The Works and Influence of Robert Browning

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The Works and Influence of Robert Browning

Robert Browning was one of the most recognized and respected poets of his time. The Victorian period that he lived in and his upbringing made him the dramatic and intelligent poet that he was. His most famous types of poetry were his lyrical and romantic poems. Browning influenced poetic society with his dramatic monologues, long poems, and silent listener techniques. He can be compared to Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Alfred Lord Tennyson, other literary figures of the time. Therefore, because of Browning's unique and sometimes absurd poetry, people have been fascinated with his writing and still are today.

Born in 1812, Robert Browning was one of the most recognized poets of the Victorian Age. Guided by the influence of his father he was reading and writing by the age of five (Everett 1). His father, a scholar and artist, gave Browning a huge variety of different books from a collection of 6,000 volumes in six languages. Browning and his father used to bond by sitting around together analyzing books they had both read. In his adolescent years he flourished in his studies and became quite the young poet by the age of twelve (Brainard 253).

When Browning was twelve he wrote a handful of poems, which he entitled "Incondita." Though he wrote almost nothing between the ages of thirteen to twenty, he seemed to show the makings of a great poet with his collection of juvenile creations. His two most prominent of these poems, "The Dance of Death," and, "The First Born of Egypt," reflect his influences from other poetry of the time and his adolescent emotions.

When the young Browning matured into an adult, in 1832, he published Pauline. The poem about a deep i...

... middle of paper ...

... b. Reading

2. Poet

a. Poems and Plays

b. Elizabeth

III. Poetry

A. Dramatic Lyrics

1. "Count Gismond"

a. Explanation

b. Undertones

2. "The Last Duchess"

a. Explanation

b. Dramatic dialogue

B. Dramatic Romances

1. "The Bishop Orders his Tomb"

a. Explanation

b. Monologue

IV. Influence on poetic society

A. Dramatic monologue

B. Long Poem

C. Silent Listener

V. Comparison of Poets

A. Elizabeth Barrett Browning

B. Alfred Lord Tennyson

VI. Conclusion

A. History of Browning

B. Poetry

C. Influence on poetic society

D. Comparison of poets

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