英国文学史Lecture9Browning讲述.ppt

Victorian Age ---Robert Browning Lecture 9 Welcome to the world of Robert Browning (1812– 1889) English poet, noted for his mastery of dramatic monologue. Browning was born into a wealthy family so that he can dedicate himself to poetry writing without worrying about money. Before dedicating himself to poetry, Browning tried play writing, which equipped him with a unique poetic form---dramatic dialogue. In 1846 he married Elizabeth Browning, a famous poetess who was semi-invalid and had been confined home for many years. Their love story is very famous in literary history. I. Browning’s life When talking about Robert Browning, we cant help mentioning his wife, Elizabeth Barett Browning. She was a famous poetess, too. She wrote many sonnets, a type of 14 line poem, the same as Shakespeare did. Elizabeth and her husband Robert had a great love affair, almost like a movie. Browning was 6 years younger than his wife. They ran away to Italy to get married. Then they lived in ideal happiness there. Robert Browning---the most original poet 1. Son of a wealthy banker in London with a library of 6,000 volumes of books 2. Studied at London University for one year but educated at home 3. Began to exchange correspondence with Elizabeth Barrett, an invalid since thirteen; 4. Eloped with her to Italy because of her father’s disapproval of their marriage and secretly married there 6. Father of one son 7. lived with his sisters in London and often traveled to the country and abroad 8. Died in Venice and was buried in the Poet’s Corner 9. A follower of Shelley The Brownings II. The Representative Works of Browning The Ring the Book 指环与书 My Last Duchess 我已故的公爵夫人 Home-Thoughts, from Abroad异乡情思 III. Comment on Browning Browning’s greatest contribution to English poetry is his “dramatic monologue”. In his most famous poems, Browning chooses a dramatic moment or a crisis, in which his characters are made to talk about their lives, and about their minds and hea