Victorian Views on Robert Browning

In this blog, I will summarize and analyze three critical articles on the views of Robert Browning during Victorian time. 

Summery: 

The first article I read was written by George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans) which was taken from her unsigned review in The Westminster Review. Eliot begins the article by saying Robert Browning's "poems have a 'majestic obscurity' which repels not only the ignorant but the idle," (498).  She says that in many cases, poetry is read in an easy, rhythmic manner where the reader can just flow with the poem without much thought on the content. However this is not the case with Robert Browning's poetry. She says when reading Browning's poetry, the reader must "exert himself, but he will exert himself to some purpose. If he finds the meaning difficult to access, it is always worth his efforts," (498). She praises Browning for his originality and the way he writes his deep, intellectual thoughts with artistic beauty. However, Eliot does offer some criticism of Browning mentioning "the worst poems in his new volumes are, in our opinion, his lyrical efforts; for in these, where he engrosses us less by his thought, we are more sensible of his obscurity and his want of melody," (500). Although lyric Browning's strong point, Eliot praises him as a poet and an intellect.

Browning's Alleged Carelessness, written by William Morris, addresses Browning as "high among the poets of all time… it is a bitter thing to [Morris] to see the way in which he has been received by almost everybody," (501). Morris defends Browning against the obscurity that he is accused of by critics. Many critics of the time believed that Browning's poetry was so obscure, it could hardly be understood by any reader. Morris counters this by saying that it is true Browning can be obscure in his writing, but only a perfect poet could write without being obscure. Morris says it is not Browning's obscurity that makes his poems hard to understand but the shallow brains of the reader. If poetry was meant to be light easy literature, than Browning's poems would in fact be too obscure but poetry is not light and easy. Morris defends Browning further by comparing him to the early careers of Tennyson and Ruskin, saying if they were judged only by their early work, as Browning was at the time, they would not be as famous as they are. 

The third article was the only one I read that was not in favor of Browning, as least not as a poet. Alfred Austin, the author of this particular article, does praise Browning for his deep intellectual thinking. He begins his essay by dividing poets and and philosophers into two separate "countries" so to speak. The natives of each country are fluent in their own languages and costumes but are able to cross into each other. To Austin, Browning is a native of the philosophical country, but one who often travels to that of the poets. Although he may go their often, poetry is not his first language, therefor he does not paster it like a true native, or poet, would. In fact, Austin goes as far to say, "Browning is not a poet at all… but a deep thinker" (510). Like Morris, Austin compares Browning to Tennyson but not at all in the same way. Austin says admirers of Tennyson "need be in no fear lest Mr. Tennyson should be displaced by any critic in his sound senses to make way for Mr. Browning. When men desire to behold the flight of an eagle, and cannot get it, they do not usually regard the tramp of an elephant as a substitute," (512).

Analysis:

After reading the articles, I found myself agreeing more with the first two than with the third. Reading Robert Browning's poetry is definitely difficult and it does require me to search every line for meaning but it is not so obscure that it is impossible to understand. When we first started this class, we read the article about the role of the reader in Browning's poetry, and it mentioned how Browning himself said he wants his readers to be engaged fully while reading his writing. I think he accomplishes that is a beautifully artistic way, especially in his dramatic monologues. His speakers always have knowledge that we as the readers to not, and for this reason we have to delve fully into the text to discover what this information is and find meaning otherwise hidden. I can obviously see how this can be seen as obscurity and I can also see how it could easily get out of hand. Browning does not let this happen though. With enough thought, some meaning can be drawn from his words and like Eliot says, the work is always worth it. 

I do not agree with Austin's claim that Browning is not a poet at all. His poetry may be unconventional, especially during the Victorian Age, but that does not make him any less of a poet. Austin's reluctance could stem from his close-mindedness and his inability to accept anything new (but this is only a guess. I don't know anything about Alfred Austin). Browning deep intellectual thoughts, mixed with his poetic abilities give his works an element of suspense and surprise. It allows the reader to come to their own conclusions, rather than just feeding them shallow, however beautiful, words. I have not read much poetry in general so I am not pretending t be an expert. However the little poetry I have read by both Browning and Tennyson suggests to me that, just like very other form of literature, there are many different forms. The spectrum of poetry is just as broad as any other form of literature. So to say Browning is not a poet because his works are not like those of Tennyson is like saying Twilight, for example, is not a good series because it is not the same as Harry Potter. They might be very different and have very (very) different followers, but they are still great series. Stephanie Meyer is just as much an author as J.K. Rowling, though their works may be different; Robert Browning is just as much a poet as Tennyson.

Work Cited

Loucks, James, and Andrew Stauffer. Robert Browning's Poetry: A Norton Critical

         Edition. 2nd. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2007. Print.