PUBLISHERS' NOTE Merrill's English Texts THIS series of books will include in complete editions those masterpieces of English Literature that are best adapted for the use of schools and colleges. The editors of the several volumes will be chosen for their special qualifications in connection with the texts to be issued under their individual supervision, but familiarity with the practical needs of the classroom, no less than sound scholarship, will characterize the editing of every book in the series. In connection with each text, a critical and historical introduction, including a sketch of the life of the author and his relation to the thought of his time, critical opinions of the work in question chosen from the great body of English criticism, and, where possible, a portrait of the author, will be given. Ample explanatory notes of such passages in the text as call for special attention will be supplied, but irrelevant annotation and explanations of the obvious will be rigidly excluded. CHARLES E. MERRILL CO. COPYRIGHT, 1909 BY CHARLES E. MERRILL CO. INTRODUCTION ROBERT BROWNING ROBERT BROWNING was born at Camberwell, a suburb of London, May 7, 1812. From his earliest years he was fond of writing verses, and, when twelve years of age, had produced poems enough to form a volume. His first published poem, Pauline, appeared in 1833, but his real introduction to the public was through Paracelsus, a drama, published in 1835. In 1837 the tragedy of Strafford was unsuccessfully presented at Drury Lane Theater. In 1840 the epic Sordello was published · one of his most characteristic and most difficult works. In 1841-46 appeared the series of Bells and Pomegranates, in eight shilling parts, containing much of his finest. poetry, including the tragedy A Blot on the 'Scutcheon and the graceful dramatic poem Pippa Passes. In 1846 he was married to the distinguished poetess, Elizabeth Barrett, and soon after established his home in Italy. Christmas Eve and Easter Day appeared in 1850, followed by two volumes of short poems, Men and Women, 1855, and Dramatis Persona, 1864. His greatest work, The Ring and the Book, appeared in 1868-69, closely followed by many other important poems, chief of which are Fifine at the Fair, 1872; Red Cotton Night-cap Country, 1873; Aristophanes' Apology and The Inn Album, 1875. Most important of his latest works are Dramatic Idyls, 1879-80; Jocoseria, 1883; Ferishtah's Fancies, 1885; Parleyings with Certain People of Importance in their Day, 1887; and Asolando, 1889. He died at Venice, May 12, 1889. 5 The first and perhaps the final impression we receive from the works of Robert Browning is that of a great nature, an immense personality. The poet in him is made up of many men. He is dramatist, humorist, lyrist, painter, musician, philosopher, and scholar, each in full measure, and he includes and dominates them all. In richness of nature, in scope and penetration of mind and vision, in all the potentialities of poetry, he is probably second among English poets to Shakespeare alone. In art, in the power of the patience of working his native ore, he is surpassed by many; but few have ever held so rich a mine in fee. He has written more than any other English poet with the exception of Shakespeare, and he comes very near the gigantic total of Shakespeare. His works are not a mere collection of poems, they are a literature. And his literature is the richest of modern times. If "the best poetry is that which reproduces the most of life," his place is among the great poets of the world. In the vast extent of his work he has dealt with or touched on nearly every phase and feature of humanity, and his scope is bounded only by the soul's limits and the last reaches of life. There are for him but two realities and but two subjects, Life and Thought. On these are expended all his imagination and all his intellect, more consistently and in a higher degree than can be said of any English poet since the age of Elizabeth. Life and thought, the dramatic and the metaphysical, are not considered apart, but woven into one seamless tissue; and in regard to both he has one point of view and one manner of treatment. It is this that causes the unity which subsists throughout his works, and it is this, too, which distinguishes him among poets, and makes that originality by virtue of which he has been described as the most striking figure in our poetic literature. Most poets endeavor to sink the individual in the universal; it is the special distinction of Mr. Browning |