Robert Browning

Dowden, Edward, 1843-1913Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.7

Word count: 673K words
Chapters: 68

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Robert Browning by Edward DowdenAuthor: Dowden, Edward, 1843-1913,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Jul 5, 2004

Editor's review

This is Edward Dowden's critical biography of Robert Browning, a typical text of Victorian literary criticism and biographical writing. Its value lies in tracing Browning's poetic development, intellectual temperament and body of work from the perspective of a contemporary critic, helping readers understand how nineteenth-century English poetry circles received this poet known for his dramatic monologues. Dowden's approach interweaves commentary with biography; the language is English and the argumentation bears the marks of its era. It can serve both as an introductory map to Browning and as a sample of Victorian critical discourse. Read it not as a modern scholarly biography but with attention to how the author selects material, evaluates the poet, and which judgments carry the limitations of their time. Suitable for students of English literature, poetry lovers and biography researchers; for the latest scholarship or detailed analysis of individual works, pair it with modern biographies and poetry anthologies.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English literature students seeking to understand Victorian reception of Browning
Poetry lovers hoping to enter Browning's creative world through a critical biography
Readers interested in Victorian biography and literary criticism as a genre
Those needing a public-domain English critical biography for research or textual analysis

Not a good fit for

Beginners with weak English reading skills who need a Chinese guide
Professional researchers expecting modern academic standards and the latest research reviews
Readers who only want Browning's original poems and care nothing for his life and criticism

Reading tips

First read Dowden's overview of Browning's poetic style as a whole, then match each chapter to the corresponding phase of the poet's work.
Keep a Browning anthology at hand and read in parallel when the biography quotes specific works.
Distinguish biographical fact from the author's evaluation, and mark judgments that reflect the prejudices of the era.
After finishing, consult modern Browning scholarship to compare Dowden's emphases with those of contemporary scholars.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a poetry collection or a biography of Browning?

It is a critical-biographical work by Edward Dowden, mainly life narrative and commentary on the works, not a selection of Browning's original poems; read it alongside an anthology.

How difficult is the English?

The text is a late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century English critical biography with long sentences and formal diction; readers with university-level English can finish it with a dictionary, but it is not suitable for beginners.

Is it suitable as a reference for academic papers?

It can serve as primary material for studying the history of Victorian critical reception, but should not be the sole basis; modern academic papers should supplement it with contemporary biographies and peer-reviewed research.

Does the Gutenberg edition have notes or an introduction?

This electronic edition is a public-domain text and usually contains no modern editorial notes or introduction; readers must supply background themselves or choose a print edition with an introduction.

Comments

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About the author

Dowden, Edward, 1843-1913 Author

Edward Dowden (1843–1913) was an Irish literary critic and poet, three of whose works are held in this collection. Public information is limited, but the titles listed show that his writing spanned literary criticism, literary history and poetry. Robert Browning is a study of that Victorian poet's life and art, while A History of French Literature shows Dowden's ability to survey the development of a national literature and trace its course with clarity. Poems indicates that he also wrote poetry himself, combining the roles of creative writer and critic. On the whole, his works are chiefly literary studies and verse, marked by a careful style and a gift for understanding writers and their works within their historical context, and they contributed to Victorian literary criticism and the writing of literary history.