The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-01-09
R CAREER OF
ROBERTeBROWN1NG
The Veteran Professor LOunSpury
Writes in a Vigorous ana
BcUigercnt Mood.

The Early Literary 'diii
Browning."s for on about every intro
page Of his book he manages 10 say
something calculated to arouse me Ae
of every Browning partisan.
This latest Of browning books is
made I'D of four lectures which were
delivered at the University Of lrglnia
under the auspices Of the barbour
Page Lecture Foundation. The titles
are: ".Pauline' and .Iaraceisus,
...Strafford and 'Sordello," and
'Pells and Pomcgranates ttWo lee
tures). And the authors us
set forth at the beginning OF the hrSt
lecture, is to give an account Oh tnc
literary career Of Browning from inc
publication Of his first poem IN 1858
TO his marriage and departure loI
Italy III 1916.
A. has already been limited, the pro-
frssor was apparently IN a very bel
ligerent frame of mind when he com
posed these lectures; for the manner
in which he flags Browning o~bscurity,
Browning dramas, browning Socletles,
End all the technical lunde That
browning ever made is absolutely
ruthless. His most Scathing attacks
are reserved for the plays, and before
he has gone far into that topic, n
Is reminded OF Brander Matthew's
dictum: The closet-dramas are all or
them unactabIc; most Of them are
~unreadable; and many OF them are
u~nSpeakable.' And one Is almost
persuaded to assume that IOunSbuIy
regards the Browning plays as be-
longing in class three. For, the pro-
fcsSot would have us believe, Brown
ing'S dialogue is not dialogue at all.
but a very inCohcrent series OF pom
lcrOus monologucs; "Strafford' is one
Of the dullest things ever perpetrated
by a great poet; and "a Blot i the
Scutchcon' is composed of a chain
CT wildly improbable events built
upon an utterly Impossible founda-
ton. n one Browning drama look
ed upon with much favor by Pro-
fessor Lounsbury-here l am using
the term drama in SO restricted 4
sense that "Pippa Passes does not
belong in this category-is "A Souls
Tragedy" a piece which Browning
himself valued SO lightly that he
came very neal to destroying the
manuscript.
So eager is Professor Lounsbury tc
show that "A Blot i the Scutcheon'
is a very inferior piece of work, that
he takes up nearly twenty pages ir
trying to prove that on the stage this
play was a fiat failure, not the sue,
cess which many people, including
Browning himself, have asserted tina
II was. Now all of this sounds ex
ceedingly peculiar, when we recall tn,
encomiunK which Dickens lavishet
upon this play. and when we remem
Der Edmund GosSe's declaration tina
Neither on its first appearance, no
when Phelps revived it at Sadler'
Wells, was "A Blot i the Scutcheor
received by the public otherwise tina
with warm applause" But Professo
L~ounsbury has armed himself Wit
some extremely plausible data, S
what shall we do about the matter
The most embarrassing thing abol
this chapter in stage history is thu
If we accept Professor Lounsbury
side of the question. we shall hay
TO conclude that Browning's ow
statements with reference to the prt
duction of "A Bio j. the Scutcheor
are not at all reliable. The delicac
Of the situation Professor Lounsbu1
clearly realizes, and to make p ba
matter worse, he is constantly apolt
giving for Browning on the grour
mat browning was perfectly SINGER
IN his statements: all of which max,
browning appear almost incredib
Po''SN vi dll dStOtlSIlH
~ ~treachcrous
But the foregoing remarks nras.-
only one side Of Or. Iounsblrv.c !
htude toward Browning. A very al
ferent side is revealed when the mr.
lessor turns his attention to Soma
The great Victorian poets lyrics p,
dramatic mOnologues. For MANY
these pieces Professor Lounsburv h
the Warmest praise, and he nnhe,
tatlnsly gives his approval to Tenn
IONS characterization Of Browni
IS the greatest-brained poet in En-
land"
All in all, "The Early Iitara
career of Robert Browning is a yt
noteworthy book. Certainly it is
work which no student of Rrowni,
even the most cursory, can afford
neglect reading. Quarrel with nm
or the book we may, and most of
The EARLY LITERARY CAREI
OF ROBERT BROWNING
Ihomas +. Lounsbury. III