Robert Browning

This edition draws upon a wide range of Browning's poetry and prose, including selections from his "Dramatic Lyrics", "Dramatic Romances and Lyrics" and the "Men and Women" and "Dramatis Personae" collections, as well as extracts from his correspondence with Elizabeth Barrett. Aidan Day's introduction chronicles the events both of Browning's life and of his development as a poet. His early life and unusual education provided him with an idiosyncratic outlook, at odds with the Anglican and Tory orthodoxies of 19th-century middle-class culture, which was confirmed by his love affair and elopement to Italy with Elizabeth Barrett. Day's re-evaluation focuses on the influence of the Romantic movement generally, and particularly on the subject of Romanticism, as they affected Browning's writing. He looks too at the critical response to Browning's poetry, from the widespread hostility which greeted the publication of "Sordello" in 1840, to the acclaim accorded to "The Ring and the Book" (1868-69). This book should be of interest to students of English literature at upper school and undergraduate level.