Robert Browning

Description

This volume in the 21st Century Oxford Authors series offers students an authoritative, comprehensive selection of the work of Robert Browning (1812-1889). The edition includes the very first poem he published to works written at the end of his life, and includes an Introduction, Chronology, and full commentary notes.

• Introduces students and readers to the life and work of Robert Browning, one of the most important poets and playwrights of the nineteenth century
• Includes a wider selection of Browning's poems than is available in other single-volume annotated editions
• Browning's work is presented in chronological order, allowing students to study his development and growth as a writer
• Includes a separate Chronology at the opening of the volume, which provides details of Browning's life, and the composition and publication of his works
• The poems and writings are presented free of annotation on the page, allowing students to encounter the original texts afresh
• Explanatory notes and commentary are located at the end of the book, providing students with a wealth of additional material and information that will enhance the understanding and enjoyment of these works
• An essential teaching resource, representing Browning's work in all its variety

About the Author(s)

Edited by Richard Cronin, Professor of English Literature, University of Glasgow, and Dorothy McMillan, Honorary Research Fellow, University of Glasgow

Richard Cronin has published very widely on nineteenth-century literature. After teaching for many years at the University of Glasgow, he has recently been appointed to a chair at Oxford Brookes University.

Dorothy McMillan is an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Glasgow, and has published widely with a particular focus on Scottish literature and poetry by women.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Chronology
A Note on the Selection and Its Ordering
PAULINE: A FRAGMENT OF A CONFESSION (1833)
FROM THE MONTHLY REPOSITORY, VOL. X, N.S. 1836, 43-44; 45-46
[Porphyria's Lover] Porphyria
[Johannes Agricola in Meditation] Johannes
BELLS AND POMEGRANATES, NO. I, PIPPA PASSES, (1841)
Pippa Passes
FROM BELLS AND POMEGRANATES, No. III, DRAMATIC LYRICS, (1842)
[My Last Duchess] Italy and France: II. France
[Soliloquy] Camp and Cloister: II. Cloister (Spanish)
In a Gondola
Artemis Prologuizes
Waring
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
FROM HOOD'S MAGAZINE, vol. 1, June 1844; vol. 2, July 1844; vol. 3, March 1845; vol. 3, April 1845
The Laboratory
Garden Fancies: I. The Flower's Name; II. Sibrandus Schnaburgensis
[The Bishop Orders His Tomb at St. Praxed's Church] The Tomb at St. Praxed's
The Flight of the Duchess, sections 1-9
LETTER TO ELIZABETH BARRETT, 10 JANUARY, 1845
FROM BELLS AND POMEGRANATES, NO. VII, DRAMATIC ROMANCES AND LYRICS (1845)
How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix
Pictor Ignotus
[The Italian in England] Italy in England
[The Englishman in Italy] England in Italy
The Lost Leader
Home Thoughts from Abroad, I & III
Saul, sections 1-9
FROM LETTERS OF PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (1852)
Introductory Essay
FROM MEN AND WOMEN, I & II (1855)
I.
Love among the Ruins
A Lovers' Quarrel
Evelyn Hope
Up at a Villa—Down in the City
A Woman's Last Word
Fra Lippo Lippi
A Toccata of Galuppi's
By the Fireside
Any Wife to Any Husband
An Epistle … Karshish, the Arab Physician
Mesmerism
A Serenade at the Villa
My Star
'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came'
Respectability
A Light Woman
The Statue and the Bust
Love in a Life
Life in a Love
How It Strikes a Contemporary
The Last Ride Together
The Patriot: An Old Story
Master Hugues of Saxe-Gotha
Bishop Blougram's Apology
Memorabilia
II.
Andrea del Sarto
In a Year
Old Pictures in Florence
In a Balcony
'De Gustibus—'
Cleon
Two in the Campagna
A Grammarian's Funeral
Transcendentalism
One Word More
LETTER TO JOHN RUSKIN, 10 DECEMBER, 1855
LETTER TO EUPHRASIA (FANNY) HAWORTH, 20 JULY, 1861
FROM DRAMATIS PERSONAE (1864)
[James Lee's Wife] James Lee
Gold Hair: A Legend of Pornic
Dîs Aliter Visum
Abt Vogler
Rabbi Ben Ezra
Death in the Desert
Caliban upon Setebos
Confessions
Prospice
Youth and Art
A Face
Mr Sludge the Medium
FROM HELEN'S TOWER, CLANDEBOYE (1870)
Helen's Tower
FROM FIFINE AT THE FAIR (1872)
Prologue: Amphibian
Epilogue: the Householder
THE INN ALBUM (1875)
FROM PACCHIAROTTO (1876)
House
Bifurcation
Numpholeptus
A Forgiveness
LA SAISIAZ (1878)
FROM DRAMATIC IDYLS, 2ND SERIES (1880)
Pan and Luna
FROM JOCOSERIA (1883)
Never the Time
FROM FERISHTAH'S FANCIES (1884)
Epilogue
FROM ANDREW REID, ED., WHY I AM A LIBERAL (1885)
Why I am a Liberal
FROM PARLEYINGS WITH PERSONS OF IMPORTANCE IN THEIR DAY (1887)
VI. With Gerard de Lairesse
FROM THE ATHENEUM, JULY 13, 1889
FROM ASOLANDO (1889)
Development
Epilogue
Notes
Index of Titles and First Lines

Reviews

"This splendidly edited selection of Robert Browning's poetry is the ideal one-volume edition for undergraduate study. Richard Cronin and Dorothy McMillan choose expertly from the whole range of the poetry, convincing one of the importance of the later work as well as underscoring the magnificent achievement of the more widely read earlier verse and including the important Essay on Shelley; their vibrant introduction relishes Browning's originality and unexpectedness, and their annotations are informative and critically suggestive. With its attractively clean reading texts and editorial savvy, the volume brings Browning thrillingly to life." - Michael O'Neill, Durham University

"This essential edition seems to prove that poetry is best examined by two people. Cronin and McMillan have wonderful ears and eyes for Browning's work. The annotations are inspiring, insightful, revealing and surprising. Browning's late work finally gets the attention it deserves too. A beautifully accessible achievement in Browning scholarship. " - John Gardner, Anglia Ruskin University

"In addition to a useful and judicious selection of Browning's poems, this volume includes three letters by Browning and his Essay on Shelley.' The annotations are learned and lucid." - T. Hoagwood, CHOICE