Robert Browning - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Robert Browning

Biography and PoetrySlide2

Early Life

Born May 7, 1812 in

Camberwell

, England

Mother was a pianist and father was a banker

Father was also an artist, scholar, antiquarian, and collector of books

Browning’s education came from his well-read father

Was inspired by Shelley’s poetry

Random nature of his education later surfaced in his writing, leading to criticism of his poems’ obscurities

1833 he published

PaulineSlide3

Robert and Elizabeth

After reading Elizabeth Barrett’s poems (1844) and writing to each other, Browning met her in 1845.

They were married in 1846, against her father’s wishes

1849 his

Collected Poems

was published

Elizabeth inspired

R

obert’s collection of poems

Men and Women

(1855), which he dedicated to her. It is considered his best work.

1861 Elizabeth dies; Robert and son move to London

1868 The Ring and the Book: based on a 17

th

century Italian murder trial which received wide critical acclaim

1889 Robert Browning diedSlide4

Browning’s Poetry

Victorian poet and playwright

Know for his

dramatic monologues

: a poetic form in which a single character addresses a silent audience revealing him/herself and the dramatic situation

Reveals setting and action along with the speaker’s characterization

unlike a soliloquy the aim for a dramatic monologue is not a direct revelation but what he inadvertently “gives away”

Browning chooses some of the most debased, extreme and criminally psychotic characters

Poems are told very eloquently to somehow subdue the insane characterizations of the leading speaker

Poems display violence, madness, death and destructionSlide5

Browning’s Poetry continued

Of his hundreds of poems the great majority set before the reader a glimpse of actual life and human personalities--an action, a situation, characters, or a character--in the clearest and most vivid possible

way

He

once declared directly that the only thing that seemed to him worth while was the study of

souls

Browning's favorite heroes and heroines,

are

men and women much like himself, of strong will and decisive power of action, able to take the lead vigorously and unconventionally and to play controlling parts in the drama of

life

The frequent comparative difficulty of Browning's poetry arises in large part first from the

subtlety

of his thought and second from the obscurity of his subject-matter and his fondness for out-of-the-way charactersSlide6

Victorian Era

The Victorian Period revolves around the political career of Queen Victoria. She was crowned in 1837 and died in 1901 (which put a definite end to her political career). A great deal of change took place during this period--brought about because of the Industrial Revolution; so it's not surprising that the literature of the period is often concerned with social reform

Against

the backdrop of technological, political, and socioeconomic change, the Victorian Period was bound to be a volatile time, even without the added complications of the religious and institutional challenges brought by Charles Darwin and other thinkers, writers, and

doersSlide7

My Last Duchess

My Last

Duchess

FERRARA.

That's my last Duchess painted on the wall,

Looking as if she were alive. I call

That piece a wonder, now:

Fr

Pandolf's

hands

Worked busily a day, and there she stands.

Will't

please you sit and look at her? I said

``

Fr

Pandolf

'' by design, for never read

Strangers like you that pictured countenance,

The depth and passion of its earnest glance,

But to myself they turned (since none puts by

The curtain I have drawn for you, but I)

And seemed as they would ask me, if they durst

,Slide8

My Last Duchess

``Or that in you disgusts me; here you miss,

``Or there exceed the mark''---and if she let

Herself be lessoned so, nor plainly set

Her wits to yours, forsooth, and made excuse,

---

E'en

then would be some stooping; and I choose

Never to stoop. Oh sir, she smiled, no doubt,

Whene'er

I passed her; but who passed without

Much the same smile? This grew; I gave commands;

Then all smiles stopped together. There she stands

As if alive.

Will't

please you rise? We'll meet

The company below, then. I repeat,

The Count your master's known munificenceSlide9

My Last Duchess

How such a glance came there; so, not the first

Are you to turn and ask thus. Sir, 'twas not

Her husband's presence only, called that spot

Of joy into the Duchess' cheek: perhaps

Fr

Pandolf

chanced to say ``Her mantle laps

``Over my lady's wrist too much,'' or ``Paint

``Must never hope to reproduce the faint

``Half-flush that dies along her throat:'' such stuff

Was courtesy, she thought, and cause enough

For calling up that spot of joy. She had

A heart---how shall I say?---too soon made glad,

Too easily impressed; she liked

whate'er

She looked on, and her looks went everywhere.Slide10

My Last Duchess

Sir, 'twas all one! My

favour

at her breast,

The dropping of the daylight in the West,

The bough of cherries some officious fool

Broke in the orchard for her, the white mule

She rode with round the terrace---all and each

Would draw from her alike the approving speech,

Or blush, at least. She thanked men,---good! but thanked

Somehow---I know not how---as if she ranked

My gift of a nine-hundred-years-old name

With anybody's gift. Who'd stoop to blame

This sort of trifling? Even had you skill

In speech---(which I have not)---to make your will

Quite clear to such an one, and say, ``Just thisSlide11

My Last Duchess

Is ample warrant that no just

pretence

Of mine for dowry will be disallowed;

Though his fair daughter's self, as I avowed

At starting, is my object. Nay, we'll go

Together down, sir. Notice Neptune, though,

Taming a sea-horse, thought a rarity,

Which Claus of Innsbruck cast in bronze for me!