Browning’s speaker,

who might be the poet himself, spends the text looking for his lover. She has
disappeared somewhere in their home and he is determined, no matter how
long it takes, to find her.

The meter of the poem is also well structured. The lines are grouped together,
with two tercets and one couplet making up each stanza. Browning
formatted the first tercet in dimeter, the second in tetrameter, and the couplet
in pentameter. This means that the lines contained either two, four or five
sets of two beats.
‘Love in a Life‘ was originally published in his volume, Men and Women, in
1855. The book included a number of other poems written on similar themes,
all of which were dedicated to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, his wife.

Lines

Love in a Life
Robert Browning

I
Room after room,
I hunt the house through
We inhabit together.
Heart, fear nothing, for, heart, thou shalt find her—
Next time, herself!—not the trouble behind her
Left in the curtain, the couch's perfume!
As she brushed it, the cornice-wreath blossomed anew:
Yon looking-glass gleamed at the wave of her feather.

II
Yet the day wears,
And door succeeds door;
I try the fresh fortune—
Range the wide house from the wing to the centre.
Still the same chance! she goes out as I enter.
Spend my whole day in the quest,—who cares?
But 'tis twilight, you see,—with such suites to explore,
 Such closets to search, such alcoves to importune!

Summary of Love in a Life

‘Love in a Life’ by Robert Browning tells of a speaker’s seemingly endless

quest to find his lover within the numerous rooms of their shared home.

The poem begins with the speaker stating that he is on a journey to find his
lover in their house. He is going from room to room, “hunt[ing]” for “her.” He
speaks to his heart, telling it not to worry, as they will soon find her. The
speaker constantly feels as if he’s about to catch up to his lover. He can smell
her on the curtains and sense her presence on the furniture.
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In the second stanza he states that although he has not yet succeeded, he
plans to. He is going to continue to search and as it is only “twilight” there are
still many doors to open and rooms to enter.

Analysis of Love in a Life

Stanza One

“ Room after room,

I hunt the house through

We inhabit together.

Heart, fear nothing, for, heart, thou shalt find her—

Next time, herself!—not the trouble behind her

Left in the curtain, the couch’s perfume!

As she brushed it, the cornice-wreath blossomed anew:

Yon looking-glass gleamed at the wave of her feather.

In the first stanza of ‘Love in a Life‘ the speaker begins by describing how he
hunts for his lover throughout the rooms of their house. The first three lines
are quite short, but extremely powerful and assertive. The speaker’s tone in
these lines is determined and confident. He knows he’s going to find the
person he’s looking for.
In line four the speaker turns to address his own heart. It is as if he started to
worry about the search and needed a moment to calm himself down. He tells
his heart that “thou shalt find her.” There is nothing to fear in this situation as
long as they remain strong. So far, while the speaker and his heart have been
searching, they’ve only come across “the trouble behind her.” They have only
seen the remnants of her presence. Whether that is the smell of the couch or
the wave of a curtain. “Next time,” the speaker declares, he and his heart will
find “herself!”

Everything they pass, from the curtains to the glass, holds something of the
speaker in them. There are remnants of her passing presence. These
descriptions are used to better describe the impact she has on the speaker’s
mind. He is able to see her everywhere because they are so close and “inhabit
together” the house he is searching for.

Stanza Two

Yet the day wears,

 And door succeeds door;

“ I try the fresh fortune—

Range the wide house from the wing to the centre.

Still the same chance! she goes out as I enter.

Spend my whole day in the quest,—who cares?

But ’tis twilight, you see,—with such suites to explore,

Such closets to search, such alcoves to importune!

In the second set of lines, the speaker explains how while he searches, doors
open, and there are only more doors behind them. As “door succeeds door”
the day “wears,” or drags on painfully. Each time he opens a door he hopes
that something will change, but it has yet to. His fortune is in the balance.
His travels through the house ranging from “the wing to the centre.” There is
nowhere he is ignoring but he still can’t seem to catch up to her or find her.
The speaker is clearly frustrated at this point and exclaims over the apparent
fact that when “she goes out” he enters. He describes the search he is
participating in as a “quest.” This increases his own feelings of nobility in
what he is doing. The speaker also knows that this search is likely going to
take his “whole day” and professes not to care.

In fact, in the following lines of ‘Love in a Life‘, he alludes to his intention to

search all night. He states that it is only “twilight” and there is plenty of time
left to search the “closets…and alcoves.” There are “suites to explore” and any
number of other places she could be hiding.

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About Emma Baldwin

Emma graduated from East Carolina University with a B.A. in
English, minor in Creative Writing, B.F.A. in Fine Art, and B.A.
in Art Histories. Literature is one of her greatest passions
which she pursues through analyzing poetry on Poem
Analysis.

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18 COMMENTS

Genevieve Neria
I have IGCSEs soon and I cant tell you how much this helped me study.. Its a
really nice poem and I loved the detailed analysis
0

Lee-James Bovey
Reply to Genevieve Neria

Member
That’s amazing. I’m glad you found it useful.
0

lol
used this to chea in a test. Best thing ever!
1

Lee-James Bovey
Reply to lol

Member
🙁 When you see your creation used for evil…
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