Selected Poems (Penguin Classics) [Paperback]

Robert Browning (Author), Daniel Karlin (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: April 3, 2001

Robert Browning was one of the greatest of English poets, whose intense and original imagination enabled him to transform any subject he chose - whether everyday or sublime - into startling memorable verse. In his work he brought to life the personalities of a diverse range of characters, and introduced a new immediacy, colloquial energy and psychological complexity to the poetry of his day. This selection brings together verse ranging from early dramatic monologues such as the chilling "My Last Duchess" and the ribald "Fra Lippo Lippi", which show his gift for inhabiting the mind of another, to the popular children's poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" and many lesser known works. All display his innovative techniques of diction, rhythm and symbol, which transformed Victorian poetry and influenced major poets of the twentieth century such as Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot and Robert Frost.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert Browning (1812-1889) attended the newly founded University of London for a year before travelling widely on the Continent in the 1830s and 1840s. After a clandestine courtship, he married Elizabeth Barrett in 1846 and they lived in Italy until her death in 1861. He is one of the most significant and inventive of Victorian poets. Daniel Karlin is Professor of English at University College, London. He has edited The Penguin Book of Victorian verse.

From AudioFile

Thinking of the poems of Browning, one imagines Mediterranean lushness, sensuous music without rival. At first hearing, therefore, Frederick Davidson's voice--austere, clipped, world-weary--seems inappropriate, that is, until one hears how he carves the verse with his voice. Instead of producing the anticipated melodies, he delivers sound in slabs with ironic angles. Davidson's renderings are marvelous and unexpected. The recording doesn't list its contents. Besides making it difficult for a listener to locate favorite poems, this oversight conceals the absence of significant poems. J.F.P. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (April 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140437266
• ISBN-13: 978-0140437263
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,013,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The poet of dramatic monologue, November 11, 2004

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Selected Poems (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

This is the opening of one of Browning's most well- known poems "Rabbi Ben Ezra"
Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith ' A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God: see all,
nor be afraid!'

Browning is a poet of the inner life.His dramatic monologues are in the words of F.B. Pinion the editor of the Collins Edition of ' Dramatis Personae' centered on ' the thought- processes and mental outlook of his characters than in dramatic action" The
poems are rich in consideration of the moral and religious problems of his time. Lovers of poetry and students of human relationships can certainly be enriched by the reading of these poems.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars one of the greats, September 15, 2001

By 

[e-mail] "[e-mail]" (Beaumont, tx USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Robert Browning: Selected Poems (Hardcover)

Browning is one of the great poets. this selection contains poems such as 'the last dutchess', 'porphyria's lover' and 'childe roland to the dark tower came' which shows browning at his best. this selected poems only whetted my appetite for a complete version.