THE POETRY OF ROBERT BROWNING BY STOPFORD A. BROOKE AUTHOR OF "TENNYSON: HIS ART AND RELATION TO MODERN LIFE" * * * * * LONDON ISBISTER AND COMPANY LIMITED 1903 * * * * * Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co. London & Edinburgh _First Edition, September 1902_ _Reprinted, October 1902_ _Reprinted, January 1903_ * * * * * CONTENTS I. BROWNING AND TENNYSON II. THE TREATMENT OF NATURE III. THE TREATMENT OF NATURE IV. BROWNING'S THEORY OF HUMAN LIFE--PAULINE AND PARACELSUS V. THE POET OF ART VI. SORDELLO VII. BROWNING AND SORDELLO VIII. THE DRAMAS IX. POEMS OF THE PASSION OF LOVE X. THE PASSIONS OTHER THAN LOVE XI. IMAGINATIVE REPRESENTATIONS XII. IMAGINATIVE REPRESENTATIONS--RENAISSANCE XIII. WOMANHOOD IN BROWNING XIV. WOMANHOOD IN BROWNING--(THE DRAMATIC LYRICS AND POMPILIA) XV. BALAUSTION XVI. THE RING AND THE BOOK XVII. LATER POEMS XVIII. THE LAST POEMS * * * * * The publishers are indebted to Messrs. Smith, Elder & Co. on behalf of the owner of the copyright for their permission to make extracts from copyright poems for use in this volume * * * * * CHAPTER I _BROWNING AND TENNYSON_ Parnassus, Apollo's mount, has two peaks, and on these, for sixty years, from 1830 to 1890,[1] two poets sat, till their right to these lofty peaks became unchallenged. Beneath them, during these years, on the lower knolls of the mount of song, many new poets sang; with diverse instruments, on various subjects, and in manifold ways. They had their listeners; the Muses were also their visitants; but none of them ventured seriously to dispute the royal summits where Browning and Tennyson sat, and smiled at one another across the vale between.