Robert Browning (1812-89)

English poet, born in Camberwell, a suburb of London, in May 1812. His literary fame was not as high as that of his wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61), until the publication of The Ring and the Book (1868-9) after his wife’s death in 1861, which brought him a great commercial success and national fame as a Victorian poet. The form of the dramatic monologue, regarded as a quintessentially Victorian poetic innovation, was greatly developed by him; his introduction of multiple perspectives to a single event made it possible to explore, more objectively, certain psychological complexities at dramatic moments in people’s lives. He also made use of ballads, the economical form which is best suited for delineating a crucial episode with highly dramatic effects. (Y. Y.)