Browning

Browning

Robert Browning was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets. He was born on May 7, 1812, in South London, England. The most important event in Browning's life occurred in 1846, when he married Elizabeth Barrett. The marriage brought a new lightness and openness of voice to Browning's verse during the next 21 years, resulting in the great dramatic monologues of Men and Women in 1855 and the epic The Ring and the Book in 1867. Browning is popularly known by his shorter poems, “The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” “Porphyria’s Lover,” and “My Last Duchess” found in the collection Bells and Pomegranates No. III: Dramatic Lyrics (1842). Robert Browning died in Italy in 1889. His body lies in Westminster Abbey.

Prominent poet of the Victorian era, Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born on March 6, 1806 in County Durham, England. Her poetry was widely popular in both England and the United States during her lifetime. Her 1844 volume Poems inspired Robert Browning, the poet and playwright, to write to her telling her how much he liked them. They began a courtship through letters and were married on September 12, 1846. The couple moved to Italy which became their home almost continuously until her death. Barrett Browning's enduring fame has rested on two works, the edited Poems (1850), containing Sonnets from the Portuguese, and Aurora Leigh (1857). The former is a celebration of woman as man's other half and the latter is a celebration of woman's potential to stand on her own. More recently, a third side of Barrett Browning has been revealed: the incisive critical and political commentator, seen in her letters. She died on June 29, 1861 in Florence, Italy.