Robert Browning: How to Know Him

William Lyon PhelpsProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.1

Word count: 466K words
Chapters: 47

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: How to Know Him by William Lyon PhelpsAuthor: Phelps, William Lyon, 1865-1943,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Oct 1, 2005

Editor's review

This book is an introductory guide to Browning written by William Lyon Phelps for general readers, part of the "How to Know Him" series of author guides. A literature professor, Phelps was skilled at unraveling Browning's notoriously difficult Victorian dramatic monologues into comprehensible threads, discussing both the poet's life and intellectual background and analyzing representative poems, helping readers build a bridge from "can't understand" to "can get into it." Its value lies not in cutting-edge scholarship but in its friendly guiding stance: the author assumes readers have almost no background and accompanies them through explanation rather than annotation. It works well as a companion to a Browning anthology—read the introduction first before approaching the poems, or return to the relevant chapters after finishing a few monologues, and you will gain a sense of direction. The public-domain electronic edition is convenient for searching and excerpting, but note that the book is dated and some evaluations carry early twentieth-century aesthetic positions; readers should keep their own judgment.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers new to Victorian poetry who worry Browning is too obscure
English literature students who need chapter-by-chapter context to read alongside the original poems
Poetry lovers interested in the dramatic monologue who want to know the representative works
Learners with decent English reading ability willing to read an English guide to improve their language sense

Not a good fit for

Specialist researchers seeking current scholarship or detailed textual criticism
Readers who want Browning's complete poems rather than a guide with commentary
Beginners who struggle with English and need a Chinese translation to assist them

Reading tips

Read through the table of contents first to grasp the chapter structure, then select chapters matching poems you already know for close reading.
Keep a Browning anthology at hand and compare the original text whenever poems are quoted, rather than relying only on paraphrase.
After each chapter, restate the author's core judgments in your own words to test whether you have truly understood.
Annotate evaluations that show period bias and compare them with later criticism.

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

Does this book include the complete original text of Browning's poems?

No. It is a guidebook that mainly discusses Browning's life, thought, and representative works; quoted poems are mostly fragments or excerpts. To read complete poems, pair it with a Browning anthology or collected works and use this book as a roadmap for understanding.

Can I read this book without any background in poetry?

Yes. The author assumes readers have almost no background and writes mainly in an explanatory style, avoiding jargon. However, the book discusses English poetry, so readers still need intermediate or better English reading ability; if you struggle with the original text, start with a Chinese-translated anthology.

What is the reading experience of the public-domain electronic edition like?

As a public-domain e-book, it is convenient for full-text search, excerpting, and reading across devices, and suits note-taking study. The layout is plain, without the fancy design of modern annotated editions; if you prefer annotating on paper, you can print it out or read alongside a physical copy.

Are the book's views still applicable today?

As an early twentieth-century guide, its basic framework remains useful, especially for readers encountering Browning for the first time. But some aesthetic judgments and evaluative positions bear obvious marks of their era; treat it as a stepping stone rather than a final conclusion, and supplement it with modern criticism later.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

William Lyon Phelps Author · American · 1865–1943

William Lyon Phelps (1865–1943) was an American scholar and literary critic. Born in New Haven, he served as a professor of English at Yale University for 41 years and offered the earliest university course in modern fiction in the United States. His works include Essays on Russian Novelists, Essays on Modern Novelists, Robert Browning: How to Know Him, and The Advance of English Poetry in the Twentieth Century, covering both fiction and poetry. Through lively criticism and lectures, he introduced Russian literature to American readers and built a bridge between academic teaching and public reading. He died in New Haven in 1943.