Robert Browning

1812-89

A poet of Love
B Y D r. A n j a n a P r a j a p a t i
Robert Browning (1812-89)
is, along with Alfred Lord
Tennyson (1809- 1892) the
most famous and widely
studied poet of the
Victorian era.

BY : DANI MARTINEZ PRESENTATION TEMPLATE

He was an intelligent child who was fluent in five
languages by the age of fourteen. He was also
passionate about poetry and was a talented
musician, composing arrangements of several songs
as well as writing poetry.
Robert Browning was born on the 7th of May in Camberwell, London
England. He was the brilliant son of Sarah Anna, daughter of German
ship-owner, while his father, Robert Browning, was a clerk in the Bank
of England. Robert was highly influenced by his mother’s love for music
and his father’s scholarly interests. His father also owned a huge
library with 600 volumes of different languages cast a recurrent
impact on his literary development.
Education

Since Robert belonged to a highly literate and artistic family, he was

taught at home during his early years. His father’s huge collection
exposed him to various ideas in different languages. At fourteen, he
had learned Latin, Greek, Italian and French. He then underwent
rigors learning of drawing, music, and dancing by several tutors for
two years. He was also inspired by the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley.
So, he turned toward poetry at the age of twelve.
Education
Robert entered University College London (London University) to study
Greek at sixteen but left after a year. Moreover, his parent’s staunch
religious faith never allowed him to step into Oxford or Cambridge
University because they were members of the Church of England.
That is why he received less formal education and developed his
literary ideas largely at home under the supervision of his parents.
Despite this secluded development, he won an honorary Doctorate of
Civil Law from Oxford University in 1887.
Marriage

Robert met Elizabeth Barrett in London, in 1845. They started

corresponding and gradually discovered their love for each other.
Elizabeth Barrett gave wings to his poetic imagination. The couple
finally tied the knot on the 12th of September in 1846. Initially, they
kept their marriage a secret because Barrett’s father disliked Robert.
Later they eloped to Italy where they spent fifteen years until
Elizabeth’s death in 1861.
Death

After gaining a reputation among British Literary canons, Robert

breathed his last on the 12th of December in 1889 in Venice. He was
buried in Westminster Abbey at the Poet’s Corner. On the same day,
the final volume of his book, “Asolando” hit the shelves. Sadly, he was
not there to witness its glory.
Some Important Facts of His Life
• Robert Browning wrote eight plays and fifty-one poems during his
lifetime.
• Besides literature, he was interested in music. He got this talent
from his mother and composed various songs. However, he did not
pursue a career in music.
• He learned to read and write at the age of five and composed his
first literary work at the age of twelve.
Writing Career
Robert Browning is a great Victorian poet and playwright who started
writing at an early age. He became a published poet in 1833 when his
first poem, “Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession” was published. It
received modest reviews, but it introduced him as a poet in literary
circles. This piece was attacked by John Stuart Mill who condemned
his sophisticated approach of writing. However, Robert never gave up
and kept on polishing his abilities. Later, in 1935 he produced
“Paracelsus” followed by another piece “Sordello” in 1940. Besides
poetry, he tried his skills in playwriting and presented “Strafford” in
Writing Career

Unfortunately, these attempts did not bring the desired success.

Robert was disheartened and continued writing poetry when in 1855
his wife inspired him to publish his collections. Later, this brought
commercial and critical success in his writing career. In 1869, his
“Dramatis Personae” and “Ring and the Book” earned him a spot in the
circle of Victorian poets.
His Style
Robert had established his career first as a poet and then as a
playwright. His unique ideas added a lot to the literary world. His works
won global recognition marked by allusive imagery, symbolic structures,

dramatic monologue, a blend of dark humor and Irony. His early works:
“Pauline” and Paracelsus” brought him to the center of criticism, and his
later masterpieces earned him a reputable place among literary circles.
His Style
Robert successfully used dramatic monologue techniques which enabled

the readers to see an event using the character’s lenses. Moreover, he

explored the beauty of the real-world using artistic techniques in his

poems, “Fra Lippo Lippi” and “Pictor Ignoyus”. The recurring themes in
most of his poems are loss, love, the relationship between arts and
mortality, politics, religion, and society.
His Conception of Love
To Browning, love is a spiritual force. When a person loves another
passionately, without desiring for anything in return, his love is spiritual
love. Such love binds the soul of the beloved. Each soul is immortal. At
death, it passes into another bodily form. This process goes on infinitely.
Now, if one soul binds another with the rope of spiritual love, the two
souls shall be united by God in some future life. For God ‘creates the
love to reward the love.” So when Evelyn Hope is dead, the lover believes
that he must be united to Evelyn in some future life.
Love Admits of No Impediments
Such spiritual love admits of no impediments. A person may be of any age. He may
be much too older than his beloved. But it does not matter. For example, Evenly,
lover is forty-eight whereas the girl is sixteen. Further, he loves her secretly. She
does not even know that he loves her. On the other hand, the lover in the poem
‘The Last Ride Together‘ has been rejected by his beloved. Yet, on the score of
his spiritual love, he hopes to attain her in heaven.
Love Admits of No Impediments
Further, in Porphyria’s Lover, browning describes a strange reaction of the
lover. For a long time his beloved is unable to get over the barriers of the
conventional society. So the lover strangles her to death with the help of a card
of her own hair. He kills her under the belief that his spiritual love shall unite
him to her in a future life.
His Philosophy of Love
According to Indian Scholars, Browning’s doctrine of rebirth is the
Vedanta. His conception of spiritual love tallies with the ‘Karmic Varna’
in the Vedanta. His optimism in the matter of love is also Vedantic
optimism. So when one has spiritual love for another, Karma as a force
unites one to the other in a future life but some British Scholars
suggest that Browning’s philosophy of love is based on German
Philosopher Goethe’s doctrine of ‘Elective Affinities’. According to this
doctrine, some men and women are attracted to one another by force
of spiritual gravitation. Since the soul is immortal, these lovers are
Conclusion
As a poet of love, Browning confines himself to the love between a man
and a woman. In his love-poems, he does not treat of absolute love, love
of ideas, or love of motherland. Nor does he celebrate the charms and
beauty of a woman. he treats of the actual passion of love. Further, his
treatment of love has no individual note about it.
Conclusion
Its description is impersonal and intellectual. Moreover, he presents
love as an ordeal. It tests :he mettle of a person. If love is genuine, it
will bear fruit and earn rewards in future lives. Since true love is
selfless it helps the soul to rise to a higher life. Besides, to Browning
love is the link between God and man. A life inspired by love is a most
perfect life of goodness. So love is the highest ideal that man should
try to achieve.
“To Browning, Love is the Conqueror, and Love is God”

(Stopford A Brooke)