Short biography of Robert Browning

Robert Browning was born on May 7, 1812, in Camberwell, London, England. His father, who worked as a bank clerk, was also an artist, scholar, antiquarian, and collector of books and pictures. His mother was an accomplished pianist, gave him a love of music, while her strong and simple religious faith provided him with a lifelong belief in the existence of God.

Robert was a bright child creating "masterpieces" of jam and pencil at the age of two and attending day school as "an infant."At the age of fourteen,Browning went to primary school.His parents decided that he should be educated at home, attended to by various tutors in music, drawing, dancing, and horsemanship. The Brownings were a small, close-knit family, and Robert spent much time reading in his father's library of over seven thousand volumes. Robert was very attached to all species of animals, hosting a wide variety of pets in his childhood.In 1828,Browning entered the University of London and left after only one session.

Browning started to write verses at the age of six.His first published work was Pauline.  In 1840 he published Sordello, which was widely regarded as a failure. This major step in Browning's poetic development was evident in his next long poem, Paracelsus (1835), whose hero was a Renaissance  alchemist. After the disappointing reception of both Strafford and Sordello, Browning turned to the dramatic monologue. He experimented with and perfected this form in the long poem Pippa Passes (1841) and two collections of shorter poems, Dramatic Lyrics (1842) and Dramatic Romances and Lyrics (1845).

Robert Browning died on the same day that his final volume of verse, Asolando, was published, in 1889 and he was buried at Westminster Abbey.