Robert Browning was born in Camberwell, England on May 7, 1812. His father and mother nurtured in their son a love for and appreciation of fine arts, especially literature and music. With an enormous library housing thousands of volumes right in his home, Browning read insatiably and began writing original compositions before he turned ten years old. He preferred to be educated by private tutors or by teaching himself through reading as opposed to attending formal school, and he mastered Latin, Greek, and French by the time he was fourteen. After reading a volume of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poetry, Browning obsessed over his writing and strove to emulate the poet in almost every way, writing prolifically in Shelley’s style. He enrolled at the University of London in 1828, but felt stifled by the pace of the institution and left after less than one year.

In 1833, Browning published his first volume, titled Pauline: A Fragment of Confession. It was submitted anonymously and harshly criticized for its “morbid self-consciousness.” His next endeavour, Paracelsus (1835), debuted to positive reviews and stimulated relationships with fellow poets William Wordsworth and Thomas Carlyle. During that time he also … [Madly in love with and devoted to Elizabeth, he dedicated his next collection, Men and Women, to her] … saw some of his shorter poems published in The Monthly Repository. In the 1840s, Browning attempted writing drama and had several produced for the stage, but never achieved much status as a playwright. However, the dramatic monologues found in Browning’s dramas have been deemed perhaps the greatest aspect of his career as a poet because of their flawless rhythm and language.

Browning began corresponding with the poet Elizabeth Barrett after reading her book Poems. In May of 1845 he visited her, and four months later the two were married secretly, because of Barrett’s father disapproval. They moved to Florence and in 1849, their son Robert Wiedeman Barrett Browning was born and Browning published Collected Poems. Madly in love with and devoted to Elizabeth, he dedicated his next collection, Men and Women, to her. The family lived quietly in Italy until Elizabeth died in 1861, when Browning and his son moved back to England. Once settled, he published Dramatis Personae (1863) and The Ring and the Book (1868), both of which were highly acclaimed collections of dramatic poems and brought Browning back into the focus of contemporary poetry. He continued publishing and produced an impressive number of volumes. Oxford University and the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, awarded Browning honorary degrees in the early 1880s, around the same time the Browning Society was established. He died on December 12, 1889, in Venice, Italy. Despite his wishes to be buried in Venice, he was buried in Westminster Abbey, England.