This carefully edited collection has been designed and formatted to the highest digital standards and adjusted for readability on all devices. Robert Browning (1812–1889) was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of the dramatic monologue made him one of the foremost Victorian poets. His poems are known for their irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings, and challenging vocabulary and syntax. Contents: Life and Letters of Robert Browning: Life and Letters of Robert Browning by Mrs. Sutherland Orr The Brownings: Their Life and Art Letters Life of Robert Browning by William Sharp Robert Browning by G.K. Chesterton Poetry: Bells and Pomegranates No. III: Dramatic Lyrics Bells and Pomegranates No. VII: Dramatic Romances and Lyrics Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession Sordello Asolando Men and Women Dramatis Personae The Ring and the Book Balaustion's Adventure Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society Fifine at the Fair Red Cotton Nightcap Country Aristophanes' Apology The Inn Album Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper La Saisiaz and the Two Poets of Croisic Dramatic Idylls Dramatic Idylls: Second Series Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day Jocoseria Ferishtah's Fancies Parleyings with Certain People of Importance in Their Day Plays: Strafford Paracelsus Bells and Pomegranates No. I: Pippa Passes Bells and Pomegranates No. II: King Victor and King Charles Bells and Pomegranates No. IV: The Return of the Druses Bells and Pomegranates No. V: A Blot in the 'scutcheon Bells and Pomegranates No. VI: Colombe's Birthday Bells and Pomegranates No. VIII: Luria and a Soul's Tragedy Herakles The Agamemnon of Aeschylus

"In the 1880s, the aging Browning showed once again the remarkable versatility of his lyric and narrative talents. Ranging across eras and cultures, the books here reveal his late thoughts about history, myth, legend, faith, love, and desire. He had never been more popular, and the founding of the Browning Society in 1881 expanded both his audience and his sense of his place in English letters. The first title in Volume XV is Dramatic Idylls, Second Series (1880). Taking his subjects from classical history, colonial India, Arabian legend, medieval sorcery, Jewish folk tales, and Greek myth, Browning startles the reader with the rapidity of his thought and the inventiveness of his art. In Jocoseria (1883) Browning's subjects range across time and space from Hebraic legend to the England of the Romantics. Such variety helped attract new readers: Jocoseria was immediately successful, and a second edition was printed in the same year as the first. Although Browning's next volume, Ferishtah's Fancies (1884), was so popular that three editions were printed in less than two years, this artful string of anecdotes and lyrics has attracted little favorable criticism. The materials--Persian legends and Arabic backgrounds--chimed with the wildly popular Orientalism of FitzGerald's Rubáiyát, Whistler's Peacock Room, and Alma-Tadema's paintings. But the thought was pure Browning in his most optimistic vein, and not at all in tune with the growing pessimism of the day. As always in this series of critical editions, a complete record of textual variants is provided, as well as extensive explanatory notes."--Publisher's description.