Robert Browning.

Robert Browning

English poet Robert Browning is considered one of the most important poets of the Victorian era (1837–1901). Part of the romantic movement in literature, his usually optimistic poems praise action and condemn passivity. In Browning’s characteristic writing style, known as dramatic monologue, he assumed the voice of historical or imaginary characters, usually at some crucial moment in their lives. BORN:

May 7, 1812 Camberwell, London, England

DIED:

December 12, 1892 Venice, Italy

FATHER: Robert Browning (A man of both fine intellect and character, who worked as a well-paid clerk for the Bank of England.) MOTHER:

Sarah Anna Browning (A musician)

SIBLING:

Sarianna Browning

WIFE:

Elizabeth Barrett

CHILD:

Robert Wiedemann Barrett Browning ____________TIMELINE____________

 In childhood, he was distinguished by a love of poetry and natural history.  By twelve, he had written a book of poetry which he later destroyed when no publisher could be found.  After attending several private schools he began to be educated by a tutor, having demonstrated a strong dislike for institutionalized education.  Browning was a fast learner and by the age of fourteen was fluent in French, Greek, Italian and Latin as well as his native English.  At age sixteen, he attended University College London, but left after his first year.  In 1833, his first volume of poetry, Pauline, appeared without signature.  It was followed by a dramatic poem, “Paracelsus” (1835), that brought him into prominence among the literary figures of the day. “Paracelsus” was the first poem in which Browning used a Renaissance setting, a familiar motif in his later work.  In 1846, Browning married the poet Elizabeth Barrett. Because of her ill health, worsened by the English climate, they made their home in Florence, Italy.. There he wrote Christmas Eve

and Easter-Day (1850) and a series of dramatic monologues, published collectively as Men and Women (1855), which included “Fra Lippo Lippi” and “Andrea del Sarto,” studies of Renaissance artists. Danilo G. Tiozon Jr.

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