Browning, ROBERT, the most subtle and intellectual of contemporary English poets, was born at Camberwell, May 7, 1812. His father, a man of parts, was engaged in the city of London. The future poet, after receiving a local education, attended lectures at University College, and then travelled abroad. From his earliest years he had been accustomed to write verse, and while still a youth, acquired the triple reputation of poet, musician, and modeller. Pauline, a dramatic poem, written at the age of nineteen, was published in 1833. Two years later appeared his Paracelsus, which revealed a greater force. Its energy, its boldness of thought, its lofty aspirations, and its grip of human passion, stamped the author as one of the most promising of the younger poets. In 1837 he wrote (for Macready) his first tragedy, Strafford, but this and subsequent plays were not of the usual popular stage order. Sordello, which for its involutions of thought has given more trouble to Browning's readers than any other of his works, appeared in 1840. In it the author traces the development of a soul, following his hero (an Italian poet named by Dante) until his ambition closes in death. A series of plays, tragedies, and dramatic lyrics was issued under the collective title of Bells and Pomegranates (1841-46). The plays included Pippa Passes, King Victor and King Charles, and Colombe's Birthday; and the tragedies The Return of the Druses, A Blot on the 'Scutecheon (produced at Drury Lane), Luria, and A Soul's Tragedy. Amongst the lyrics were How they Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix, Saul, The Lost Leader, and The Pied Piper of Hamelin—poems which became, and still remain, the most popular of all Browning's writings. In these lyrical efforts the poet pressed into his service, in a masterly degree, humour, pathos, passion, and tenderness; while the whole were distinguished for their ringing and melodious versification. Browning married in 1846 Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, herself a poetess of high and noble gifts, and with her he went to Florence, where they lived for fifteen years in perfect and happy union. In 1850 Browning published Christmas Eve and Easter Day, poems which defend catholicity in religion, the good to be discovered in the varying forms of Christianity. Men and Women, which appeared in 1855, contained some of its author's finest work, including the stirring poems of Fra Lippo, Childe Roland, Andrea del Sarto, Evelyn Hope, Holy Cross Day, and Up at a Villa.
After the death of his wife in 1861, the poet settled permanently in London with his only son. Dramatis Personæ, issued in 1864, again attested the strength of Browning's dramatic gifts in monologue. These poems included Abt Vogler, Caliban, A Death in the Desert, and Rabbi ben Ezra, in which the writer unfolded his views upon music, philosophy, and the higher questions affecting life and immortality. Browning was elected an Honorary Fellow of Baliol in 1867. The same year he was made M.A. of Oxford, and at a later period received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Cambridge. Other distinctions of a similar character have also been conferred upon him. Browning's generally-accepted masterpiece, The Ring and the Book, was published in 1869. It is an epic dealing with the passions of humanity in a manner most searching and complete, and having for its basis the narrative of a murder by an Italian count, as related by the various persons concerned in the tragedy. The intellectual labour involved in this stupendous achievement, which embraces 21,116 lines, is immense, and there are many poetic passages scattered throughout the work which are as splendidly beautiful as anything that has been written in verse since the 16th century. Hervé Riel, a poem upon a French sailor hero, was published in 1871, the proceeds being given to the fund for the relief of Paris. From 1871 onward, works by Browning appeared in rapid succession. Balaustium's Adventure (1871), with the Alkestis of Euripides in an English dress, was the poet's first essay in Greek subjects; Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society, dealt with the career of Louis-Napoleon; Fifine at the Fair (1872) handled a question in morals very powerfully; Red-cotton Night-cap Country (1873) told the story of a famous Norman law case; Aristophanes' Apology (1875) was a second venture amongst the great Greek poets; The Inn Album (1875) was a graphic story of a deeply-wronged woman; Pacchiarotto, and How He worked in Distemper (1876), gave the author an opportunity of defending his poetic methods; the Agamemnon of Æschylus (1877) was a graphic transcript of that famous work; and La Saisiaz, the Two Poets of Croisic (1878), advanced a strong vindication of the faith in a future life. Two volumes of Dramatic Idylls (1879-80) may be described as vigorous character sketches, each idyll having a distinct and leading purpose. All are intense in their realism, and across the page constantly breaks the strong lightning flash of genius. Jocoseria, a volume containing a number of narrative poems, was published in 1883; and in 1884 appeared Ferishtah's Fancies, a work consisting of twelve poems, each dealing with some profound question touching the relations of man with the divine. Parleyings with Certain People of Importance in their Day was issued in 1887. Here again the author adopted his favourite method of developing through the medium of narrative his views upon important philosophical, literary, artistic, and other questions. The 'Browning Society' was established in 1881 for the purpose of promoting the study and influence of the poet's works, and the example of London has been followed by many other large centres in Great Britain, the colonies, and the United States. As a poet, Browning is distinguished for his capacity in the creation of real men and women, and also for the depth of his spiritual insight. His lyrical faculty, dramatic energy, and power of psychological analysis have rarely been equalled. Besides being one of the most erudite of poets, he has intense human sympathy and high imaginative gifts, and a profound and vigorous faith. His style is too frequently obscure and difficult, his versification hard and rugged, and his rhymes forced. Browning's son, R. B. Browning (born 1849), is a promising artist. On the 12th December 1889—the very day his last volume of poems, Asolando: Fancies and Facts, was published—Browning died at Venice; and he was buried in Westminster Abbey on the last day of the year.
See the Browning Society's Papers, Furnival's Browning Bibliography, Mrs Sutherland Orr's Handbook to Browning (1885), with minor works by Symons (1887), Fotheringham (1887), and Sharp (1890); and the Life by Mrs Sutherland Orr. A uniform edition of his works (17 vols.) appeared in 1888-90, and a 2-vol. edition in 1896.