Victorian Views; John Forster, William Morris, Gerard Manley Hopkins

In this blog, I will be summarizing and analyzing three different texts from the “Victorian Views” section of Robert Browning’s Poetry: “Evidence of a New Genius for Dramatic Poetry,” by John Forster; “Browning’s Alleged Carelessness,” by William Morris; and “Strictures on Browning,” by Gerard Manley Hopkins. These three (Forster, Morris, and Hopkins) were Victorian authors, and the views that they had on Robert Browning were very interesting to me

Summary

The three poets that I mentioned earlier were all debating on how good of a poet Browning was. There were some people that loved his poetry like Forster and Morris, but then you have Hopkins who doesn’t even think that Browning is a poet. In Forster’s explanation of Browning he states “Mr. Browning has the power of a great dramatic poet; we never think of Mr. Browning while we read his poem; we are not identified with him, but with the persons into who he has flung his genius” (496). Then we have Morris’ explanation of Browning, and he talks about how other authors use the word “obscure” in the wrong meaning. “…and I know also that they use the word wrongly; meaning difficult to understand fully at first reading, or, say at second reading, even: yet, taken so, in what a cloud of obscurity would “Hamlet” be!” (501). Last but not least we have Hopkins who completely disagrees with Morris. “Yes, Browning was great. And as what will he be remembered? As a poet? Ah, not as a poet! He will be remembered as a writer of fiction, as the most supreme writer of fiction, it may be, that we have ever had” (518).

Analysis

I really disagreed with Hopkins because after reading a few of Browning’s poems I think that he is a great poet. He has a way of creating an image in the audience’s head as they read his poems and to me that’s important. He clearly has a passion for writing poetry, and all of his pieces are different in some way. This is what a true poet should be like. Forster has a quote about passion and to me, this sums up the way I think of Browning “Passion is invariably displayed, and never merely analysed. Even at those moments when we seem most of all to be listening to its results alone, we are made to vividly sensible of the presence of the very agents by which the results have been determined (496). In some of Browning’s pieces, the audience has to deeply think about what Browning’s trying to say whether it be trying to figure out what a certain character looks like, or what the plot of the poem is etc. When reading, it’s good to be able to imagine the characters as the author tries to describe them. It’s also interesting that not every person sees the same kind of person as you do even though the author describes him/her the same way. Morris also has a quote about Browning “..I place Robert Browning; high among the poets of all time, and I scarce know whether first, or second, in our own: and, it is a bitter thing to me to see the way in which he has been received by almost everybody; many having formed a certain theory of their own about him… (501).

 

Forster, John. “Evidence of a New Genius for Dramatic Poetry” Robert Browning’s Poetry. Ed.

James F. Loucks and Andrew M. Stauffer. 2^nd Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 516-517.

Hopkins, Gerard Manley. “Strictures on Browning” Robert Browning’s Poetry. Ed. James F.  

Loucks and Andrew M. Stauffer. 2^nd Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 495-496. Print.

 

Morris, William. “Browning’s Alleged Carelessness.” Robert Browning’s Poetry. Ed. James F.  

Loucks and Andrew M. Stauffer. 2^nd Edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 501-502. Print