SOURCE: "Genre and Style," in Robert Browning, Longman Group Limited, 1996, pp. 38–73.

In the following essay, Woolford and Karlin study Browning's use of the genre of dramatic monologue as well as elements of the poet's style. The critics argue that Browning's primary concern in his usage of dramatic monologue is the creation of dramatic speakers and situations. Additionally, Woolford and Karlin maintain that the style Browning employs is a vocal one—his poetry is meant to be spoken aloud—and they define two distinct vocal styles in his poetry—a voice that "says " and a voice that "sings."

Genre

Dramatic method

'O lyric Love!' begins one of the most famous passages of Browning's poetry, his invocation of EBB [Elizabeth Barrett Browning] in The Ring and the Book. But it is an unusual moment.¹ Browning is not a lyric poet. He never wrote an ode, disliked the sonnet-form, has...