罗伯特·勃朗宁(Robert_Browning)

Middle Life
• He even wrote several stage plays (between 1836 and 1843) which were also well-received, though quite forgotten today. • Between 1841 and 1846, he published four books, mainly collections of his shorter poems that would become among his most famous works. • It was about this time that Robert's correspondence with Elizabeth Barrett began, when he wrote to thank her for a flattering mention of his work in one of her poems.
Browning’s Wife
• Born at Coxhoe Hall, grew up in the west of England • A most respected and successful woman poet of the Victorian period, and was largely educated at home by a tutor, quickly learning French, Latin and Greek. • She was considered to deserve the laureateship, but which eventually was awarded to Tennyson in 1850. Her greatest work, SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE (1850), is a sequence of love sonnets addressing to her husband. • Her vivid intelligence and ethereal physical appearance made a lifelong impression to Ruskin, Carlyle, Thackeray, Rossetti, Hawthorne, and many others.

Work List
• • • • Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession (1833) Paracelsus (1835) Sordello(1840) Bells and Pomegranates No. III: Dramatic Lyrics (1842) – My Last Duchess – The Pied Piper of Hamelin Dramatic Romances (1845) Men and Women (1855) The Ring and the Book (1868-1869) The Inn Album (1875) Solando (1889)
Elizabeth Barrett (1806-1861)
Late Life
• It was only after his wife's death, in 1861, when he returned to England and became part of the London literary circle, that his reputation started to take off. • In 1868, he completed and published the long blank-verse poem The Ring and the Book, and finally achieved really significant recognition. • Wrote a great deal right up to the end of his life, though he was plagued by colds and bronchitis; his last book, Asolando, was published the day of his death, December 12, 1889. • Assumed he would be buried beside Elizabeth, but for the cemetery had been closed to further burials, he instead received a grand funeral at Westminster Abbey.
• • • • •
My Last Duchess
The picture is kept hidden
behind a curtain
Where the Duke can enjoy it by himself
When the Duke draws back the curtain the envoy sees in the Duchess’expression:
§ When
talking about Robert Browning, we have to mention his wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
§ She
was a famous poet, too. She wrote many sonnets, a type of 14 line poem, the same as Shakespeare did.
Middle Life
• In this very first letter, he told her that he loved her, which alarmed Elizabeth immensely. Still, he managed to meet her face to face in May of 1845 and marry her in September of that year. • The happy couple went to Florence and were enchanted by it, finally settling in the famous Casa Guidi. • The years in Florence were among the happiest for both of them. Her love for him was demonstrated in the Sonnets from the Portuguese, and to her he dedicated Men and Women, which contains his best poetry.
The Camberwell Palace (1900)
Early Life
• At 16, Robert began attending the newly-formed London University, established for those Nonconformists like Robert who were barred from Oxford and Cambridge. • Robert attended for only just over a year, though thanks to his reading, he was really quite an educated man. He also was quite arrogant at times. • His family had enough money to support him in these poetical endeavors . His first published work, Pauline, was considered not very good, but promising; His second, Paracelsus, was well-received and Robert was always proud of it.
Early Life
• Born on May 7,1812, in Camberwell (a suburb of London), first child and only son of Robert Browning and Sarah Wiedemann Browning. • Robert was an impulsive, fearless little boy who was also rather a prodigy, writing poems and reading Homer at a very young age. His father encouraged him to read and he had access to his large (6,000 vols) library. In his teens, Browning discovered Shelley, adopting the author's confessionalism in poetry. • He learned many languages and devoured his father's history books. He also liked to read books that were considered rather shocking and not quite suitable for children.
§ Elizabeth
and her husband Robert had a great love affair, almost like a movie. Browning was six years younger than his wife. They ran away to Italy to get married.
Robert Browning
Robert Browning
Born: 7 May 1812 Birthplace: London Died: 12 December 1889 Best Known As: 19th century (Victorian) British poet
Social Background
( the Victorian Age)
• Political reform 1. The king and the peers were both stripped of their power 2. The House of Commons became the ruling power 3. A series of new reform bills rapidly extend the suffrage, until the whole body of English people choose for themselves the men who shall represent them. • The most important immediate legislative accomplishment of the reformed parliament was the emancipation of slaves in British dominions. ( 1833 ) • Popularization of education • Advance in technology • All the above have been reacted in prose and poetry