37.1 Introduction 37.2 Robert Browning

37.1 Introduction 37.2 Robert Browning

., ., . j:t>'i :j i:::$;5 >,o:~Gh:;r{(~i:rrdrii 21 hr!~j!it:x.t? !G~I.!~*I>./.i~:, i>i::~-~ c,>j IIJ ~'i!(d]:IYI:, { .llJWt >jiYl&ib21103 13i :.I !sir! 11fj.t ~l;[h'15dftl:~t~lL~"i 12;Jffi l.ii'j'! !!I; Ul:X!'j I::!) ?;::-cJX; ,J tr:,~i After a shld? of this unit ~?~~j~~y~9!d;k~~#~if~1bjj~~:~j::~~1[~rri!y<,,c! 2~1~jr, ~1x2; :,,i 11r(I> ,~~ij,~>l~;; speak on Robert Browning's life and work and the rclationsl~ipbct\\,ccn thcin. a appreciate Sordello; and understand Browning's conccptior~of the office of a poet. 37.1 INTRODUCTION In this unit you will read a brief sketch of Robert Brow~iing'slife. This \voulcl be helpfitl to you in writing your own term-paper. Still more. it will help you apprcciatc Browiling's poetry. Robert Browning is buricd in Westmi~isterAbbe!! where poets such as C:ha~~ccrnncl Spenser also lie interred. 'A good many' wrote I-Icnq. Jnmcs about B~.onning. 'oddities and a good many grcat writers have becli cntombcd in tl~cAbbe!,: but ~~oiic of the odd ones have been so great and ~lolicof the great o~icsso odd- ('lhc .\/IL'L~~L,I.. January 4. 1890). It is the combination of Bro\vniiig's greatness ancl oddit! tliat !.oil should be able to appreciate finally after you I~avecoiiiplctcd !.our stud! of thc , present and the two foIlo\vi11g units. The excerpt from Sordello that you will also read in this illlit kvi'll ellable >.ou to % ~mderstaiidBrowning's ailns 2nd aspirations as a poet. Hopc 4.011 wvill clijo! rmding about Robert Bro~vningand a spccirncn of his poetr!,. 37.2 ROBERT BROWNING (b. MAY 7,1812 - d. DEC: 12, 1889) The poet Robcrt Browning bore the ilamc of his fathcr aid grandfather As a !oung mail Bro\viiing's father had becil sent by his father to Wcst Indies to takc cnrc o!'tlicl fanlily plantation. However, he revolted against tlic ci~reltytowwards thc sla\ cs t11cl.c. rctunled home and his father foui~dl~iln employment in thc Bank of Engla~ldas n clerk on a small salary. Robert Bro~vning,Sr. (d. 1866) workcd at tllc Bnlik iuitil his rctirement in 1852 He was a self-effacing person. iilild aid stildio~lsaiid Ilad 26.. 5'- collected a library of 6000 books of Greck, Latin and recondite English b~ritings (A rccund~ye:yprF,.~~ypj~.l<~l~~s:..ia about O~SCUSC. abstruse, ~utof tlzc bvay or little Robert Bron ning: kno\\n subjects.) T11c poet's father rvas illore a illall of leanling than busiilqss niid m Life ;u~tlAspir s?ioau 111s!,out11 he had llopcd to beconle a11 artist. All his life 11e drew skctclles and ~ll~~stratiopst~.qmusc!l~js cljldrei~ alld.friends. T11e,poct Br~wningcould have I ;lhented his qptitu& fqq. the ,visual arts fso~ll,his fatllot-. I .* .I:~I~; .;,, :,>.a!2. , 1. 18 >, : i,, ;,I --.)~.-~,:k<.,i ,:I' 1 , 1 cq h*. - . -+,I-** I,/ ( .$, -.r... 6% .r "- I . , I.I .- . , ! . ,ij:i l, :, 7, j:, ,I,":,;I,:l,.,,., 3'' ; 9, i,-: :.' , r~i: I I:!;, ,, t'. ;~t,ij(i, 1 is. iJl;~;,,, ;!$.\ ,: ',tsr, ,*I ,, *, , ' ,t q .>, 8 :,-,,, ,I(, ,~!f;,i!!~, 1 J'YI'I '-,i/t fJ%!fb%cjit~~!J~~/!~vI~,~. ,i -) , * ' I' ii 1 1 '~J:I.;' I 1 'A, #?*,J .>[Ia.i~t,l:{,~,lf.~i 2 '*:it 0: (bib.: ?if,I 1 f ;, 1s Bson;~i~ng;s.~~l,~~\lyl;~;~firq~~~~~~~~~~~~$~(~~~~~~~ .(JJi !j); \\;.i"~sil In Scql.jnncl o f , Gcri~~al), fall]^^: &1ldis,cott#ll, 1!2ot[!c)r. ,~h~;~~~~~c\~j\~ta$,13 l)yl., fa1111I),! l~a'rpsc gnrdcn . and tlie C~~~gfic;ga$j~i~I,,ql~~p,q\a114 SXAS, ,tlly~~,~~~lo~171;~~~for~x~1st; ,Hcl;,busba~!dand ,, cliildrcn I\ crc- als,g jpadq to, fql;lo\vJ1~q,tq~f!~p,[;on~rfigq~jo~~gl !c!lapol+and not to the Church of Etigland. Her daughter Sar~a~u~aand her son. the poet, \vex passionatcl! devoted to hcr. Robert Browning, the poct, was born on May 7,1812 at Cainber~vell.a suburb of !,cndou. He \.;as raised there and at New Cross. fi~rtllerto tlle so~~tlleastfiom 120ndon. Bron.ni11g was a restless child and his biograplicrs record thc public rcprool' of George Clayton, the preacher at his mother's chapel. for liis 'restlessness and inette~~tlon'.Hc had rebellcd from scl~ooland was 1a:tcr to rebel .fro111London University. tlis educati~nwas conducted ~nainlyby his father and a series of tutors of Greck, Latin, French, Italian and i~iusic.He became famous for his quaint lear~~iny which was acquired chiefly in his father's library. For his pleasures lie I-oamcd tlic fields, roclc on horseback and spent time in Dulwich Gallery. He grew up to bc passionate, brilliant but also indisciplined, with an inordinate estimate of his po\\.c~.s. u.hich liowever, were indeed vcr! great. Bro\v~li~~g'sfirst volu~ncof poems Incondilcl was a collection of I!,rics. It \\.as \\.rittwl ~vlienhe was twelve years old. He later destro!/ed them: but two survi\~c.I'c~l~l~nc: A Frnginenf ?/'aC:onfL;,rsion was published anonymousl!; in 1833. It is nlarkcd b~ tlic influence of tlie Romantic poets, especially Shelley: whom hc called 'sun-treader-: 'Sun-trcadcr. life suld light be thine for ever! ' However, it is also a work. ~\hicli records his disa\~o\valof Shelley n.110 was not popular in tlie earl!! ninctcentli ccntun,. AL thc agc of 14. Shclley had provided an esit :for Bro\vning from the nliddlc class world of Caiiib~-rwclland Nc\v Cross. The cliildrcn tlicrc;: never \vent to Ha.rro\\,and Kugb~,much less Osford and Carnbridge:Bro\\~ning becanle a disciple of SliclIc!.. tool<to vegetarianism. adopted liberalism of an extrenle kind and also athcism. I-io\vcver, his mother Sarah Anna Wiedmann won her fi-om atheism not thr~~~gli reason b~~tby licr te~ldernessand love, impairing his i11tell.cctua1indepe~ldc~icc 111 rcligious matters forever. I'uzlline is a record of his faith in 'God aid tr~~tli'rathcr than Sllelley: Sun-trcadcr. I believe in god and tn~th And love; and as oiic just escaped froill dcatll Would bind I~imselfin bands of fr~endsto fccl. He lives indeed. so. I \vould lcaii on thee! Tllou must bc cver with Iiie. iiiost in gloo111 If such must conic. but chiefly \vhen I die. For I seem, dying, as one going in the dark To figlit a giant: but live thou forever, And be to all what thou has been to mc! Browning's esposure and exploitation of his ow11 cmotioi~sand his 'intense and 111orbidself-coi~scious~iess' in Pollline was disliltcd by J.S. Mill ( 1806-73). a leading illtellectual of his time. Perhaps it was Mill's criticism that discouraged him from co~lfessi~lg11is own emotions and encouraged him to write objectively. In 1834 Browling went 011 a tour of Russia \~itli.Geor~ede Benkhauscn. tllc consul ,general. In 1838 and '44 he made two short visits to Italy. 111 thc meintimc IJnr.ctcelsz~s,Browning's first aclu~owledgedwork, was published in 1835. Tlic carc'cl- of t11c historical Pancelsus (1493-1541): the Swiss-born physician, served R~~\\,II~IIs as a s~~lki~~g-horseor pretest for liis esploratioii into tlic true fcliciu: of a pc~ct's endeavours, that is, in the conflictiilg clainls of love (self-forgetting) and kno\\.lcdgc (se!f-assertion) in the mind of the poet. IJnrncelsz.uwas a resounding critical succcss It introduced him to the great artistic and literary ~vorldof London. At a dinner in , 1836 Words\vorth, who in a few years was to beconle the Poet Laureate. proposed a toast to Browning and welcomed him to the colllpany of the poets of Englnnd. (Tllc evcilt: may rcinind you nearer home of tlie reception of Rabindranath Tagorc b! Bankim Chandra Chattol~adliyaya). Bro\~ningcalile to l<no\\ not onl! Words\\ orth but also Dickens. Heilry James, Carlyle and.Tennyson. Tlic publication of .S~~~(/ollo in 1840, I~owevcr,eclipsed Browning's,rep~~tatioiifor over twenty years. Fortunatel! f'c~mcsLszrshad foulid lii~iitwo friends: Jolm Forster (1 812-76) the drsuiia critic, editor. biographer and later literary executor of W.S. Landor, Dickcns and Carlyle, and William Charles Macready (1793- 1 873) actor and manager of both Covc~itGardeli and Drury Lalie theatres at different times. They encouraged Rro\~~ni~igto write for the theatre. Str.qffb~~i( 1837), a liistorical tragedy in blank wrsc. was \\.sitten at tlie i~~stigatio~lof Maeread! who produced it 011 thc day of its publication. in Covelit Garden with himself in the titlc role. (If you havc read British histon: you \~ouldrecall that Sir Tl~oliiasWcntu~orth, first earl ( 1 393- 1641) of Strafl'ord was the chief advisor of Cl~arlesI). In the meantime Browning hclpccl Forster to write tlle biograpl~yof Strafford. 1 Hi-o\\;ningfound writing plays niore congenial to liis te~iiperbecause it allowed hi111 to escape his sub.jecti~:ceinotions and for tllc next tc~iyears lie wrote plays thxt wcrc published along with his shorter dramatic poclns u~ldertllc titlc Hells n17l.i IJonic,qnmnres(1841 -46). Thcsr: were a series of eight pa~nphlctstllclt \\.ct-c publislicd as onc volu~iieafter 1846. Pip~~nl'tn.~cs (I84 I), A Hlnr ir~lhc ,Yctlrchc?on (1 843) 31id A .Yoill '.s 7'1+o,y~~iy(1846) wwcic alilo~~$the better l<no~viiplays of liis.

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