Robert Browning: biography and photos

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Robert Browning is a famous British poet and playwright who lived in the 19th century. His father worked in a bank. Even as a child, little Robert was passionately interested in poetry, and romantic. Traveled a lot, even visited Russia in 1833.

Romantic poet

Robert Browning was born in London in 1812, when the Napoleonic Wars were in full swing. Despite this, parents paid great attention to the education of their son. He mastered the subjects of the school curriculum at home.

Also, numerous travels played a big role in his self-education and development as a person. Subsequently, he called them his faculties, and even considered Italy his Oxford.

Like many young men of his generation, in his youth he became interested in the work of Byron, the main British romantic, in his work he followed his romantic principles.

First verses

The father dreamed that his son would take up some practical activity, for example, follow in his footsteps to work in a bank. However, Robert was of a different opinion. Even at the age of 16, he came across the romantic works of Shelley and Keats. By his own admission, their poems made him a poet.

In his early writings, RobertBrowning is clearly imitating Byron. For example, in the ballad "Death of Harold". As a result, he devoted himself entirely to the profession of a poet.

In 1831 his first poem was published under the title "Paulina". Shelley's pantheism, a philosophical doctrine that identifies the world around him and God, and his inclination towards Hellenism are especially noticeable in it. Browning's first work was rather weak, but critics reacted favorably to it. Their positive responses and reviews paved the way for him to the prestigious British literary circle, which at that time already included Dickens, Wordsworth and many others.

Travel Europe

Robert Browning travels a lot. In 1833, at the age of 21, he went to Russia. Here he writes the poem "Ivan Ivanovich".

The next stop on his trip is Italy. Here he conceives his, perhaps, the best lyrical drama "Pippa passes by", as well as his most mysterious and mysterious thing "Sordello".

Returning to his homeland, Browning decides to give up life in London in favor of silence and solitude. In Dulwich Forest he is finishing the mysterious drama Sordello, as well as other plays - Paracelsus and Strafford. The latter is soon staged, but with little success.

Browning's Marriage

At 37, the poet decides to get married. In 1849, Robert Browning became married, his biography is now associated withEnglish poetess Elizabeth Barrett.

Browning's wife was a sickly girl who did not tolerate the harsh British climate. Therefore, the couple had to move to a more favorable place to live - in sunny Florence. Here they lived for about 10 years, occasionally visiting their native London. However, Elizabeth did not succeed in completely getting rid of her illnesses, she died in 1861.

Robert Browning was happy in marriage, the poems of the poet of this period are a vivid confirmation of this. In his work, a mood of calmness and spiritual harmony emerges. He and his wife spent almost all the time at their villa in Florence, where they always received many friends - writers and creative personalities. Guests note that the homely atmosphere was saturated with high poetry and love.

After the death of his wife, Browning and his son return to London, where he continues his literary work. Prints a cycle of poems "The Ring and the Book", "Characters".

His son returns to Italy and settles in Venice. On one of his regular visits to the Apennine Peninsula in 1889, Browning dies. He was 77 years old.

Abbé Vogler

One of Robert Browning's most famous poems is "The Abbe Vogler". In 1864, she was included in the collection "Characters". The work is dedicated to a real historical character - the abbot, who lived from 1749 to 1814. He served as bandmaster at the court in Prussian Mannheim. He is knownbecame the invention of a new type of organ.

The poem represents the emotional experience of the abbot during his performance of improvisations on the organ. At the same time, he sees the City of the Lord, however, as soon as the music stops, a clear image is immediately erased from the memory of the lyrical hero.

He is very worried about this and only at the end of the poem comes to the conclusion that beauty, like any glory, is fickle. This is the meaning of Robert Browning's Abbot Vogler. The poem ends with the conviction that the main thing for a person is that God hears his beautiful melodies. And everything else is vanity and vanity.

Pippa walks by

The list of Browning's key works includes the lyrical drama "Pippa Walks By". In the center of the story is a young worker living in the town of Asollo. Her thoughts are pure, she sincerely loves nature and people. She is beautiful, strong and happy, realizing that before God the merits of all people look equal.

On New Year's Eve, she observes the lives of her fellow citizens. Many of them are happy, but Pippa does not envy them. She is innocent, and her thoughts are filled with wild freedom. She sings, crying out for love and virtue. Her song is heard by lovers - Sebald and Ottima, who have just committed a crime - they killed Ottima's husband. Under the influence of the girl, they decide to atone for the crime with suffering and their own death.

The beautiful song of the lyrical heroine is heard by the young artist Julius, who decides to return to his beloved, whom he abandoned. So Pippa walks bystreets of her town, transforming the lives of the people around her. This poem is rightfully considered one of the best in English poetry of the 19th century.

Ring and book

An example of a true masterpiece of the poet is the poem "The Ring and the Book". Robert Browning, whose poems were extremely popular at the time, writes works based on an old Italian legend. It tells about the murder of his wife Pompilia by Count Guido Francesca for allegedly cheating on him.

The poem consists of 12 books. Each of them is a statement by one of the characters of his vision of how events developed. With the help of this technique, the whole picture appears before us. The poem does not have a single plot and a strict sequence of development of actions. The main thing that the author pays attention to is the characters and state of mind of his characters.

One of the most poignant and sincere books of the poem is the monologue of the wife of Count Pompilius, who is pure and pure, but forced to take the blow of fate. With Pippa from Browning's previous work, Pompilius is united by naivety and purity. This is one of the most famous works that Robert Browning wrote. Quotes from it still diverge from the lips.

White verses

In 1835, Browning writes a dramatic poem in white verse - Paracelsus. In the preface to the work, the author immediately admits that when working on this poem, he abandoned the traditional rules of dramatic art. The reason for this is that the mainthe author became the inner, emotional experiences of the characters, and not the development of external events.

Browning was deeply interested in science, so he chooses the mysterious alchemist Paracelsus, who lived in the Middle Ages, as the hero of the poem. In it, the poet depicts the struggle of a high human soul with the obstacles that stand in its way. There are also mystical notes here. The author of the description was especially successful.

Another tragedy of the same period - "The Stain on the Coat of Arms". This time, Browning concedes to traditional notions of dramatic art. It is written in the style of sensational dramas, and ends quite in the spirit of Shakespeare - almost all the characters die. True, in Browning they commit suicide, and do not kill each other, as is usually the case in Shakespeare's tragedies.

Poet philosopher

One of the brightest poets of his era - Robert Browning. Today we can observe a photo of him in a small amount, mostly paintings and drawings of the poet have been preserved. An elderly but handsome man with a broad beard, mustache and a slight ironic smile is looking at us from them.

According to literary critics, Browning is a deep philosophical poet. Very often, the idea that he wants to convey to his reader, far exceeds the artistry of the work. All this leads to the fact that Browning's works are often vague and obscure. As a result, a kind of fashion even appeared in England - to guess the thoughts embodied in Browning's poems.

A vivid example of what such a free interpretation of the poet's works can lead to,- the poem "Child Roland". Many admirers of the poet mistakenly saw in her a new worldview, guided by which they even wanted to found a separate philosophical school. However, Browning disappointed his fans by explaining to them that this poem was written in the fantasy genre, and in just two days, the author did not include any philosophical component in it.

In his works, Browning demonstrates his belief in the existence of the afterlife. For him, this is a reward for the life he spent on earth.

At the same time, he imagines earthly life in bright colors. The only thing that can overshadow a person is sorrows and earthly passions, but there is salvation from them too. This is faith in God. However, Browning's philosophical views alone would not have remained in the history of English literature.

His main achievement is a masterful depiction of human passions and lyrical landscapes. Often his heroes are exemplary bearers of truth and pure truth. Like Pippa or Pompilius.