Browning, Robert

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English poet. His work is characterized by the accomplished use of dramatic monologue (in which a single imaginary speaker reveals his or her character, thoughts, and situation) and an interest in obscure literary and historical figures. It includes Pippa Passes (1841) (written in dramatic form) and the poems ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ (1842), ‘My Last Duchess’ (1842), ‘Home Thoughts from Abroad’ (1845), and ‘Rabbi Ben Ezra’ (1864). He was married to Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Browning was born in London and was educated privately. He wrote his first poem ‘Pauline’ (1833) under the influence of Shelley; it was followed by Paracelsus (1835). From 1837 Browning achieved moderate success with his play Strafford and several other works, though the narrative poem Sordello (1840) was initially criticized. In the pamphlet series Bells and Pomegranates (1841–46), which contained Pippa Passes, Dramatic Lyrics (1842), and Dramatic Romances (1845), he included the dramas King Victor and King Charles (1842), Return of the Druses (1843), and Colombe's Birthday (1844).

In 1845 he met Elizabeth Barrett; they eloped the following year and went to Italy. There he wrote Christmas Eve and Easter Day (1850) and much of Men and Women (1855), the latter containing some of his finest love poems and dramatic monologues. He published no further collection of verse until Dramatis Personae (1864), which was followed by The Ring and the Book (1868–69), based on an Italian murder story.

After his wife's death in 1861 Browning settled in England and enjoyed an established reputation, although his later works, such as Red-Cotton Night-Cap Country (1873), Dramatic Idylls (1879–80), and Asolando (1889), prompted opposition by their rugged obscurity of style.

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