Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess and The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Sai

Dramatic Monologue in Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess and The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church The general public knows Robert Browning as the writer of â€Å"The Pied Piper† a beloved children’s tale, and the hero of the film The Barrett’s of Wimpole Street. Most recognize him for little else. The literary world recognizes him as one of the most prolific poets of all time. However, his grave in Westminster Abbey stands among the great figures in English history. At his death at age seventy-seven, Robert Browning had produced volumes of poetry. He had risen to the heights of literary greatness. Robert Browning received little acknowledgement for his work until he was in his fifties. â€Å"He had been following a blind alley. Now he had reversed his direction, and by so doing, had come in sight of his true destination, the dramatic monologue. In the dedication to Strafford he had correctly analyzed the bent of his genius; it was to treat Action in Character, rather than Character in Action†(Johnson 4). Browning used the dramatic monologues as his artistic vehicle. In â€Å"My Last Duchess† and â€Å"The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s† he presented characters with varying degrees of sympathy or satire as he took incidents from the past and made them come alive through his skillful use of the dramatic monologue. He rose to his position from rather modest beginnings in the south London village of Camberwell. Browning was born in 1812, to middle-class parents, his father, Robert, Sr., was a clerk for the Bank of England, and had refined artistic literary tastes. His mother Sarah Anne Widedemann, a devout Christian, pursued interests in music and nature. Browning read at age five and composed his first poetry ... ...wn.edu/victorian/books/alienvision/browning/2.html. Karlin, Daniel. The Courtship of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett. New York: Oxford University, 1985. Langbaum, Robert. â€Å"The Dramatic Monologue: Sympathy versus Judgment.† Modern Critical views Robert Browning. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House, 1985. 23-44. Odden, Karen. â€Å"Robert Browning.† World Poets. Ed. Ron Padgett. Vol. 1. New York: Scribner’s, 2000. 163-173. Ryals, Clyde de L. â€Å"Browning’s Irony.† The Victorian Experience: The Poets Ed. Richard A. Levine. (1982): 23-46. Rpt. In Poetry Criticism. Ed. Robyn V. Young. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1991. 90-97. Wagner-Lawlor, Jennifer A. â€Å"The Pragmatics of Silence, and the Figuration of the Reader in Browning’s Dramatic Monologues.† Victorian Poetry. 22 Apr. 2001. http://vp.engl.wvu.edu/fall97/wagner.html.