Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 03.djvu/644

* BROWNING. 568 BROWNING. its neighborhood, studying life, nature, and books, though in 1838 he visited Italy. In 1840 he pub- lished Sordcllo, the second of his series of dra- matic nionolomies. wliose iiicciJtion dates back to 18.34. The period 1841-40 was well tilled by a series of poems published in eight numbers, bear- ing the collective title Rclls and Pomegraimtes, and beginning with Pippa Passes, a lyrical drama showing the power of unconscious influ- ence, which received warm praise from .Miss Bar- rett, afterwards Mrs. Browning. This remark- able group embraced the plays King Mcfor and King Charles { 1842) : The Ihturn of the Druses (1843): Colombe's Birthdat) (1844). success- fully acted in 1853; the tragedj' .1 Blot in the 'Scutcheon (1843), produced at Drury Lane that same year: Dramatic Li/rics (1842). among them "Cavalier Tunes" and '"The Pied Piper of Hamelin"; Dramatic Romances and Lt/rics (1845), including "How They Brought the Ciood News," "A Lost Leader," and "The Flight of the Duchess"; and closed with .1 Isold's Tragedii (184G), a work of tremendous power. In 1840 Browning was married to Elizabeth Barrett, and after that date resided in Italy, spending with his wife some months in England and Paris, 1851-52, and in Normandy, 1858, and returning to England to educate his son after !Mrs. Brown- ing's death in 1801. Before this sad termination of an ideal married life. Browning had published (1850) Christmas Eve and Easter Day, a poem defending catholicity in religion; and J/eii and Women ( 18.35 ), including "Evelyn Hope," "Fra Lippo Lippi," and other now well-known poems, ■''hen followed Drantalis I'crsoniv (1804 1, con- taining "(icild Hair" and "Rabbi Ben Ezra": The Ring and the Book (1808-00), an epic in 21.110 lines, dealin<; with the tyranny of the passions, and considered by many his masterpiece: Bnlnus- tion's Adventure (1871), including an English version of the Alcestis of Euripides; Prince Hohenstiel Schicangau (1871), a defense by the prince (Napoleon III.) of the doctrine of expe- diency: Fifine at the Pair (1872), a powerful discussion of a question in morals: Red Cotton yight-Cap Country (1873), the story of a fa- mous Norman law case; Aristophanes's Apology (187.')), including a transcript from Euripides: The Inn Album (1875), a tragic story of betrayal and suicide; Pacchiarolto and Other Poems (1870) : The Agamemnon of .Eschylus (1877) ; La Saisiaz and The Tico Poets of Croi.iic (1878), the former asserting his belief in a future life; Dramatic Idyls (1870-80); Jocoseria (1883), a number of narrative poems: Ferishtah's Fancies (1884) ; Parleyings uith Certain People of Im- portance in Their Day (1887), the characters ser'ing as mouthpieces for the poet's opinions on literary, artistic, and philosophical questions; and Asolando. j)ublished in London on the day of Browning's death, which occurred in Venice. December 12, 1889. He was buried in Westmin- ster Abbey. Browning was below the medimn heijiht. in- clining to stoutness, with a ruddy complexion, large and bright gray eyes, fine features, a quick- ness of speech and gait, and a magnetic address which together with his liberal sympathy with humanity enabled him to mingle freely with all classes. His love for Italy was as deep and intel- ligent as tlKit of his wife, and from that 'land of lands' he drew the inspiration for many of his finest poems; though the fact that liis grand- father was a Grerman is recalled by his tendency to Hegelian philosophizing and by his question- ing and speculative habit of mind, as well as by [leculiarities of synta.x and vocabulary. What is called the obscurity of Browning's poetry is the characteristic that first strikes ordinary readers, and in many cases <liscourages them from further study, it may be admitted that he was often careless of artistic, and even of grammatical finish— that if it came to a choice, lie valued substance above form : but the ob- scurity is often more apparent than real, and. where it exists, springs usually from the marvel- ous richness and fullness of his thought, and from the rapidity of his mental process, which passes from point to point more swiftly than the average mind can follow, careless, sometimes, of making the connection clear. The effort, how- ever, which is necessary to apjirehend him is not only a valuable mental tonic, but is frequently rewarded by the discovery of real and satisfying thought. The vast erudition of the poet, and his habit of casual allusion to things met with in out-of-the-way parts of his wide reading, also ccmtribute to the impression of obscurity; but these difliculties are not sufficient to prevent his recognition as being, in his double capacity of poet and thinker, one of the most |)owertul influ- ences on the spiritual and ment;il life of our age. It is possible that the choice of a vehicle of expression which was forced ui)on him by the time of his birth was in some degree an imfor- tunate one. Had he lived in the age of Shake- speare (ne.xt to whom he has been ranked for insight into the springs of human character and action), his genius, which was essentially dra- matic, might more naturally and adequately have expressed itself in the form which characterized that period: or had iie begun to write half a cen- tury later than he did. after the development of the psychological novel, he would very jjossibly have chosen to express in prose the ast range of thought on whose utterance the limitations of metrical law have sometimes imposed burdensome restrictions. But such speculations are less important than the recognition of the qualities which he actually possessed, and which make him a vital force. Not least among them must be reckoned his un- swerving optimism, at which Tennyson gravely shook his head, calling it 'depressing.' but which has Ijeen the insjjiration of nuiny another soul. He saw with the utmost clearness how eternally insoluble is "the riddle of the painful earth'; he was the last who would have delighted fatuously in the arrangements of this as the best of all possible worlds ; yet to the end he could describe himself, in the epilogue of his last published book, as "Oiip wlio never (l<iul)t*d oloiuls would break. Never drpiinipd. though right were worsted, wrong would triumph; Held, we full to rise, are baffled to fight better. Sleep to ivake." .- inevitable comparison is suggested by the mention of Tennyson, whose name was generally, in their lifetime," coupled with Browning's. Their fir.st books were pul)lished within six years, and the relations between them were always of the utmost cordiality and friendliness, untouched by any suspicion of the jealousy which might have affected smaller minds. The contrast in their style was happily defined in the aphorism of Oliver Wendell Holmes: "Tennyson is the