BROWNING 



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BROWNING 



ELIZABETH BARRETT 

 BROWNING 



Durham, grew up at Hope End, in Hereford- 

 shire, where she spent a most happy childhood. 

 Some of her poems, written years later, show 

 that her joy in 

 the beautiful out- 

 of-doors about 

 her in her girl- 

 hood remained 

 with her all her 

 life. She was 

 never very strong, 

 but her mind was 

 alert and vigor- 

 ous, and she 

 found pleasure in 

 reading which 

 would be far too 

 difficult for most 

 children. Very 

 early she began to write poetry, but of these 

 early poems she was ashamed in her later 

 years. When she was about twenty, however, 

 she published a little volume, An Essay on 

 Mind, and Other Poems, and from that time 

 on her rise to recognition was steady. 



After about 1835, when the family moved to 

 London, she was an invalid, confined to her 

 room, but her letters show her to have been 

 possessed of a cheerful, gallant spirit. In 1838, 

 however, there occurred a tragedy in her life, 

 from the shock of which she never fully recov- 

 ered. Her favorite brother was drowned while 

 at Torquay alone with her, and for a time 

 it seemed as if her life, too, would be sacri- 

 ficed. But she rallied, and began to produce 

 poems again, some of her best-known works, 

 as The Cry of the Children and Lady Ger- 

 aldine's Courtship, coming from her sickroom. 

 A reference to Robert Browning in this latter 

 poem led to an acquaintance which grew into 

 mutual love, and in 1846 the two were married. 

 The union was unusually happy, her only grief 

 being that her father was opposed to it, and 

 never forgave her. From the time of their 

 marriage the poets lived in Italy, where Mrs. 

 Browning's health was far better than in Eng- 

 land. She died and was buried in Florence, a 

 city which she loved. 



Her greatest work, in the opinion of most 

 critics, is the Sonnets from the Portuguese, 

 which bear comparison with the finest sonnets 

 in the English language and perhaps surpass 

 all others which deal with^fche same subject; 

 for they are love-sonnets, recording the growth 

 of her love for Browning and his for her. 

 Written during her engagement, they were not 



shown even to Browning until after their mar- 

 riage, and then he insisted upon their publi- 

 cation, allowing the use of the words From the 

 Portuguese simply as a disguise. Mrs. Brown- 

 ing's longest work, and the one she herself 

 ranked highest, is the narrative poem Aurora 

 Leigh. While not autobiographical in its story 

 features, it aimed to present a picture of Mrs. 

 Browning's ideals and beliefs. C.W.K. 



BROWNING, ROBERT (1812-1889), one of the 

 most distinguished and original thinkers of 

 England. Some critics hold that he is more 

 philosopher than poet, but such an opinion 

 fails to do justice to the musical quality of 

 much of his verse, as well as to his truly in- 

 spired poetic touches. Could it be said that 

 the man is not a poet who wrote such 'lines as 



Oh lyric love, half angel and half bird, 

 And all a wonder and a wild desire, 



Some unsuspected isle in far-off seas. 



That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice 



over 



Lest you should think he never could recapture 

 The first fine careless rapture. 



And yet it is not for smooth, lilting lines 

 that Browning is best known and best loved, 

 but for the 

 strength and op- 

 timism that show 

 through his rug- 

 ged verse an op- 

 timism that is far 

 from being mere 

 placid acceptance, 

 but sees the good 

 in man despite 

 what is evil. 



Early Life. 

 He was born in 

 Camberwell, a 

 suburb of London, on May 7, 1812, and grew 

 up amid pleasant surroundings. His father 

 and his mother were in sympathy with his 

 aspirations, and seem to have known how to 

 direct his education so as to bring out the 

 best that was in him. The fact, too, that he 

 inherited perfect health had much to do with 

 the pure physical enjoyment of life which he 

 so often expressed in his poems, as in the lines 

 from Saul 



How good is man's life, the mere living ! how fit 

 to employ 



All the heart and the soul and the senses for- 

 ever in joy ! 



He studied under tutors and for a brief time 

 at University College in London, but most of 





ROBERT BROWNING 



