ROBERT BROWNING

Part II
Evelyn Hope
narrates a story of a hyper-optimistic narrator who choose not to grieve for her just
dead beloved but plans his meeting with her in their next life. The narrator is aged
three times his unrequited love. She didn't know him while she was alive.
A Woman’s Last Word
A wife’s request to her husband that they stop arguing for the night and enter into a
peaceful sleep. she compares their situation to that of Adam and Eve. They are on the
verge of also losing their Eden.
The poem concludes with the wife asking her husband to be a “god” and hold her. She
wants them to draw close, ignore their more spiteful natures and sleep.
Fra Lippo Lippi
The poem begins with the painter being accosted by a number of a policemen. He
claims to be on his way home and not, as they think, stopping to visit a brothel. He
mocks them for their mistake and reveals that he is a monk in the employee of the
powerful Cosimo Medici.
The officers let Brother Lippo go because they don’t want trouble. Brother Lippo,
however, panics. He doesn’t want anyone thinking that he visits brothels. He explains
that he spent the evening painting in his studio. He says that a musical procession
strolled by his studio window. He fancied a break from painting countless saints, and he
joined in their celebrations. He strolled around the streets with them and drank their
wine. He then closed the studio and set off home. He still leaves out the part about
almost entering a brothel.
Brother Lippo explains that he grew up on the streets after his parents died. He then
joined a monastery. The monks fed him for months before inviting him to stay. Brother
Lippo explains that he grew up on the streets after his parents died. He then joined a
monastery. The monks fed him for months before inviting him to stay.
Brother Lippo describes how the monks made him work and study Latin before he
settled on painting. He doesn’t like books, so he is unpopular with the other monks
who think he gets off too easy. The officers wonder how Brother Lippo can paint for the
the Church, if he doesn’t share their vision. Brother Lippo explains that he plans to
complete a special painting of God and the Madonna to impress the Prior.
Lippo pauses his story, angry with himself for criticizing the monastery. If anyone overhears him, they
might report him to the Prior. He implores the officers to enjoy life. He explains that just because
something isn’t religious or holy doesn’t mean it’s unworthy. The whole world is beautiful. Everyone
in the world deserves a painting.
The poem ends as Brother Lippo ponders his religious painting. He plans to draw himself into the
scene. He will surround himself with angels and divine beings. He gets so lost in his daydream that he
forgets where he is. The officers startle him back to reality, and he runs off into the sunset.
A Toccata of Galuppi’s
The poem discusses the position of art in the society and the true purpose of
an artist through a discussion of a toccata, a piece of music by Venetian musician
Baldassare Galuppi.
"By the Fire-Side” autobiographical and describes his love for elizabeth
"Any Wife to Any Husband"
the wife desires to keep her beauty for the sake of her husband, so that he might
always find her attractive.
"An Epistle Containing the Strange Medical Experience of
Karshish, the Arab Physician“
in the form of a letter written by Karshish, an Arab physician traveling in the area of
Jerusalem. The intended recipient of this letter is Abib, also a physician, a mentor to
Karshish. The letter tells the story of Karshish’s encounter with Lazarus, the man whom
Jesus raised from death. Most of the letter recounts Karshish’s meeting with Lazarus
and speculates on the veracity of Lazarus’s story.
"A Serenade at the Villa“
Describes an Italian villa on a hot night just before the storm.
"A Pretty Woman"
Describes a beautiful woman without heart. She is as fresh as a rose and her beauty pleases
someone like that of a rose. When a rose is fresh, people smell it, kiss it and wear it on their collars.
But when the rose withers away, it is thrown which is going to be the same fate as her. Because
beauty fades and mind stays, the pretty woman is likely to meet the fate of the rose some day.
”Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came“
The title is a direct quotation from a song of Edgar in William Shakespeare’s King Lear
This quest poem opens with narrator Childe Roland, a knight in search of the fabled
Dark Tower, confronting a "hoary cripple" who he suspects is lying to him. The old man
points Roland off the dusty road into an "ominous" plain. Despite his suspicions,
Roland heads off into the plain. Soon after, Roland looks behind him to see the road
and cripple have disappeared. As he progresses, he notes a succession of horrific
images; He comes across a half-dead horse that doesn't move.
Frightened, Roland tries to think on happier times, but the two friends whose memories he calls up –
Cuthbert and Giles – were both disgraced for having betrayed their friends. He continues to journey,
coming across a river that swallows the alder trees that dip into it. Roland approaches mountains and
focuses on two bent mountains in the distance and recognizes between them the Dark Tower, made
of brown stone and lacking any windows. As he arrives at the Tower, he looks to see these failed
adventurers lined along the hill-sides, watching him. He raises his horn to his lips and blows what
could be his final cry: "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came."
"Respectability“
Contrast between Love and Hate
"A Light Woman“
the speaker is directly addressing Browning, telling him about an incident that
happened between him, his friend and the mistress of his friend. He tried to warn his
friend by telling him that this woman had already been with many men and she might
be pursuing her merely because of a whim.
To prove this, he tried to flirt with his friend’s mistress. When his friend got to know
about it, started to think that he was an evil person. While the friends were having this
misunderstanding, the speaker says that the woman was just sitting like a pear who
would attract flies.
"The Statue and the Bust"
relates the story of a futile love in Renaissance Florence. Duke Ferdinand falls in love
with the new bride of the head of the Riccardi family, and she with him. As he rides
below her window, he admires her.
She, from the security of her window, watches for him as he rides through the town square. Time
passes, and the lady grows older. To prevent the aging process, she has an unaging bust made for the
window from which she has watched. The duke has a bronze equestrian statue cast of himself and
placed in the town square where he has ridden. At the end of the poem, the poet criticizes the lovers
for not having striven for their love, for having accepted a passive, an inactive love:
Love in a Life
narrates the search of a girl, the search of her love, the search of the woman he is in
love with, through a house. But parallel to this search, the search of knowledge, science
and discoveries is also implied.
Life in a Love
the speaker is desperate in fighting for his lover to be his own love.
The Last Ride Together
monologue by a rejected lover reflecting on the end of a love affair. The title represents
the last time the former couple takes a carriage ride together.
The narrator blames the end of his romance on fate. Everything he has tried has failed,
and it seems the end of his love affair is set. He asks only for her the memory of the
time they shared together, and one last ride with her before she goes.
The narrator compares waiting for her answer with life or death, as she says yes, the
couple embarks on their final ride together. As they ride, he focuses on the beauty of
the surroundings, and the ecstatic feeling that he feels when she touches him.
He knows that there’s no point to speculating what could have been. Instead he
chooses to simply enjoy the moment that they are sharing together. He accepts his
defeat and expresses his hope for a better future in heaven at the end of his life.
He compares the life of a love with that of a statesman and a soldier, and concludes
that the lover’s life is superior. He compares the arts of poets, sculptors and composers
to the years of his life he gave to his love to create something beautiful.
He expresses his regret that it has to end here, but admits that there is nothing he can
do and chooses to let go. The final stanza has him turn his focus back to his lover, as he
observes her and notes that she hasn’t said anything in a while. He wonders what
would happen if they simply rode forever, together, and this instant they shared was
made eternity.
"The Patriot“
a monologue of the ‘patriot speaker’ who narrates his tale to us as he has been taken
to the scaffold to be executed publicly for his ‘misdeeds’. He tells us of his situation:
how he was once well loved by everyone, and how he is now despised by the same
people. The patriot is innocent of having done any misdeeds, and it is only out of the
misunderstanding of the people that he is being put to death.
Bishop Blougram's Apology
conversations between Bishop Blougram and Gigadibs, a journalist. The two men argue
about the nature of reality and the nature of faith.
"Memorabilia"
This poem stems from an encounter Browning had with a person who had once met
the poet Shelley. Browning reacted with awe when the man described his meeting with
the famed poet, and the man is said to have laughed at him for this reaction.
"Andrea del Sarto“
narrated by Renaissance painter Andrea del Sarto to his wife Lucrezia. They live in Florence.
Under the nagging influence of his wife Lucrezia, to whom he speaks in this poem, he left the
French court for Italy but promised to return; he took with him some money that Francis had
given him to purchase Italian artworks for the court, and also the money advanced to him for
his own commissioned paintings. However, he spent all of the money on a house for himself
and his wife in Italy and never returned to France. This poem finds Andrea in the house he
has bought with the stolen money, as he thinks back on his career and laments that his
worldly concerns have kept him from fulfilling his promise as an artist.
In a Balcony: Last one Act Play by Browning
de gustibus : The title of this poem is part of a quotation, de gustibus non
est disputandum, or, "there is no arguing about taste.“ describes Browning love
for Italy.
As he and Lucrezia sit at their window, he talks to her of his relative successes
and failures: although Michelangelo (here, Michel Agnolo) and Raphael (Rafael)
enjoyed higher inspiration and better patronage—and lacked nagging wives—he
is the better craftsman, and he points out to her the problems with the Great
Masters’ work. But while Andrea succeeds technically where they do not (thus
his title “The Faultless Painter”), their work ultimately triumphs for its emotional
and spiritual power. Andrea now finds himself in the twilight of his career and his
marriage: Lucrezia’s “Cousin”—probably her lover—keeps whistling for her to
come; she apparently either owes the man gambling debts or has promised to
cover his own. The fond, weary Andrea gives her some money, promises to sell
paintings to pay off her debts, and sends her away to her “Cousin,” while he
remains to sit quietly and dream of painting in Heaven..
"Women and Roses“
Rose is used as a metaphor for woman in general and presents three women
belonging to past, present and future respectively. The last two stanzas suggest
that in the future, women will no longer be submissive to men.
"Holy-Cross Day“
A Jew is forced to listen to a Christian sermon and the clamour of the
congregation blot out the words of the preacher.
"Cleon"
Cleon, a disillusioned writer, thinks that "the soul craves all" but it meets
resistance from a dying body, and that his artistic success is hollow because
"vulgar souls" cannot appreciate either his sensibility or his work
“Two in the Campagna”
explores the fleeting nature of love and ideas. The speaker regrets that, just as he cannot ever
perfectly capture an idea, he cannot achieve total communion with his lover, despite the helpful
erotic suggestions of nature. Though our hearts be finite, we yearn infinitely; the resulting pain
serves as a reminder of human limitations.
"A Grammarian’s Funeral"
set in shortly after the renaissance in EuropeA sad poem sung by a disciple of a noble
grammarian, who passed away after spending whole of life in pursuing his ambition of learning
new things.
The poem is about the life of the grammarian as seen and observed by the disciple. It is in the
form of a movement from plains to the hilltop, where they plan to bury the grammarian. The
mountain here represents greatness and higher thoughts.
His eager interests in knowing the mystery of world and human life led him spend all his young
age reading and gaining knowledge. Even in his old age, he wanted to know the views of poets
and other great scholars.
The grammarian before beginning to live his life planned for his life. The
grammarian fully believed in God and thereby he planned for his happy life, after
death. Ordinary men would say that time keeps moving and they would start
enjoying their life but the grammarian believed in life after death and in the concept
that soul has no end.
"One Way of Love“
depicts a young suitor desperate to catch the eye of his lady. he debates his failed
attempts to woo her, comparing his situation to being caught between heaven and
hell. The poem ends optimistically by saying that those who can "win heaven" (the
girl) are blessed.
Misconceptions
This poem is about Browning having short flings with women by using his charms
while wanting nothing serious with them. He is saying that he is saving his real self
for the person he loves.
“One Word More”
“the one indisputable instance of Browning’s disclosure of his private self”, he
dedicates the poem to his beloved wife.
some of the greatest artists should resort to alternative mediums of creativity to
express intimate feelings. Both Raphael and Dante “abandoned the medium in
which they excelled in public” in order to make their love known to their lovers.
Browning seems to think that leaving the medium one most excels in allows an
artist to explore his more human side where he can find happiness through self-
expression instead of focusing on the form of the art.
Browning’s reference to Moses presents a connection between poet and prophet.
The poem describes the scene in which Moses strikes a rock in the desert to bring
forth water. Browning uses the Biblical analogy to justify why he did not fulfill his
promise to Elizabeth to write poetry that expressed his personal feelings. But He
does not want to expose that dear private life to an audience that harshly critiques
his work as an artist.