Robert Browning's Poetry

Robert Browning's poetry gives particular force to the dramatic monologue, in which a person speaks within an imagined situation and reveals character through the manner of telling. My Last Duchess exposes possessiveness beneath the controlled language of cultivated authority, while Fra Lippo Lippi makes a painter's argument about art part of a vivid social encounter. Longer works and shorter lyrics extend this interest in motive, faith, and imperfect judgment. A speaker's eloquence does not guarantee moral clarity: interruptions, evasions, and unintended disclosures allow the poem to question the account that its voice appears to offer.