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The Complete Works of Robert Browning #13
The Complete Works of Robert Browning Volume XIII: With Variant Readings and Annotations
The thirteenth in the acclaimed projected seventeen-volume work, this volume covers The Inn Album (1875) and Of Pacchiarotto and How He Worked in Distemper with Other Poems (1876). The Complete Works of Robert Browning is co-published with Baylor University.
392 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1995
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About the author
Robert Browning
2,701 books447 followersRobert Browning (1812-1889) was a British poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets.
Browning began writing poetry at age 13. These poems were eventually collected, but were later destroyed by Browning himself. In 1833, Browning's "Pauline" was published and received a cool reception. Harold Bloom believes that John Stuart Mill's review of the poem pointed Browning in the direction of the dramatic monologue.
In 1845, Browning wrote a letter to the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, professing that he loved her poetry and her. In 1846, the couple eloped to Europe, eventually settling in Florence in 1847. They had a son Pen.
Upon Elizabeth Barrett Browning's death in 1861, Browning returned to London with his son. While in London, he published Dramatis Personae (1864) and The Ring and the Book (1869), both of which gained him critical priase and respect. His last book Asolando was published in 1889 when the poet was 77.
In 1889, Browning traveled to Italy to visit friends. He died in Venice on December 12 while visiting his sister.
Browning began writing poetry at age 13. These poems were eventually collected, but were later destroyed by Browning himself. In 1833, Browning's "Pauline" was published and received a cool reception. Harold Bloom believes that John Stuart Mill's review of the poem pointed Browning in the direction of the dramatic monologue.
In 1845, Browning wrote a letter to the poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, professing that he loved her poetry and her. In 1846, the couple eloped to Europe, eventually settling in Florence in 1847. They had a son Pen.
Upon Elizabeth Barrett Browning's death in 1861, Browning returned to London with his son. While in London, he published Dramatis Personae (1864) and The Ring and the Book (1869), both of which gained him critical priase and respect. His last book Asolando was published in 1889 when the poet was 77.
In 1889, Browning traveled to Italy to visit friends. He died in Venice on December 12 while visiting his sister.
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August 5, 2023
(The Pacchiarotto collection has plenty in it to delight us. the title poem's "rime composte" are just as amusing as those in Butler's Hudibras, [more amusing to me than Byron's, who the style is apparently meant to reference, Byron being the favorite poet of the hated critic] but its satire leaves just as much of a sour taste.)
The Inn Album is not the first time that Browning verged on self-parody. it is very evident in Red Cotton Night-Cap Country, but that work is still entertaining, as parody often is. The Inn Album is more like a rancid pastiche of Browning's style. it provoked in me only anguish, and I was reminded of a passage in Leopardi's Zibaldone about great works that seem to be corrupted by inferiors. it is unfortunate, but i think highly appropriate, to relate it to Browning's self-corruption:
"The reason that for men of taste and feeling it is such a painful experience to read, e.g., a sequel or imitation that attempts to reproduce the beauty and the style, etc., of a classical work ... is that they in some way debase our idea of the original works, toward which we felt a deep attachment, and a sort of tenderness. To see them thus imitated, often with little variation and always in a ridiculous manner, nearly makes us doubt the wisdom of our admiration for those great originals, makes it seem almost a delusion, and depicts those gifts which had so inspired our enthusiasm as facile, shallow, and commonplace. This is a bitter thing indeed, to see ourselves brought almost to the brink of rejecting our former idol, to see the object of our love and our esteem and admiration in some way stolen from us, and stripped bare, and humiliated..."
The Inn Album is not the first time that Browning verged on self-parody. it is very evident in Red Cotton Night-Cap Country, but that work is still entertaining, as parody often is. The Inn Album is more like a rancid pastiche of Browning's style. it provoked in me only anguish, and I was reminded of a passage in Leopardi's Zibaldone about great works that seem to be corrupted by inferiors. it is unfortunate, but i think highly appropriate, to relate it to Browning's self-corruption:
"The reason that for men of taste and feeling it is such a painful experience to read, e.g., a sequel or imitation that attempts to reproduce the beauty and the style, etc., of a classical work ... is that they in some way debase our idea of the original works, toward which we felt a deep attachment, and a sort of tenderness. To see them thus imitated, often with little variation and always in a ridiculous manner, nearly makes us doubt the wisdom of our admiration for those great originals, makes it seem almost a delusion, and depicts those gifts which had so inspired our enthusiasm as facile, shallow, and commonplace. This is a bitter thing indeed, to see ourselves brought almost to the brink of rejecting our former idol, to see the object of our love and our esteem and admiration in some way stolen from us, and stripped bare, and humiliated..."
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