Browning as a Writer of a Dramatic Monologue

Robert Browning was a poet, he is remembered mainly as a writer of such dramatic monologues as ‘A Grammarian’s Funeral’, ‘Andrea del Sarto’, ‘Fra Lippo Lippi’ and such other poems. Dramatic monologue is a type of poem in which there is a speaker and a listener or listeners. The listener remains silent all through the poem but we infer his presence from what the speaker say. The speaker’s utterance is a response to an occasion or event of crucial importance in his life.

In many poems by Browning, there is a single speaker. For instance, in ‘Andrea del Sarto’, Andrea is the speaker while his wife is the

Browning as a Writer of a Dramatic Monologue

listener. In ‘Fra Lippo Lippi’, speaks to several watchmen. Again, in ‘A Grammarian’s Funeral’, a disciple of the grammarian speaks to the other members of the funeral party. In all these poems, we find a single speaker who speaks in a dramatic situation. These speakers are not to be identified as Browning himself.

In all these poems, there are some signposts by which we understand the presence of the listener ore listeners. In ‘Andrea del Sarto’ Andrea directly addresses his wife and seeks a compromise. Fra Lippo Lippi, on the other hand, directly threatens a watchman saying that he will be hanged for his rude behavior. In ‘A Grammarian’s Funeral’, the speaker often gives direction to the listeners.

Browning’s dramatic monologue provides an understanding of the speaker’s character. For instance, in ‘Andrea del Sarto’ we find an uxorious husband, whose love for his wife destroys his career as an artist. Similarly, in ‘Fra Lippo Lippi’, we find a monk who is morally loose.

In Browning’s poems, the speaker is placed in a critical situation of his life. Fra Lippo Lippi is caught by the watchmen in a street visited by loose women. Andrea del Sarto reaches a point in his life when he reviews his past, present and future. The speaker in ‘A Grammarian’s Funeral’ is going to bury his dear master.

One interesting fact about Browning’s dramatic monologues is that in these poems Browning portrays a wide variety of characters. There are the virtuous as well as the vicious, the brave as well as the coward. The subjects Browning deals with are also varied. They are love, art, philosophy, religion and crime. But they are not treated from any particular point of view. They are presented from every conceivable point of view. Browning was a lover of humanity. He valued earthly life with all its aspects. In this respect his approach to life is realistic.

From the above discussion we find that Browning is very successful in handling the form of dramatic monologue in his poems. Almost all the elements of a successful dramatic monologue are present in his poems.