Browning's dramas; comparison between the Elizabethan and Victorian
dramatic eras; Browning's soul-depictive faculty; his dramatic method;
estimate of his dramas; Landor's acknowledgment of the dedication to him
of "Luria".


Chapter 5.

"Profundity" and "Simplicity"; the faculty of wonder;
Browning's first conception of "Pippa Passes"; his residence in London;
his country walks; his ways and habits, and his heart-episodes;
debates whether to become a clergyman; is "Pippa Passes" a drama?
estimate of the poem; Browning's rambles on Wimbledon Common
and in Dulwich Wood, where he composes his lines upon Shelley;
asserts there is romance in Camberwell as well as in Italy;
"Sordello"; the charge of obscurity against "Sordello";
the nature and intention of the poem; quotations therefrom;
anecdote about Douglas Jerrold; Tennyson's, Carlyle's,
and M. Odysse Barot's opinions on "Sordello"; "enigmatic" poetry;
in 1863 Browning contemplated the re-writing of "Sordello";
dedication to the French critic, Milsand.


Chapter 6.

Browning's three great dramatic poems; "The Ring and the Book"
his finest work; its uniqueness; Carlyle's criticism of it;
Poetry versus Tour-de-Force; "The Ring and the Book" begun in 1866;
analysis of the poem; kinship of "The Ring and the Book" and "Aurora Leigh";
explanation of title; the idea taken from a parchment volume