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Robert Browning s Poetry
The development of a soul ; little else is worth study "
Otctline Stttdies
PUBLISHED FOR THE CHICAGO BROWNING SOCIET
.■^^:.,H■^.;^^h^/
CHICAGO
CHARLES H. KERR d: COM PANT
lyj Dearborn Street
1886
f6'2
•> 7
COPYRIGHT BY
CHARLES H. KERR & COMPANY
iSS6
CONTENTS.
PAGB
Prefatory Note 4
A Classification of the Entire Writings of Robert Browning . 5
Shorter Programmes 31
Chronological List 35
Helps to the Study of Browning 40
The Chicago Browning Society 41
Rules for Literary Clubs 42
Browning and the Critics 43
Lectures and Papers • • .46
Constitution, Officers, and Members of the Chicago Browning
Society 47
Plan of Work for 1886-7 50
Advertisements 5'
43449,(5
These outlines have been prepared with the hope that thejmay
help in the study of a poet whose works evince the highest poetic art
and insight, works which are so numerous and varied in character
that they constitute, as Canon Farrar says, " a literature in them-
selves."
The order in which the poems of R obert Browning shall be studied
is an important question, though fortunately one that permits of
various answers, each of which will yield good results. The order
set forth in the accompanying outline is the result of considerable
experience as well as much thought, and it is hoped will commend
itself to many. But others will prefer to begin with the love poems
or the dramas, which display the poet's most characteristic quality.
He is always dramatic Whatever form or style he uses, his writings
are everywhere permeated by the spirit of a living, struggling hu-
manity.
*" Man's thoughts and loves and hates.
Earth is my vineyard, these grew there."
One club in New York began with " Sordello " and courageously
carried the study through three years, although it is the poem upon
which chiefly rests the poet's reputation for obscurity. Other classes
have begun with " The Ring and The Book."
Whatever order is pursued, the student of Browning, like that of
any other poet, had better pursue his work in his own way. The
best results are attained in the open mind, equally devoid of preju-
dice and conceit, which acquires its own power of judging and makes
its own application of the truths and lessons taught.
♦Epilogfue to Pacchiarotto.
(4)
A CLASSIFICATION
Of the entire writings of Robert Browning, arranged for the
guidance of clubs and classes, with a few notes added, containing
information not found in the text.
Those shrinking from the long course can readily and profitably
elect such numbers as attract them.
The abbreviations refer to titles of books in the American
edition. See chronological list, page 35.
1.
1. Biography and Bibliography of Browning, (a.)
2. Popular Poems.
v/Xhe Pied Piper of Hameiin. D. P. (d.)
The Boy and the Angel. D. P. (c.)
The Twins. M. and W. (d.)
■ v/How They brought the Good News from Ghent
to Aix. D. P. (e.)
(a.) See article by E. W, Gosse in Scridner's^ Dec. 18S1 ; London
Browning Society Papers, Part I ; *' Poets and Problems," by George
W. Cooke; Stedman's "Victorian Poets." A good portrait of the
poet is published in Illustrations, Part II. L. B. S.
(b.) Written for the little son of the actor, William Macready.
(c) Compare Longfellow's " King Robert of Sicily."
(d.) This parable is told by Martin Luther in his "Table Talk."
This poem was published with Mrs, Browning's " A Plea for the
Ragged Schools of London." " These two poems were printed by
Miss Arabella Barrett, Mrs. Browning's sister, for a bazaar to benefit
the ' Refuge for Young Destitute Girls,' one of the first refuges of
the kind, and still in existence. ^^—Londo?i Bro-wning Society Papers.
(5)
6 ROBER T BR I WNING '6 POE TR T.
(e.) This ride is supposed to have occurred during the Dutch war
of Independence, early in the seventeentli century. The following
extract is from, a letter written by Mr. Browning: "There is no sort
of historical foundation about ' Good News from Ghent.' I wrote it
under the bulwark of a vessel off the African coast, after I had been
at sea long enough to appreciate even the fancy of a gallop or) the
back of a certain good horse ' York,' then in my stable at home."
11.
Poems of Heroism.
<y I. Incident of a French camp. D. P. {a.)
2. Pheidippides. Ag. (b.)
. 3. Echetlos. Ag. (c.)
y 4. Herv6 Riel. F. (^.)
/ 5. Tray. Ag. (^.)
v/ 6. The Patriot. M. & W. (/.)
7. Clive. Ag. {g)
8. The Lost Leader, (/z.) •
(a.) The story of this poem is true with the exception that its hero
was not a boy but a full-grown man.
{Jj) " The facts related in ' Pheidippides ' belong to Greek legendary
history and are told by Herodotus and other writers. When Athens
was threatened by the invading Persians, she sent a running messen-
ger to Sparta to demand help against the foreign foe. The mission
was unsuccessful but the runner Pheidippides fell in on his return
with the god Pan; and although alone among Greeks, the Athenians
had refused to honor him. he promised to fight with them in the com-
ing battle. Pheidippides was present when this battle — that of Mara-
thon— was fought and won." — Mrs. Orr's '•'■ Handbook P
He ran once again and announced the victory at Athens. The re-
lease from toil which Pan promised him as a reward for his labors
was not the release he had expected. Marathon was well-known as
the » fennel-field."
(c.) This is another legend of the battle of Marathon. The word
' Echetlos " means " Holder of the Ploughshare." A picture of
Echetlos was in Athens.
(ff.) A true story of 1692.
ROBER T BRO WNING 'S POETR T. 7
{e.) This scene really occurred in Paris. The poem is a biting sar-
casm, directed against vivisection, which the poet has repeatedlj
called " an infamous practice.''
(/".) In the first edition the scene of this poem was laid in Brescia,
but subsequently the name of the city was omitted and the" signifi-
cance of its universal application thereby heightened.
(g.) "That part of the poem, in which Clive says that if the bully
had, instead of confessing himself a cheat, pardoned Clive and spared
his life, he should have picked up the weapon cast away by his foe
and used it on himself, is Browning's own invention. Reconsidered
it a legitimate deduction from the fact that, when Clive had to face
an inquiry into his conduct, he destroyed himself. On the day of
Lord Clive's death, a lady, who was staying in the house, asked him
to come in and mend a pen for her. Such was his nerve that he did
so and then went into the next room and cut his throat with the very
penknife he had used in her service." — L. Br. S. Papers.
(Ji.) Refers to Wordsworth, for his defection, with Southey and
others, from the liberal cause. \
III.
Art— Poetry and Poets.
1. How It Strikes A Contemporary. M. and W.
2. Transcendentalism. M. and W. {a.)
3. " Touch Him Ne'er So Lightly." Epilogue to
Dramatic Idyls. Ag. {b.)
4. Memorabilia. M. and W.
5. Epilogue to Pacchiarotto. {c.)
7. At The Mermaid. Pac. {d.)
8. House. Pac. (e.)
9. Popularity. M. and W. (/.)
{a.) Johannes Teutonicus, a canon of Halberstadt, in Germany,
after he had performed a number of prestigious feats almost incredi-
ble, was transported by the Devil in the likeness of a black horse^
and was both seen and heard upon one and the same Christmas Day
to sav mu'^s in Halberstadt, in Mayntz and in Cologne." — Heyivoocfs
'-''Hierarchy^'' Book IV.
8 ROBER T BRO WNING 'S POETR T.
{b.) These lines were taken bj critics as referring to Browning's
own poetry. On writing them again in the album of Mrs. R. H.
Dana (Miss Edith Longfellow) he added the following lines:
Thus I wrote in London, musing on my betters,
Poets dead and gone; and lo, the critics cried, ''
" Out on such a boast! " as if I dreamed that fetters
Binding Dante, bind up me! as if true pride
Were not also humble !
So I smiled and sighed
As I oped your book in Venice this bright morning,
Sweet, new friend of mine! and felt the clay or sand —
Whatsoe'er my soil be, — break — for praise or scorning —
Out in grateful fancies — weeds, but weeds expand
Almost into flowers, held by such a kindly hand.
(c.) This is spoken directly by Mr. Browning himself and is a
criticism of his critics. The words "The poets pour us wine " at the
beginning of the poem are quoted from Mrs. Browning's "Wine of
Cyprus'."
{d.) Browning speaks here behind the mask of Shakespeare. To
" throw Venus " was to throw the highest cast at Roman dice.
(e.) See Wordsworth's Sonnet, " Scorn not the Sonnet."
(/.) Compare George Eliot's " Jubal."
IV.
Art — Poetry Continued.
1. The Two Poets of Croisic. Ag. {a.)
2. Essay on Shelley. B. S. Papers, (b.)
(a.) Le Croisic is situated in the southeastern corner of Brittany.
Sardine fishing and the crystallization of sea salt are still the chief oc-
cupations of the villagers. Rene Gentilhomme lived in the first half
of the seventeenth century, and Paul Desforges Maillard about a
hundred years later. The story of the later poet forms the subject
of a famous play, Piron's " Metromanie."
(5.) The Essay on Shelley was written about the year 1851 to serve
as an introduction to some Shelley Letters. These letters were after-
wards discovered to be a forgery and the book was suppressed, but
they gave Browning a chance of writing about the art of the poet he
admired.
R UBER T BRO WNING 'S POE TR T. 9
V.
Art—Fainting and Painters.
^ I. Fra Lippo Lippi. M. and W. (a.)
^2. Andrea del Sarto. M. and W. (3.)
3. The Guardian Angei. M. and VV. (c.)
4. Pictor Ignotus. D. P.
(a.) The story of the life of this well-known painter, as told here
by himself, is historical, even to the incident of tht escapade from the
palace of Cosmo de Medici, who had shut him up to finish his paint-
ing The picture which he describes is that of " The Coronation of
the Virgin," still in Florence. "Hulking Tom" was the painter
known as Masaccio. See Lowell's poem of that name.
{b) The facts related here are also historical in substance, though
certain chroniclers present the character of Lucrezia more favorably.
The king was Francis I. '
(c.) This describes an actual picture, imputed to Guercino and now
in the church of St. Augustine at Fano on the coast of Italy. The
" Alfi-ed " of the same poem is the friend referred to in the poem
of " Waring " — Alfred Domett, then prime minister o\ New Zea-
land. The London Browning Society have published photograph
illustrations of this picture, also of Andrea del Sarto's picture of
himself and his wife in the Pitti gallery at Florence, which suggested
the poem, and Fra Lippo's picture of the " Coronation."
VI.
Art— Painting and Sculpture.
I. Old Pictures in Florence. M. and W. (a.)
3. Eurydice. ((5.)
3. A Face. D. P.
4. Deaf and Dumb. A Group by Woolner. (c.)
(a.) Stanzas 26, 27, 28. Bijordi is the family name of" Domenico,"
called " Ghirlandajo " from the family trade of ^^reath-making.
■' Landro " stands for Alessandro Botticelli. " Lippino " was son of
,Fra Lippo Lippi. Mr. Browning alludes to him as "wi-onged,"
lo RUBER T BRO WNING 'S POE TR T.
because others were credited with some of his best work. Lorenzo
Monaco (the monk) was a contemporary, or nearly so, of Fra
Angelico, but more severe in manner. " Pollajolo " was both painter
and sculptor. " Margheritone of Arezzo " was one of the earlier
Old Masters and died, as Vasari states, infastidito (deeply annoyed)
by the success of Giotto and the " new school," hence the funeral
garb in which Mr. Browning depicts him.
" Mr. Browning possesses or possessed pictures by all the artists
mentioned in this connection." — Mrs. Orr.
The translations of Vasari (which may be found in Bohn's Stand-
ard Library) give accounts of three painters.
The story of Giotto's O is told in every description of the painter,
but the fact that in some editions O Avas misprinted " Oh " might
cause some confusion.
The *' dotard," who was to be pitched across the Alps before free-
dom could be restored to Florence and art revive, was the Grand
Duke.
(3.) This poem is not included in the American edition of Brown-
ing's works. It is the poet's interpretation of a picture by F-
Leighton.
"But give them me — the mouth, the eyes, the brow!
Let them once more absorb me! One look now
Will lap me round forever, not to pass
Out of its light, though darkness lie beyond!
Hold me but safe again within the bond
Of one immortal look ! all woe tb.at was
Forgotten, and all terror that may be
Defied ; no past is mine, no future I Look at me !"
(c.) This poem is also unfortunately omitted from certain editions.
It consists of eight lines written for Woolner's group of Constance
and Arthur, the deaf and dumb children of Sir Thomas Fairbairn.
The group was exhibited in the International Exhibition of 1862.
" Only the prism's obstruction shows aright
The secret of a sunbeam, breaks its light
Into the jeweled bow from blankest white :
So may a glory from defect arise :
Only by Deafness may the vexed Love wreak
Its insuppressive sense on brow and cheek,
Only by Dumbness adequately speak
As favored mouth could never, through the eyes. '
ROBERT BRO i VNING 'S POETRT. 1 1
VII.
Art.— Music.
1 . A Toccata of Galluppi's. M. and W. {a)
2. Master Hugues of Saxe Gotha. M. and W.
3. Abt Vogler. D. P.
{a.) "The Venetian Baldassarre Galuppi, surnamed Buranello, was
an immensely prolific composer, and abounded in melodj, tender,
pathetic and brilliant." — Studies of the Eighteenth Cetitury in Italy ^
by Vernon Lee.
ip.) The Abbe Vogler lived from 1749 to 1S14, and was the master
of great musicians, including Von Weber and Meyerbeer. It is fit-
ting that he should have been taken as the type of a great extem-
porizer, since none of his work survives. The beauty and meaning
of the poem do not depend in the least on historical associations
connected with the name.
VIII.
Love.
1. By the Fireside. M. and W. {a)
2. In Three Days. M. and W.
3. One Word More. M. and W. {b.)
4. O Lyric Love. R. and B. Book L, lines 1 391 to
1416; Book XII., lines %6^ to 870. (c)
5. Apparitions. The Prologue to Two Poets of
Croisic. Ag.
6. Never the Time or the Place. J.
7. Wanting — is What? J.
8. A Wall. Prologue to Pacchiarotto.
{a) These are the poems generally accepted as written directly to
Mrs. Browning. Notice in " By the Fireside " the poet's plan for
work to be done some time in Greek literature, which he has since
carried out.
12 ROBERT BRO WNING 'S POETR r.
(3.) This form of blank verse which the poet uses here, " the first
time and the last time," is so musical that one never misses the rhyme.
Bice is a common abbreviation for Beatrice.
(c.) With this invocation in mind, it is interesting to study all the
prologues and epilogues of the books Browning has published since.
IX.
Love —Mutual Love.
1. Meeting at Night, D. P.
2. Parting at Morning. D. P.
3. Love Among the Ruins„ M. and W.
4. Mesmerism. M. and W.
^. A Lover's Quarrel. M. and W.
Ve. The Flower's Name, D. P.
7. Respectability. M. and W.
8. In a Gondola. D. P. (^.)
(a.) This poem was suggested by a picture of Maclise.
X.
L Love — Self Renunciation.
v/ I. The Lost Mistress. D. P.
2. The Last Ride Together. M. and W.
3. A Serenade at the Villa. M. and W.
IL Love— Unsatisfied.
1. Tw^o in the Campagna. M. and W.
2. A Pretty Woman. M. and W.
3. Youth and Art. D. P.
4. St, Martin's Summer, Pac,
ROBER T BRO WNING 'S POETRT^ 13
XL
Love— The Woman's Side.
1. Ill a Year. M. and W.
2. A Woman's Last Word. M. and W.
3. Any Wife to Any Husband. M. and W.
4. James Lee's Wife. D. P. {a^
(a.) The wife speaks throughovit. This poem is interesting in rep-
resenting different periods in the poet's life and power. The song in
Part VI, was written by Browning in 1S36 — the poem itself pubHshed
in 1864; important additions made in Part VIII. in 1872, not in
American edition, found in Crowell's "Red Line" selections, and
in L. Br. S. Papers, Part I., p. 59.
XIL .
Love— On One Side.
1. Rudel to tiie Lady of Tripoli. D. P. (a.)
2. Cristina. D. P. {b)
3. Mary Wollstonecraft and Fuseli. J.
4. A Likeness. D. P.
5. Numpholeptos. Pac.
((2.) Rudel was a troubadour of the twelfth century, and it is
related in " Tales of the Troubadours " that he loved the Lady of
Tripoli.
(<5.) This was meant for a young man who fell in love with Queen
Cristina of Spain and became insane. — L. Br. S. Papers.
XIIL"
Love — Incomplete.
1. Tiie Statue and the Bust. M. and W. {a)
2. The Worst of it. D. P,
3. Too Late. D. P.
14 ROBERT BROWNING'S POETRT.
4. Dis Alitur Visum. Le Byron de Nos Jours. D. P.
5. Bifurcation. Pac.
6. Appearances. Pac.
7. Confessions. D. P.
(a.) The Bust was invented by Browning. The Statue is that of
the " Great-Duke Ferdinand " in the square of the Santissima Annun-
ziata in Florence. According to tradition, the duke loved a lady who
lived in the Riccardi Palace, at one corner of the square, whom he
could see only at her window, and that he had his statue placed where
it would look in that direction. Browning tells us that the bust was
executed in della Robia ware. Specimens of this work adorn the
cornice of the palace.
" The crime alluded to in the poem as darkening the Medici palace,
and casting its shadow on the adjacent street, was the murder of
Alexander, Duke of Florence, in 1836." — Airs Orr.
This is written in the Italian terza rima, and is a good illustration
of Browning's facility in difficult meters.
XIV.
Love— Tragedy.
^i. Porphyria's Lover. D. P.
2. Martin Relph. Ag.
3. A Forgiveness. Pac. {a.)
v^. The Laboratory. D. P.
v/5. The Confessional.
6. Cristina and Monaldeschi. {b.)
{a.) Mr. Browning owns a collection of "arms of eastern workman-
ship," just such as is described here.
{b.) An interesting description of Queen Cristina may be found in
" Madame de Sevigne and her Contemporaries," by Mile, de Mont-
pensier. Avon is the village on the east side of the park of Fontaine-
bleau. Monaldeschi was buried in its little church.
ROBERT BROWNING'S POETRT. 15
XV.
Love.
I. In a Balcony. M. and W.
Give special attention to the different character-studies. Constance
and the Queen are among the most subtile characters in Browning.
XVI.
Love Lyrics.
1. Misconceptions. M. and W.
2. My Star. M. and W,
3. Love in a Life. M. and W.
4. Life in a Love. M. and W.
5. One Way of Love. M. and W.
6. Another Way of Love. M. and W.
7. Women and Roses. M. and W.
8. Natural Magic. Pac.
9. Magical Nature. Pac.
10. Song. D. P.
11. Earth's Immortalities, II. Love. D. P,
XVIL
Jewish Poems.
1. Holy Cross Day. M. and W.
2. Filippo Baldinucci on the Privilege of Burial.
Pac. {a)
3. JocHanan Hakkadosh. J. (<^.)
(a.) " Filippo Baldinucci was the author of a history of art, and the
incident which Mr. Browniog relates as a reminiscence of A. D. 1670,
appears there in a notice of the life of the painter Buti." — Mrs. Orr.
{b) In the note at the conclusion of the poem "Mr. Browning pro-
fesses to rest his narrative on a Rabbinical work, of which the title,
given b^- him in Hebrew, means ' Collection of many lies ; ' and he
i6 ROBERT BROWNING'S POETRT.
adds, bj way of supplement, three sonnets, supposed to illustrate the
equally fictitious proverb ' From Moses to Moses, never was one like
Moses,' and embodj^ing as many fables of wildly increasing audacity.
The main story is nevertheless justified by traditional Jewish belief."
"The three days' survival of the 'Ruach' or spirit allowed to
departed saints, is aTalmudic doctrine still held among the Jews.
" The ' Helaphta ' was a noted Rabbi, The ' Bier ' and the ' Three
Daughters' was a received Jewish name for the constellation of the
Great Bear. The ' Salem ' is the mystical New Jerusalem to be built
of the spirits of the great and good." — Mrs. Orr.
XVIII.
Early Christian Poems.
1. Cleon. M. and W. (^.)
2. An Epistle. M. and W.
3. A Death in the Desert. D. P. (3.)
(«.) The line from the address of Paul to the Athenians — Acts
xvii., 28 — indicates that Cleon is supposed to be one of those Greek
poets, living at the very time Paul is preaching the doctrine of the
resurrection of the dead.
{b!) " This is the record of an imaginary last scene in the life of
St. John It is conceived in perfect harmony with the facts of the
case; the great age which the Evangelist attained; the mystery
Avhich shrouded his death ; the persecutions which had overtaken the
church ; the heresies which already threatened to disturb it ; but Mr.
Browning has given to his St. John a fore-knowledge of that age of
philosophic doubt in which its very foundations would be shaken." —
Mrs. Orr.
This poem was the poet's contribution to the discussion that was
aroused by the appearance of Strauss's " Life of Jesus."
XIX. V.
other ReHgious Poems.
I. The Heretic's Tragedy; a Middle- Age Interlude.
M. and W. («.)
ROBERT BROWNING'S POETRT. 17
2. Johannes Agricola in Meditation. D. P. (3.)
3. Christmas Eve. D. P.
4. Easter Day. D. P.
5. Fears and Scruples. Pac.
6. Epilogue to Dramatis Personae.
(a.) "This heretic is Jacques du Bourg.Molay, last Grand Master of
the Order of Knights Templar, against whom preposterous accusa-
tions had been brought. This Jacques, whom the speaker erroneously
calls 'John,' and who might stand for any victim of middle-age
fanaticism, was burned in Paris in 1314; and the 'Interlude,' we are
told, ' would seem to be a reminiscence of this event, as distorted by
two centuries of refraction from Flemish brain to brain.'" — Mrs. Orr.
{b.) " The speaker, Johannes Agricola, was a German reformer of
the sixteenth century, and alleged founder of the sect of the Anti-
nomians; a class of Christians who extended the Low Church doc-
trine of the insufficiency of good works, and declared the children of
God to be exempt from the necessity of performing them."--il/r*. Orr.
XX.
other Religious Poems.
1. Caliban.
2. Saul, (a.)
{a.) Compare the fifth stanza with Matthew Arnold's " Empedocles
on yEtna," especially for the description of the effect of music on
disordered mental conditions.
XXL
Death and Immortality.
^ I. Prospice. D. P. {a.)
2. Apparent Failure. D. P. {b.)
3. Pisgah Sights. Pac. {c.)
4. La Saisiaz. Ag. (d.)
l8 ROBER T BRO WNING \S FOB TR T.
»^5. Evelyn Hope. M. and W.
v/6. Rabbi Ben Ezra. D. P. {e.)
7. Jochanan Hakkadosh.
(a.) This is one of the " E. B. B." poems. Compare Avith Pope's
"Dying Christian," and Bryant's " Thanatopsis/'
(^.) " Mr. Browning's verdict on three drowned men, whose bodies
he saw exposed at the morgue in Paris, in the summer of 1856."
— Mrs. Orr.
(c.) These can hardly be called poems of death, or immortality.
They belong at least to that class, where death is the interpreter of
life.
{d.) "A. E S. were the initials of Miss Anne Egerton Smith, the
proprietress of the Liverpool Mercury^ who was at La Saisiaz with
Browning and his sister, and whose sudden death gave rise to the
poem." — L. Br. S. PaJ>ers.
" La Saisiaz" is Savoyard for " The Sun," and is the name of a
villa among the mountains near Geneva.
(<?.) Rabbi Ben Ezra was one of the four great philosophers or
Lights of the Jews in the middle ages, and lived from 1092 to 1167.
He was born in Toledo, Spain, bvxt traveled through many lands,
including England. He believed in a future life. This poem, though
put into the mouth of the Jewish teacher, is too great to be classed
among the Jewish poems. It has been said to contain " the whole
philosophy of life." Compare the potter's song with Longfellow's
" Keramos," and the " Rubaiyat" of Omar Khayam.
XXII.
Romantic.
^ I. Childe Roland. M. and W. (a.)
2. The Flight of the Duchess. D. P.
3. The Glove. D. P.
4. Count Gismond. D. P.
5. The Italian in England. D. P. {b,)
6. Protus. M. and W.
7. Gold Hair. D. P. {c.)
ROBERT BROWNING'S POETRT. 19
(a.) "All Browning's great and peculiar qualities as a poet,,lind
their fullest and most perfect expression in Childe Roland, which, as
a feat of the imagination, surpasses in creative power, in range of
thought and feeling, in vividness and dramatic interest any poem of
its kind, which has been written since ' Cristabel ' and ' The Ancient
Mariner.' It is like these in its seeming supernatural aspect — I saj
seeming, because there is nothing in Childe Roland above and beyond
nature if we start with the poet at the starting point, which is found
near the end of the poem. The origin of the line from Shakespeare
is found in no known ballad or poem, but it is probably from a lost
part of 'Childe Rowland and Burd Helen.' The coming to the dark
tower is not the beginning but the end of the story. The hero who
reaches that goal and boldly asserts himself has won the crown — his
very presence there is victory. These thirty-four stanzas have the
substance of a poem or drama of large proportions." — Richard Gratit
White.
(a.) This poem was written in one day,
(d.) A fragment of an imaginary chronicle.
(c.) This story may be read in Pornic guide books.
XXIII.
Narrative.
1. Halbert and Hob. Ag.
2. Ned Bratts. Ag. {a.)
3. Pietro of Abano. (6.)
4. Ivan Ivanovitch.
5. Muleykeh.
6. Donald. J.
(a.) The main facts of this narrative are true, and related in a book
by John Bunyan, as having happened in Hertford. " Mr. Browning
has turned Hertford into Bedford ; made the time of the occurrence
coincide with that of Bunyan's imprisonment there; and supposed
the evident conversion of this man and woman to be among the many
which he effected." — Mrs. Orr.
20 ^OBER T BRO WNING 'S POE TR~r.
{b.) " Pietro, of Abano, was an Italian physician and alchemist,
born at Abano, near Paduain, 1246, died about 1320. He is said to
have studied Greek at Constantinople, mathematics at Padua, and to
have been made a doctor of medicine and philosophy at Paris. He
then returned to Padua, where he was professor of medicine and fol-
lowed the Arabian physicians, especially Averrhoes. He got a great
reputation and charged enormous fees He hated milk and cheese,
and'swooned at the sight of them. His enemies, jealous of his re-
nown and wealth, denounced him to the Inquisition as a magician.
They accused him of possessing the Philosopher's Stone, and of mak-
ing, with the devil's hel]), all money come back to his purse. His
trial was begun, and, had he not died naturally in time, he would have
been burnt. The Inquisitors ordered his body to be burned, and as a
friend had taken that away, they had his portrait publicly burned by
the executioner. In 1560 a Latin epitaph in his memory was put up
in the church of St. Augustin. The Duke of Urbino set his statue
among those of illustrious men, and the Senate of Padua put one on
the gate of its palace." — L. Br. S, Papers.
XXIV.
Friendship.
1. Waring. D. P.
2. May and Death. D. P. {a.)
3. Time's Revenges. D. P.
•/ 4. A Light Woman. M, and W.
{a.) " Surely the Polygonum Persicaria, or Spotted Persicaria, is
the plant alluded to. It is a common weed with purple stains upon
its rather large leaves; these spots varying in size and vividness of
color, according to the nature of the soil where it grows. A legend
attaches to this plant and attributes these stains to the blood of Christ
having fallen on its leaves, growmg below the cross." — L. Br. S.
Papers.
This poem was a personal utterance, called forth by the death of a
relative whom Mr, Browning dearly loved.
ROBER T BRO WNING S POETRY. 21
XXV.
Hate and Revenge.
1. Installs Tyrannus. M. and W, {a).
2. Before. M. and W.
3. After. M. and W.
4. Soliloquy of a Spanish Cloister.
(«.) " The 'present tyrant,' suggested by some words in Horace, 8th
Ode, Book II. This is the confession of a king who has been possessed
by an unreasoning and uncontrolled hatred of one man." — Mrs. Orr.
XXVI.
Poems of Humour.
1. Up at a Villa — Dov/n in the City. M. and W.
2. Sibrandiis Schafnaburgensis. D. P
3. Doctor . Ag. («.)
4. Pacchiarotto. (3.)
5. Solomon and Balkis. J. (c.)
6. Adam, Lilith and Eve. J.
7. Pambo. J. (^.)
{a.) An old Hebrew legend, founded upon the saying that a bad
wife is stronger than death. Satan complains in his character of
death, that man has the advantage of him, since he may baffle him,
whenever he will, by the aid of a bad woman. He undertakes to
show this in his own person.
(^.) A painter of Siena, generally confounded with Girolamo del
Pacchia. These incidents in the poem are historical, and related in
Vasari.
(c.) The Talmudic version of the dialogue between Solomon and
the queen of Sheba. The ring bore the Supreme name and com-
pelled the person towards whom it was turned, to speak the truth.
32 ROBERT BROWNING'S POETRT.
{d.) The name of Pambo or Pambus is known to literature as that
of a foolish person, who spent months, Mr. Browning says years, in
the pondering a simple passage from Psalm 39.
XXVII.
National and Political Feeling.
1. Cavalier Tunes. D. P.
2. De Gustibus. M. and W.
3. Home Thoughts from Abroad. D. P.
4. Home Thoughts from the Sea. D, P. {a.)
5. The Italian in England. D. P.
6. The Englishman in Italy. D. P.
7. Through the Metidja to Abd-el-Kadr. D. P. {b.)
{a.) " Here and here " is said to refer to the battles of Cape St.
Vincent (1796) and Trafalgar (1805), and perhaps to the defence of
Gibraltar (1 7S2).
{b.) This represents a follower of Abd-el-Kadr hastening through
the desert to join his chief.
XXVIII.
Poems of the Renaissance.
^y I. The Bishop Orders His Tomb. D. P. (a.)
2. My Last Duchess. D. P.
3. The Grammarian's Funeral. M. and W.
(a.) The Bishop's tomb is entirely fictitious, but something which
is made to stand for it is shown to credulous sight-seers in St. Praxed's
Church at Rome.
See " Browning and the Critics," page 43.
ROBER r BR O WNING 'S POETRT. 23
XXIX.
Unclassified Poems.
1. Shop. Pac.
2. Epilogue to Two Poets of Croisic. Ag,
3. Earth's Immortahties; Fame. D. P.
^ 4. Ceiiciaja. F. («.)
5. Prologue and Epilogue to Fifine.
(a.) "Cenciaja" signifies matter relating to the Cenci; the word is
also a pun on the meaning of the plural noun Cenci, rags or old rags.
The cry of this, frequent in Rome, was at first mistaken bv Shelley for
a voice urging him to goon with his play. Mr. Browning has used it
to indicate the comparative unimportance of his contribution to the
Cenci story. The quoted Italian proverb means something to the
same effect, that every trifle will press in for notice among worthier
matters The poem describes an inciderit extraneous to the Cenci
tragedy, but which strongly influenced its course.
XXX.
Special Pleadings.
1. Bishop Blougram's Apology. M. and W. (a.)
2. Mr. Sludge the Medium. D. P. (3.)
3. Prince Hohenstiel Schwangau. F. (c.)
(tz.) The original of this poem was Cardinal Wiseman. It is said
that the cardinal reviewed very good naturedly this poem in the
" Rambler," a Romanist journal.
ib.) Home, the spiritualist, was the original of Sludge.
(c.) A defence of the doctrine of expediency, and the monologue
is supposed to be carried on by the late emperor of the French.
Hohen-Schwangau is one of the castles of the King of Bavaria. The
"grim guardian of the square" refers to the statue of George First
on horseback.
24 * ROBERT BROWNING'S POETRT.
XXXI.
From Classic Sources.
I. Pan and Luna. Ag. {a^
3. Artemis Prologuizes. D. P. {b^
3, Ixion. J.
(a) This mythical adventure of Luna, the moon, is described by
Virgil in the Georgics. The text is taken from the Georgics, " If it
is worthy of belief."
(<5.) " This was suggested hy the Hippolytos of Euripides and des-
tined to become partof a larger poem, which should continue its story,
Hippolytos perishing through the anger of Venus, was revived by
Artemis (Diana), and afterwards fell in love with one of her nymphs.
Aricia. Mr. Browning imagines that she has removed him in secret
to her own forest retreat and is nursing him back to life by the help
of Esculapius, and the poem is a monologue in which sh - describes
what has passed since Phaedra's self-betrayal to the present time.
Hippolytos still lies unconscious, but the power of the gi-eat healer
has been brought to bear on him, and the unconsciousness seems only
that of sleep. The ensuing chorus of nymphs, the awakening of
Hippolytos, and with it the stir of the new passion with him, had
already taken shape in Mr. Browning's mind. Unfortunately some-
thing put the inspiration to flight, and it did not return." — Mrs. Orr.
XXXII.
Baiaustion's Adventure.
This is a transcription of one of the plays of Euripides, placed
in an original setting. Balaustion herself is one of the freshest and
most lyrical of Browning's creations.
"Balaustion is a Rhodian girl, brought up in the worship of Eu-
ripides. The Peloponnesian war has entered upon its second stage,
the Athenian fleet has been defeated at Syracuse, and Rhodes, resent-
ing this disgrace, has determined to take part against Athens, and
joins the Peloponnesian league. But Balaustion will not forsake the
mother city and persuades her kinsmen to migrate with her to it.
ROBER T BRO WNING 'S POE TR r. 2 5
Thej take ship at Kaunus, but the wind turns them from their course
and when it abates they find themselves in strange waters, pursued
by a pirate bark. They fly before it towards what they hope will prove
a friendly shore, Balaustion heartening the rowers by a song from
^^schylus, sung at the battle of Salamis, and run into the hostile
harbor of Syracuse, where shelter is denied them." — Mrs. Orr.
Balaustion means "wild pomegranate flower," and the girl has bee A
so called on account of her lyric gifts.
The lines beginning " I know too a great Kaunian painter," refer
to a picture by F. Leighton, called " Hercules wrestling with Death
for the body of Alkestis," an engraving of which has been published
by the London Browning Society.
XXXIII.
Aristophanes' Apology.
" In point of circumstance, a sequel to Balaustion's Adventure.
Both turn on the historical fact that Euripides was reverenced far
more by the non-Athenian Greeks than by the Athenians. Both
contain a transcript from him." — Mrs. Orr.
XXXIV.
Agamemnon.
Asa literal translation of one of the most difficult of the ancient
Greek tragedies. Browning's Agamemnon deserves careful study in
connection with other translations of the same work, but may be very
properly omitted from a regular Browning course.
XXXV.
Dramas — Strafford.
This was written at a request of Macready and brought out by him
at the Covent Garden Theatre in 1837. "Write me a play. Browning,
and keep me from going to America." Browning calls this a play
representing action in character, rather than character inaction. The
portraits in the play are historical with the exception of Lady Car-
26 ROBERT BRO WNING 'S FOE TR 1 \
lisle, which is purely imaginary. The Italian boat song in the last
scene is from Redi's Bacco, translated by Leigh Hunt. " Strafford"
has been edited with notes by Miss Hickey, with special reference to
school and club study, and published in a small volume by itself.
XXX VI.
Dramas — Pippa Passes.
This drama illustrates the unconscious influence which a little silk-
weaver, strolling happily along the country lanes during her brief
lioliday, exerts upon the character and actions of those who only
hear her songs., The song, beginning " Give her but a least excuse to
love me," refers to Catherine Cornaro, the Venetian queen of Cyprus,
and is the onlv one of the songs which is based on any fact.
XXXVII.
Dramas — Luria.
This is supposed to be an episode in the struggles between Florence
and Pisa.
" Luria is grave and somewhat remote; it simply represents Duty
triumphing in the midst of intrigue, and with no motive beyond
duty's self. The conception is grand, the result impressive — but it is a
lesson; the * Blot in the Scutcheon is an experience." — JoJni Weiss.
It is interesting to note in connection with the passage where the
secretary refers to the charcoal sketch of a Moorish front for the
unfinished Duomo, that recently such a sketch has been actually
found in the small museum, Opera del Duomo, at Florence. Brown-
ing did not know of its existence.
XXXVIII.
Dramas— Blot in the Scutcheon.
First produced at the Theatre Royal in 1S53. Dickens said of this
play, that he would rather have written it than any work of modern
times.
ROBER T BRO WNING 'S POE TR T. 27
XXXIX.
Dramas—Colombe's Birthday.
'' Colombe of Ravestein is ostensibly duchess of Juliers and Cleves,
but her title is neutralized by the Salic law under which the duchy is
held; and though the duke, her late father, has wished to evade it in
her behalf, those about her are aware that he had no power to do so,
and that the legal claimant, her cousin, may at any moment assert
his rights. This happens on the first anniversary of her accession,
which is also her birthday," — Airs. Orr.
XL.
Dramas — Paracelsus.
A dramatic poem in which the principal character is the celebrated
empiric and alchemist of the sixteenth century. It has been pro-
nounced by Weiss and others to be the loftiest effort of Browning's
genius. Weiss says " We must not take Paracelsus as a drama, but a
meditative poem too grave to entertain a reminiscence of the theatre.'
XLI.
Dramas — King Victor and King Charles.
The story of this drama is historical, and can be found in a numoer
of the histories of this period. Browning's justification of his own
view of the characters is found in the preface to the play.
XLII.
Dramas— A Soul's Tragedy.
XLIII.
Dramas — The Return of the Druses.
•' The Druses of Lebanon are a compound of several Eastern tribes,
owing their religious system to a Caliph of Egypt, Hakeen Biamr
28 ROBER T BRO WNING 'S POE TR T.
Allah, and probably their name to his confessor, Darazi, who first
attempted to promulgate his doctrine among them ; some also impute
to the Druse nation a dash of the blood of the Crusaders. One of
their chief religious doctrines was that of divine incarnations. It
seems to have originated in the pretension of Hakeem to be himself
one; and as organized by the Persian mystic, Hamzi, his vizier and
disciple, it included ten manifestations of this kind, of which Hakeem
must have formed the last. Mr. Browning has assumed that in any
great national emergency the miracle would be expected to recur,
and he has here conceived an emergency sufficiently great to call it
forth," — Mrs. Orr.
XLIV,
Pauline.
" This poem is, as its title declares, a fragment of a confession. The
speaker is a man, probably still young*, and Pauline, the name of the
lady who receives the confession and is supposed to edit it. It is not,
however, ' fragmentary ' in the sense of revealing only a small part
of the speaker's life, or of onlv recording isolated acts from which
the life may be built up. Its fragmentary character lies in this : that
while very explicit as a record of feeling and motive, it is entirely
vague in respect to acts. It is an elaborate retrospect of successive
mental states big with the sense of corresponding misdeeds. An
ultra-consciousness of self is in fact the key-note of the entire mental
situation. [The life of Pauline's lover has not been wholly misspent,
but his ultimate object has been always the gratification of self]
We leave him at the close of his confession, exhausted by the
mental fever, but released from it — new-born to a better life ; though
how and why this has happened is again part of the mystery of the
case. 'Pauline ' is the one of Browning's longer poems, of which no
intelligible abstract is possible : a circumstance the more striking, in
that it is perfectly transparent as well as truly poetical so far as its
language is concerned. * * *
*' The defects and difficulties of Pauline are plainly admitted in an
editor's note written in French and signed by this name : and which,
proceeding as it does from the author himself, supplies a valuable
comment on the work. * * *
" ' Pauline ' did not take its place among the author's collected works
nOl^ERT BROWNING'S FOETRT. 29
until 1867, when the uniform edition of them appeared; and he then
introduced it by a preface, in which he declared his unwillingness to
publish such a boyish production, and gave the reasons which
induced him to do so. The poem is boyish, or at all events youthful,
in poitit of conception ; and we need not wonder that its intellectual
crudeness should have outweighed its finished poetic beauties in the
author's mind.. It contains, however, one piece of mental portraiture,
which, with slight modifications, might have stood for Mr. Browning
when he re-edited the work as it clearly did when he wrote it. It
begins thus : ' I am made up of an intensest life.' The tribute to
the saving power of imagination is also characteristic of his mature
mind, though expressed in an ambiguous manner. It is interesting
to know that in the line ' The king treading the purple calmly to his
death,' he was thinking of Agamemnon, as this shows how early
his love of classic literature began. The allusion to Plato largely
confirms this impression. The feeling for music asserts itself, though
in a less spiritual form than it assumes in his later works. The most
striking piece of true biography which ' Pauline ' contains, is its evi-
dence of the young writer's reverent affection for Shelley, whom he
idealizes under the name of Sun-treader. An invocation to his
memory occupies three pages, beginning with the eighth, and is
renewed at the end of the poem. * * * The curious Latin quotation of
the preface is from the works of Cornelius Agrippa, a well-known
professor of occult philosophy, and is indeed introductory to a
treatise upon it, * * * The Andromeda described as ' with the
speaker,' is that of Caravaggio, of which Mr. Browning possesses an
engraving which was always before his eyes as he wrote his earlier
poems." — Mrs. Orr.
XLV.
The Red Cotton Nightcap Country.
" The real life drama, which !Mr. Browning has reproduced under
this title, was enacted partly in Paris and partly in a retired corner of
Normandy, where he spent the late summer of 1872 ; and ended in a
trial which had been only a fortnight closed, when he supposed him.
self to be relating it. His whole story is true, except that in it which
reality itself must have left to the imagination." — Mrs. Orr.
30 ROBERT BR O WMNG ' ' ; P OE TR T.
" It is the story of Mellario, the Paris jeweler, and was studied at
the place of his ending, St. Aubin in Normandy, from the law papers
used in the suit concerning his will. It was put in type with all the
true names of persons and things; but, on a proof being submitted
bj Brov;ning to his frier.d, Lord Coleridge, then littorney-general,
the latter thought that an action for libel might lie for what was said
in the poetn, however unlikely it was that such procedure would be
taken. Thereupon fictitious names were substituted." — L. Br. S.
Papers.
The possible friend and adviser, to whom Miranda is referred, was
M.Joseph Milsand, who always at that time passed the bathing sea-
son at St. Aubin.
Fifine at the Fair.
XLVL
XLVIL
The Inn Album.
This poem is, in the main outlines, a true story, that of Lord de
Ros, once a friend of the great Duke of Wellington and about whom
there is much in the Greville memoirs. The story made a great sensa-
tion in London over thirty years ago.
XLVIII.
Sordello.
XLIX.
The Ring and the Book.
Note. — Experience would indicate that the most effective way of
studying the last two is to assign the lesson beforehand, which in the
case of " The Ring and the Book " may reasonably cover a book ; this
ROBER T BRO WNING \S POETR 2'. 31
to be carefully studied by each individual at home; then, when they
come together, to compare notes, and each contribute his mite to the
general whole in some such order as follows: —
1. Tell the Story.
2. Its relation to the preceding lessons.
3. What new elements introduced into the story by
this lesson.
4. What chief moral lesson found by each.
5. Noblest passages and quotable lines.
6. Difficult passages.
7. Out-of-the-way words and allusions.
After such a study as this, then and only then will the club be pre-
pared either to write or to listen to some papers upon general topics,
including a range of tlie whole work. Only where classes are com-
paratively small, of uniform grade of intelligence and socially familiar
and congenial, is it wise to undertake to read in class.
SHORTER PROGRAMMES.
These short programmes are prepared for the use of
those who have not the time or do not desire to make a
complete study of Browning, but would like to gain some
knowledge of his poems. It is impossible to prepare any
partial list of these poems that is wholly representative of
the poet and his best work, and it should be borne in mind
that such lists are necessarily subject to the particular men-
tal bias and preference of the individual preparing them,
and are thus fit matter for the revision of any other student
of Browning. For notes on the poems, see full classifi-
cation.
With regard to the classification of Browning's poems, it
should be said that all classifications are more or less arbi-
trary, and that most of the poems fall naturally into more
32 ROBER T BRO WNING 'S FOB TR T.
than one group. The reader need not therefore be sur-
prised at finding certain poems placed under different heads
in the three programmes.
PROGRAMME A.
I.
Love Poems.
1. Wedded Love.
One Word More.
A Woman's Last Word.
Any Wile to Any Husband.
2. Love and Tragedy.
The Last Ride Together.
Youth and Art.
The Laboratory.
3. Love Lyrics.
Meeting at Night.
Parting at Morning.
One Way of Love.
Another Way of Love.
Love Among the Ruins,
Natural Magic, Masfical Nature.
Never the Time and the Place.
Two in the Campagna.
By the Fireside.
A Lover's Quarrel.
The Confessional.
In a Balcony.
James Lee's Wife.
My Star.
Love in a Life.
Life in a Love.
In Three Days.
In a Year.
The Worst of it.
Too Late. ^
IL
Poems on Art.
Andrea del Sarto. v
Fra Lippo Lippi.
Old Pictures in Florence.
The Guardian Angel.
Pictor Ignotus.
ROBER T BRO WNING 'S POE TR T. 33
III.
Poems on Music.
A Toccato of Galuppi's.
Master Hugues of Saxe-Gotha.
Abt Vogler.
IV.
Poems Illustrating Browning's Ideas of the Poetic
Art.
How it Strikes a Contemporar}-.
House.
Shop.
Epilogue, " The Poets Give Us Wine."
At the Mermaid.
V.
Poems of Early Christian Art.
The Epistle.
Death in the Desert.
VI.
Poems of Immortality and Religious Life.
La Saisiaz.
Christmas Eve.
Easter Day. ,
Evelyn Hope. ^
May and Death.
Prospice. J ,
Rabbi Ben Ezra.
34 ROBERT BROWNING'S POBTRT,
VII.
Other Religious Poems.
Caliban on Setebos.
Saul.
VIII.
Heroes and Heroines.
The Patriot. ^
Herv^ Riel. v
Echetlos.
Incident of the French Camp. ^
The Lost Leader.
IX.
Jewish Life and Character.
Holy Cross Day.
Jochanan Hakkadosh.
Burial Privilege of Biitdinucci.
X.
Psychological.
[Only a few of the most striking- short poems have been placed under this head
which IS descriptive in a certain sense of all that Browning ever wrote.]
Ned Bratts.
Halbert and Hob.
Martin Relph.
Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister.
Gold Hair.
A Light Woman.
The Statue and the Bust.
ROBER T BRO WNING 'S ROE TR T. 35
PROGRAMME B.
This programme is made up of some of the long single
poems and a few of the dramas, and necessarilv includes
two or three mentioned in the foregoing programmes.
I. Bishop Blougram's Apology.
II.
Caliban on Setebos.
III.
Saul.
IV.
James Lee's Wife.
V.
In a Balcony.
VI.
Fifine at the Fair.
VII.
A Blot in the 'Scutcheon.
VIII.
Martin Relph.
IX.
The Flight of the Duchess.
X.
Ivan Ivanovitch.
XL
Luria.
XII.
A Soul's Tragedy.
XIII.
Pippa Passes.
XIV.
Paracelsus.
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST
OF
ROBERT BROWNING'S WORKS,
Born 1812, at Camberwell, England.
1833. Pauline.
1835. Paracelsus.
1837. Strafford.
1840. Sordello.
3^ ROBER T BRO WNING 'S FOB TR 2".
1841. Pippa Passes. (Bells and Pomegranates, No. I.)
1842. King Victor and King Charles. (B. and P. No. II.
1842. Dramatic Lyrics. (B. and P. No. III.)
Cavalier Tunes.
Marching along.
Give a Rouse.
Mj Wife Gertrude.
Italy and France.
Italy; or, My Last Duchess.
France ; or, Count Gismond.
Camp and Cloister.
Camp (French.)
Cloister (Spanish.)
In a Gondola.
Artemis Prologuizes.
Waring.
Queen Worship.
Rudel and the Lady of Tripoli.
Christina.
Mad-House Cell.
Johannes Agricola.
Porphyria.
Through the Metidja.
The Pied Piper of Hamelin. ^
1843. Return of the Druses. (B. and P. No. IV.)
1843. A Blot in the 'Scutcheon. (B. and P. No. V.)
1844. Colombe's Birthday. (B. and P. No. VI.)
1844-5. Seven Poems in " Hood's Magazine."
The Laboratory.
Claret.
Tokay.
Sibrandus Schnafnaburgensis.
The Boy and the Angel.
The Tomb at St. Praxed's,
The Flight of the Duchess.
ROB BR T BRO WNING \S POETR T. 37
I S45. Dramatic Romances and Lyrics. (B. and P. No.VII.
How Thej Brought the Good News.
Pictor Ignotus.
Italy in England.
England in Italy.
The Lost Leader. '
The Lost Mistress.
Home Thoughts from Abroad.
The Confessional,
Earth's Immortalities.
Song, " Nay, but you."
Night and Morning.
Saul.
Time's Revenges.
The Glove.
"845. k"soul's Tragedy, } (B- -^ P. No. VTII.)
1846. Married to Elizabeth Barrett.
1849. Revised his printed poems.
1850. Christmas Eve and Easter Day.
1852. Prose Essay on Shelley.
1855. ^^^ ^^^ Women.
Series I .
Love Among the Ruins, v A Pretty Woman.
A Lover's Quarrel. Childe Roland.
Evelyn Hope. Respectability.
Up at a Villa — Down in the City. A Light Woman.
A Woman's Last Word. The Statue and the Bust.
Fra Lippo Lippi. Love in a Life.
A Toccata of Galluppi's. Life in a Love.
By the Fireside. Instans Tvrannus.
Any Wife to Any Husband. My Star.
An Epistle of Karshish. The Last Ride Together.
A Serenade at the Villa. The Patriot.
How it Strikes a Contemporary. Memorabilia.
Master Hugues of Saxe Gotha. Mesmerism.
Bishop Blougram's Apology.
38 ROBER T BRO V/NING 'S POE TR T.
Series II.
Andrea del Sarto. Before.
After. In Three Days.
In a Year. Old Pictures in Florence.
In a Balcony. Saul.
De Gustibus. Women and Roses.
Protus. Holy-Cross Day.
The Guardian Angel. Cleon.
The Twins. Popularity.
The Heretic's Tragedy. Two in the Campagna.
A Grammarian's Funeral. One Way of Love.
Another Way of Love. Transcendentalism.
Misconceptions. One Word More.
1 86 1. Death of Mrs. Browning.
1864. Dramatis Personae.
James Lee.
Gold Hair.
The Worst of It.
Dis Aliter Visum.
Too Late.
Abt Vogler.
Rabbi Ben Ezra.
A Death in the Desert.
Caliban Upon Setebos.
Confessions.
Prospice.
Youth and Art.
A Face.
A Likeness.
Mr. Sludge.
Apparent Failure.
Epilogue.
1868-9. The Ring and the Book.
1871. Herv^ Riel.
1871. Balaustion's Adventure.
1871. Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau.
ROBERT BROWNING'S POETRT. 39
1872. Fifine at the Fair.
1873. Red Cotton Night- Cap Country.
1875. Aristophanes' Apology.
1S75. The Imx Album.
1876. Pacchiarotto and Other Poems.
Prologue.
t Pacchiarotto.
At the Mermaid.
House.
Shop.
Pisgah Sights, I and II.
Fears and Scruples.
Natural Magic.
Magical Nature.
Bifurcation.
Numpholeptos.
Appearances.
St. Martin's Summer.
A Forgiveness.
Cenciaja.
Filippo Baldinucci.
Epilogue.
1877. Agamemnon.
187S. La Saisiaz.
The Two Poets of Croisic.
1880. Dramatic Idyls.
Series I.
Martin Relph. Pheidippides.
Halbertand Hob. Ivan Ivanovitch.
Tray. Ned Bratts.
Series IE
Proem. Echetlos.
Clive. Muleykeh.
Pietro of Abano. Doctor .
Pan and Luna. Epilogue,
40 ROBERT BROWNING'S POETRT,
1883. Jocoseria.
Wanting is — What?
Donald.
Solomon and Balkis.
,^, Cristina and Monaldeschi.
^, Mary Wolstonecroft and Fuseli.
^^ Adam, Lilith and Eve.
Ixion.
Jochanan Hakkadosh.
\^' Never the Time and the Place.
V.,'' Pambo.
, 1885. Ferishtah's Fancies.
HELPS TO THE STUDY OF BROWNING.
Richard Grant White's saying, that the way to read
Shakespeare is to read him, is good advice and applicable
to the one who would make a study of Robert Browning.
Most of the critical studies published are found m maga-
zines and reviews, a full list of which may be found in
Poole's Index. Among the available books that may be
of use are the following:
Browning Society Papers. See page 41.
Handbook to the Works of Robert Browning, by Mrs. Sutherland
Orr.
Stories from Robert Browning, by Frederic May Holland.
See also the essays on Browning in "Obiter Dicta," Stedman's "Vic-
torian Poets," George W. Cooke's " Poets and Problems " and Pro-
fessor Dowden's " Studies in Literature."
BROWNING SOCIETIES.
The so-called Browning movement was inaugurated by
the organization of the London Browning Society in July,
1 88 1, and includes men of the highest rank and scholarship
among its members. Through its publications and other
activities it has done much effective work in awakening an
interest in these writings and encouraging organizations for
their study. Jenkin Lloyd Jones, 3939 Langley avenue,
Chicago, is the local Honorary Secretary of this society.
In Prof. Corson, of Cornell University, organized
a Browning Society at Ithaca, N. Y. Prof. Levi Thaxter
previous to this time had had various classes for the study
of Robert Browning in and around Boston. In Novem-
ber, 1S82, the first Browning club was organized in Chi-
cago, which in four years' work has included in its study
all his writings. From this club, more or less directly,
seven or eight other circles have sprung up in the city and
vicinity, and perhaps as many more in other cities through-
out the west. On the fourteenth of April, 1886, the Chi-
cago workers organized themselves into the Chicago
Browning Society, for the purpose of mutual help and with
the hope of encouraging wider study. The society will
hold monthly meetings during winter months, and will
from time to time publish such helps as its funds will war-
rant, this pamphlet being the first of the series. See pro-
gramme for this season, page 50. It has arranged with
Charles H. Kerr & Co., 175 Dearborn street, to become its
publishers. This firm is also agent for the London Society,
and is prepared to fill any orders for Browning material.
Correspondence solicited.
(41)
RULES FOR LITERARY CLUBS.
The following " ten commandments" for the guidance
of literary studies have been found helpful, and are here
reprinted as a suggestion to new clubs.
I.
Aim to study, not to create, literature.
II.
Avoid red tape and parliamentary slang.
III.
Let but one talk at a time, and that one talk only of the matter in
hand.
IV.
Start no side conferences : whispering is poor wisdom and bad man-
ners.
V.
Come prepared. Let the work be laid out systematically in deliber-
ate courses of reading and study.
VI.
Let papers be short. Beware of long quotations. " Brevity is the
soul of wit."
VIL
Be as willing to expose ignorance as to parade knowledge.
VIII.
Aim not to exhaust, but to open the theme. Incite curiosity. Pro-
voke home reading.
IX.
Begin and close to the minute.
X.
Meet all discouragements with grit and industry. Rise superior to
numbers ; for the kingdom of culture, like the kingdom of God,
comes without observation.
(42)
BROWNING AND THE CRITICS.
If Browning has had his detractors he has also always
had his admirers, men of genius and wide attainment like
himself, who are quick to recognize in him one of the lead-
ing and most prolific minds of the age. Such intelligent
and generous commendation amply atones for the loss of
popular applause. Below is a short list of extracts from
leading critics, selected for the most part from the trial list
of criticisms published in the Browning Society Papers,
parts I and II.
*' To be a poet is to have a soul so quick to discern that no shade of
quality escapes it, and so quick to feel that discernment is but a hand
playing with finely ordered variety on the chord of emotion, a soul in
which knowledge passes instantaneously into feeling, and feeling
flashes back as a new organ of knowledge." — George Eliot on Robert
Broivning.
" It is some time since we read a work of more unequivocal power
than ' Paracelsus.' We conclude that its author is a young man, as we
do not recollect his having published before. If so, we may safely
predict for him a brilliant career, * * * if he continues true to the
promise of his genius. He possesses all the elements of a fine poet."
— yokn Forster^ in Examiner, Sej>t., ^^35-
"Without the slightest hesitation we name Robert Browning at
once with Shelley, Coleridge and Wordsworth. * * * He has in
himself all the elements of a great poet, philosophical as well as
dramatic." — ibid, in Monthly Magazine, 183b.
" By far the richest nature of our times." — y. R. Lovjell before the
Bro^^vmng Society.
" I would rather have written the " Blot in the 'Scutcheon " than
any other work of modern times. There is no other man living who
could produce such a work." — Charles Dickens.
(43)
44
ROBERT BROWNING'S POETRY.
" Browning ! Since Chaucer was alive and hale,
No man has walked along our road with step
So active, so inquiring eje, or tongue
So varied in discourse."
— From Sonnet by W. S. Landor.
" Everything Browningish is found here — the legal jauntiness, the
knitted argumentation, the cunning prying into detail, the suppressed
tenderness, the humanity, the salt intellectual humor. * * Whatever
else may be said of Mr. Browning and his work by way of criticism, it
will be admitted on all hands that noxvhere in literature can be found a
man and a ivork more fascinating in their ivay. As for the man, he was
crowned long ago, and we are not one of those who grumble because
one king has a better seat than another, an easier cushion, a finer light
in the great temple. A king is a king and each will choose his place."
— Robert Buchanan on " The Ring and the Book^'' in Athenceum^ Dec. i86S.
" Unerring in every sentence; always vital, right, profound. * *
In a single poem, 'The Bishop Orders his Tomb,' Browning tells
nearly all that I have said of the central Renaissance in thirty pages of
* Stones of Venice.' " — RusUn.
*' Now if there is any great quality more perceptible than another
in Mr. Browning's intellect, it is his decisive and incisive quality of
thought, his sureness and intensity of perception, his rapid and
trenchant resolution of aim. To charge him with obscurity is about
as correct as to call Lynceus purblind or to complain of the slowness
of the telegraphic wires. He is something too much the reverse of
obscure ; he is too brilliant and subtle for the ready reader of a ready
writer to follow with any certainty the track of an intelligence which
moves with such incessant rapidity." — A. C. Sivinburne^ in introduc-
tion to 'works of George Chapna7i.
" Of all writers since Dante we should speak of Browning as the
poet of suffering, suffering on a great scale, though impelled and pas-
sion-wrought."— Eclectic and Congregational Review^ Dec.^ 1868.
" To blend a profound knowledge of human nature, a keen percep-
tion of the awful problem of human destiny, with the conservation
of a joyous human spirit, to know and not despair of them, to battle
with one's spiritual foes and not be broken by them is given only to
the very strong. This is to be a valiant and unvanquished soldier of
humanity." — Edinburgh Review^ J^^^y-, ^S6g.
ROBERT BROWMNG'S POETRT. 45
" He is chiefly dear to the age because having been racked with its
doubts, stretched upon the mental torture wheels of its despair, hav-
ing sounded cynicism and pessimism to their depths, he sometimes
firmly and sometimes faintly trusts the larger hope, but always, in the
last analysis and residuum of theught, trusts. Coming from such a
mind, such a buoyant message this vexed and storm-tossed age will
not willingly let die." — H. R. Haiveis.
" He is the intellectual phenomenon of the last half century, even
if he is not the poetical aloe of modern English literature. His like
we have never seen before. * * * In all true poetry the form of the
thought is part of the thought, and never was this absolute law of
literary aesthetics more flagrantly illustrated than in the poetry of Rob-
ert Browning. To say that Browning is the greatest dramatic poet
since Shakespeare is to say that he is the greatest poet, most excellent
in what is the highest form of imaginative composition, because it is
the most creative." — Richard Grant White.
" In considering whether a poet is intelligible ard lucid we ought
not to grope and grub about his work in search of obscurities and
oddities, but should, in the first instance at all events, attempt to re-
gard his whole scope and range, to form some estimate, if we can, of
his general purport and effect, asking ourselves how are we the better
for him, has he quickened any passion, lightened any burden, purified
any taste, does he play any real part in our lives. ^ And if we are
compelled to answer "Yes" to such questions, it is both folly and
ingratitude to complain of obscurity." — Augustine Birrell in " Obiter
Dictar
LECTURES AND PAPERS.
The following papers and lectures; are probably available, with
the necessary restrictions of time and place, to circles, classes or
clubs or popular audiences interested in the study of Browning.
Prof. Louis J. Block, of the Douglas school, Chicago, Rev. David
Utter, 115 Twenty-third street, and Jenkin Lloyd Jones, 3939 Lang-
ley avenue, have lectures on the general suljject of Browning and
his writings. Mr. Utter also gives special interpretations and read-
ings. Mr. Jones has special papers on *' Fifine at the Fair," " Christ-
mas Eve and Easter Day," "A Soul's Tragedy," " The Religion of
Browning," and will give conversations, help organize clubs, etc.
Mrs. S- C. LI Jones, No. 3939 Langley avenue, has papers on
*' Luria" and '• The Tragedies of Love."
Mrs E T. Leonard, No. 175 Dearborn street, has papers on
"Mildred Tresham," " Djabal" and "Browning's Measure of Life
and his Standard of Success."
Mrs. Emma E. Marean, No. 3619 Ellis avenue, has papers on
"The Poet- pair," •* A Study of Clara" (in the " Red Cotton Night-
Cap Country,") Ferishtah's Fancies," and '• Browning's Interpretation
of the Poet's Mission."
Miss Mary E. Burt, 3410 Rhodes avenue, has a paper on " Sor-
dello."
Mrs Anna B McMahan, of Quincy, 111., gives lectures and
interpretations of the writings of Robert Browning.
James Colgrove, J34 Wabash avenue, has made a special study of
'Old Pictures in Florence," and has a collection of illustrative
pictures.
(46)
THE CHICAGO BROWNING SOCIETY.
The first club for the stu.iy of Robert Browning's writings was
organized in Chicago in the autumn of 1SS2. This chib has con-
tinued its systematic course of study of these writings for the last
four years, and from this more or less directly have sprung seven or
eight other circles in this city and immediate vicinity, and perhaps as
many more in a like manner throughout the west. Believing that
the time had come when these unrelated workers might profitably
accomplish something in a co-operative way, a call was issued,
signed by fifty ladies and gentlemen, most of them members of these
Chicago Browning Circles, for a meeting to be held in the parlors of
the Church of the Messiah, April 14, 18S6. Over a hundred persons
were present. A paper was read on the v^ritings of R obert Browning
by Prof. L. J. Block; readings were given by Mrs. F. W. Parker and
David Utter, followed by a song from G. E. Dav/son, Esq ; after which
the organization was perfected as below.
The officers were instructed to arrange for the beginning of the
active work of the society in the autumn of 1886.
CONSTITUTION.
Article I. The name of this Association shall be the Chicago
Browning Society.
Article II. The object of this Society shall be to prom.ote the
reading and study of Robert Browning's works, the publication of
helps in such study, and other matters calculated to awaken a v.ider
interest in this poet.
Article III. Any person interested may become an annual
member by the payment of two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50), the
payment of which shall give each member the right to attend all
(47)
48 ROBERT BROWNING'S POETRT.
regular meetings of the societj^ and to a copy of all the publications
issued during the year. Any one may become a life member of this
society by the payment at one time of twenty-five dollars ($25.00).
Article IV. The officers of this society shall be a president;
three vice-presidents, a secretary, a treasurer, and nine other persons,
forming an executive committee, three of which shall constitute
a sub-committee on publication. These officers shall be elected
annually, their duties shall be such as usually devolve upon such
officers in similar societies ; they shall hold office until their successors
are chosen, and the executive committee shall have power to fill
vacancies in the committee, to call meetings, etc., and to them shall
be entrusted the general management of the affairs of the society,
provided a majority shall be necessary to form a quorum for the
transaction of business.
Article V. The Society shall hold at least four meetings in
each 3'ear, the annual meeting being on the second Tuesday in April,
at which time the annual dues must be paid.
Article VI. This Constitution may be amended by a majority
vote at any regular meeting, providing two months notice of the same
be sent to each member through post-office, or otherwise.
OFFICERS FOR 1886-7.
President — Jenkin Lloyd Jones.
Vice-Prestdettts — Mrs. Wirt Dexter, Mrs. Wm. L. McCormick,
Mrs. Celia P. Woolley.
Seeretary — Mrs. Ellen Mitchell, 44 Sixteenth Street.
Treasurer — Mrs. Reginald de Koven, 99 Pearson Street.
Directors.
David Utter, Louis J. Block, James Colegrove,
Miss Grace T. Howe, Mrs. Potter Palmer, Mrs. Emma E. Marean,
Mrs. H. A. Johnson, Mrs. A. N. Eddy, Mrs. F. S. Parker.
Cotmnittee on Publication.
Rev. David Utter, Mrs. Emma E, Marean, Mrs. C. P. Woolley.
ROBER T BRO WNING 'S POE TR T, 49
CHARTER MEMBERS.
Mrs. Mary N. Adams,
Miss Mary E. Burt,
Mrs. Amanda N. Beiss,
Mrs. H. J. Beckwith,
Mrs. J. C. Brooks,
Prof. L. J. Block,
MissE. W. Brown,
James Colegrove,
Mrs. a. J . Caton,
Mrs. John M. Clark,
Miss L. M. Dunning,
Mrs. Wirt Dexter,
Mrs. Ruth B. Ewing,
Mrs. a. N. Eddy,
C. Norman Fay,
Chas. a. Gregory,
Mrs. Chas. A. Gregory,
Robert J. Hendricks,
Franklin H. Head,
Mrs. John J. Herrick,
Chas. D. Hamill,
Mrs. Susan W. Hamill,
Mrs. Ellen Henrotin,
Miss Grace Howe,
Miss May Henderson,
Jenkin Lloyd Jones,
Mrs. S. C. Lloyd Jones,
Mrs. Frank Johnson,
Mr. Hosmkr A.Johnson,
Mr. John H. Jewett,
Mrs. John H. Jewett,
Charles H. Kerr,
Mrs. E. W. Kohlsaat
Reginald deKoven,
Mrs. R. de Koven,
Miss Susie King,
William S. Lord,
Miss Martha J . L oudon.
Miss Mary' L. Lord,
Miss Julia Leavens,
C. P. Morgan,
Mrs. Emma E. Marean,
Mrs. Anna Morgan.
Mrs. W. T. McCormick,
Mrs. R. Hall McCormick,
Mrs. Ellen Mitchell,
Mrs. Franklin MacVeagh,
Mr. Franklin MacVeagh,
Mr. a. R. Parker,
Mrs. F. S. Parker,
Mr. F. W. Parker,
Mrs. Alice H. Putnam,
Mrs. Potter Palmer,
Potter Palmer,
Mrs. R. W. Patterson, jr.,
Mrs. D. F. Sellbridge,
B. D. Slocum,
Miss Helen D. Street,
Miss Carrie Smith,
Mrs a. T. Spalding,
Mrs. a. N. Stevenson,
Laura J. Tisdale,
Rev. David Utter,
Miss Jennie A. Willcox,
Mrs. Celia P. "Woolley,
Mrs J. M. Walker.
50 ROBERT BROWNING S POETRT.
PLAN OF WORK FOR 1S86-7.
The meetings of this Society Vvill be held the second Tuesday of
each month at eight o'clock p. m., beginning in November and end-
ing in May. Three of these will be public meetings, four for study
and for members only. The following is the programme for the
coming season.
NOVEMBER (PIBLIC).
Introductory Meeting — paper by Rev. Jenkin Lloyd Jones.
DECEMBER.
Subject to be announced.
JANUARY (public).
Reading of one of Browning's plays by members of the
Society.
FEBRUARY.
Browning's Interpretation of Old Age — paper by Prof. David
Swing.
MARCH (public).
Dramatic Performance by members of the Society.
Annual Meeting.
Four papers on Ivan Ivanovitch — writers, Mrs. Dexter, Mrs.
Mitchell, Mr. Head, Mr. Gilbert.
Due notice of the place of meeting will be given.
Applications for membership should be made to the Treasurer.
KOBERT BROWNING'S POEMS.
POEMS AND DRAMAS. In
two volumes, i6mo, $3.00.
Many English drr.mas have been ^vrit-
, ten within a iev: years, the authors of
which h;ive established their claim to
the title of poet. But it is only in Mr.
Browning- that we find enough of fresh-
ness, vigor, grasp, and of that clear in-
sight and conception ■^"hich enable the
artist to construct characters from w^ith-
in, and so to make them real things, and
not images, as to warrant our granting
the honor due to the dramatist.— James
Russell 'Lowell, in North America fi
Review.
FIFINE AT THE FAIR;
PRINCE HOHENSTIEL-
SCHWANGAU ; HERVE
RIEL. i6mo, $1.50.
SORDELLO, Strafford, Christ-
mas Eve, and Easter Day.
i6mo, $1.50.
Next to Tennyson, we hardly know
of another English poet who can be
compared with Browning. — E. P.
Whipi'lj:.
DRAMATIS PERSONS.
i6mo, $1.50.
MEN AND WOMEN. i6mo,
$1.50.
THE INN ALBUM. i6mo,
$1.50.
THE RING AND THE BOOK.
Beyond all parallel the supremest po-
etical achievement of our time. , . . . .
The most precious and profound spir-
itual treasiu'e that England has produced
since the days of Shakespeare. — London
AthencEuni.
BALAUSTION'S ADVEN-
TURE. i6mo, $1.50.
If the modern reader wishes to
breathe the spirit of the old Greek, to
feel, too, that " beauty making beautiful
old rhj'me," he must read the story of
" Balaustion's Adventure." — Westmin-
tfcr Review.
PACCHIAROTTO, and Other
Poems. i6ino, $1.50.
JOCOSERIA. i6mo, $1.00.
FERISHTAH'S FANCIES.
i6mo, $1.00.
RED-COTTON NIGHT-CAP
COUNTRY; or Turf and
Towers. i6mo, $1.50.
Some of the lines are wonderfully
powerful, and some of the scenes are
remarkably vivid It is a tale of
passion and superstition, — of love the
most intense, with doubt and fear and
sacrifice the most appalling. — NevjTork
Graphic.
AGAMEMNON, LA SAISI-
A.Z, TWO POETS OF CRO-
ISIC, PAULINE, AND
DRAMATIC IDYLS (First
and Second Series). i6mo,
$1.50.
WORKS. New Edition. In
eight volumes. Crown 8vo,
gilt top, S13.00; half calf,
$22.50. {Sold only in sets.^
JOCOSERIA. Uniform with
New Edition of Works. Crown
8vo, gilt top, $1.00.
FERISHTAH'S FANCIES,
Uniform with above. Crown
8vo, gilt top, $1.00.
*^* For sale by all Bookseller's. Se?it^ post-paid, on receipt of price
by the Publishers.,
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY,
4 Park St., Boston; ii East 17TH St., New York.
ROBERT BROWNING.
We have by a recent arrangement become Chicago agents
for the London Browning Society's publications, and invite
attention to the following list of pamphlets which we have
now on hand.
MONTHLY ABSTRACTS OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE
BROWNING SOCIETY.
Leaflets of four to twelve pages each, giving reports of the
informal discussions of papers at the London Browning Soci-
ety. Twenty-four numbers are now on hand, and will be
mailed to any address for $1.00. Ten numbers, 50 cents. All
these Abstracts, with other matter of interest, are included in the
BROWNING SOCIETY PAPERS.
Parts I, II, III, IV, V and VII are now ready. Price per
part, to non-members, $2.50 postpaid. We have also Part I
of the
ILLUSTRATIONS TO BROWNING'S POEMS,
the price of which is $2.50. Any of the above can be secured
at half price by acquiring
ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP IN THE LONDON SOCIETY,
which further entitles the member to two copies of all the
publications issued by the society during the current year.
Membership fees, $5.50, which may be remitted through us.
CHICAGO PUBLICATIONS.
Robert Browning's Poetry. Outline studies published for
the Chicago Browning Society. Paper, 25 cents; cloth, 50
cents; postpaid.
" Seed Thoughts'" from Browning and others. Selected bv
Mary E. Burt. Paper, 62 pages, decorated cover, 30c., postpaid.
Browning's Selected Poetns. Red Line edition, full gilt,
$1.00, postpaid.
Browning's Women. By Mary E. Burt, $1.00, postpaid.
Ready in December.
CHARLES H. KERR & CO., PUBLISHERS,
175 Dearborn Street, ckicago.
14 DAY USE
RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED
LOAN DEPT.
This book is due on the last date stamped below, or
on the date to which renewed.
Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.
27Moy'e2B8
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University of California
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