POET FROM THE PAST – ROBERT BROWNING
THIS enchanting poem entitled “Home-Thoughts, from Abroad”, the classic description of spring in England, was written by Robert Browning, the prolific Victorian poet more usually associated with lengthy philosophical and narrative works.
It was written in Italy where Browning lived with his wife, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, in the mid-19th century. The years they spent there, first in Pisa, then at Casa Guidi in Florence, were probably the happiest of their lives. Their son, Robert “Pen” Browning, was born in Florence in 1849.
It might seem odd therefore to find the poet casting himself in the role of a homesick traveller with the opening lines, “O, to be in England, Now that April’s there”, which have become the recognised expression of delight at being in England on a crisp, sunny morning in spring.
The unequalled freshness of the air, the slowly warming sun, the brightness of emerging flowers are sublimely captured in a few descriptive lines and by using a few simple but well-chosen images and rhymes. If not an outright expression of desire to return to the land of his birth, the poet manages to encapsulate exquisitely these thoughts which many experience, at one time or another, when away from home.
Robert Browning was born in south-east London on 7 May, 1812, becoming proficient at reading and writing at the age of five and going on to learn Latin, Greek, French and Italian by the time he was 14.
He displayed an intense dislike of school life and was educated at home using the resources of his father’s extensive library, which had around 6,000 books. Robert’s father was a well-paid clerk in the Bank of England and his mother the daughter of a German ship owner who had settled in Dundee.
Robert attended the newly established London University when he was 16, but soon left, anxious to pursue further learning at his own pace.
By the time he was 20 he was convinced he would become a great poet, although his early published works achieved little success. He was very fortunate that his family had sufficient money to support his literary endeavours. He also tried his hand at writing verse drama for the stage, but these plays are now all but forgotten.
In addition to “Home-Thoughts, from Abroad”, Browning may be best remembered for his poems “The Pied Piper of Hamelin”, so beloved by children, and the dramatic monologue “My Last Duchess”. His poems have also provided such well-known lines as, “Grow old along with me” (Rabbi Ben Ezra), “God’s in his Heaven, All’s right with the world” (Pippa Passes), and “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp” (Andrea del Sarto), which remain in common usage today in a variety of contexts.
In 1845, Robert met poet Elizabeth Barrett, who had mentioned his work in one of her poems and, expressing immediate and undying love, they married in secret a year later.
Elizabeth was one of the “Barretts of Wimpole Street” and her domineering father had convinced his daughter that, due to her constant ill-health, she should be treated as an invalid. But undeterred, and against her father’s wishes, the couple moved to Italy, accompanied by Elizabeth’s much-cherished spaniel, Flush, whom she immortalised in her poem “To Flush – My Dog”.
Happy years of writing poetry followed, including many love poems, with both Robert and Elizabeth achieving success through their published works.
When she died in 1861, Robert returned with their son to England. The next 27 years of Browning’s life were spent writing and establishing himself as one of the great British poets he had always yearned to be.
Although never a vox pop poet like Tennyson, his admired contemporary, Browning became a cult figure in his own lifetime. Both poets are buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey, where Browning was given a grandiose funeral on 12 December, 1889.
A feature film, Let Me Count The Ways, (a line from Barrett Browning’s sonnet How Do I Love Thee?), is currently in development and expected to be released this year. Directed by BjÖrn
Runge, the role of Elizabeth is played by Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke.
ROGER PAINE