Robert Browning

Robert Browning (1812-89) spent much of his life financially supported by family while he pursued his desire to be a poet, which he achieved to great acclaim. Born in London, he was partly home-schooled and immersed himself in his father’s library of almost six thousand books. From these he gained his knowledge of the classics and off-beat historical tales.

He had some of his work published in his early twenties, but it took a little while for him to find his niche. This was to be the dramatic or philosophical monologue, whereby the first-person narrator divulges insights and confidences to the reader. An exception was ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin‘ (1842), written for a friend’s son.

He lived with his parents until 1846, during which time he wrote many of the ground-breaking poems that were to fuel his later success. He then married the poet Elizabeth Barrett and they eloped to Italy, where they remained until she died in 1861. He did not write much in this period. On his return to England, he resumed his writing and became famous, particularly with the twelve volumes of the novel-length poem ‘The Ring and the Book‘ (1868-9). Browning Societies sprang up to publish study aids for his work.

(Top image: Wikimedia Commons / CC BY 4.0)