Selected Poems [Paperback]

Along with Tennyson, Rosetti and Clough, Robert Browning ranks as one of the great poets of the Victorian age; although many argue that his wife, Elizabeth Barrett, wrote the better work. Browning's poetry ranges from the obscure (and early) epic poems of Sordello to the mature dramatic monologue's of 'My Last Duchess' and 'Porphyria's Lover', poetry that is much more distinguished, stylish and confident.

Generally speaking, Penguin have succeeded in compiling Browning's output into a 'Selected' volume that is representative of his accalimed mature work, whilst providing an aperture into the more densely allusive work, by including difficult poems like 'Caliban upon Setebos'. From reading this volume a reader should be able to make an informed decision as to whether they want to dig deeper into Browning's oeuvre.

In a 'Selected' there will always be one or two omissions that are a bit of disappointment ('Rabbi Ben Ezra' is not included), but generally the selections here make good sense. There's also an excerpt from 'Pippa Passes' which provides a glimpse of Browning work as a playwright.

The book features a brief introduction from Daniel Karlin and in-depth notes on each of the poems, making the book particularly geared towards students. The emphasis is very much on providing the reader with a grounding in Browning's work and an extra layer of depth on top of that, so readers should be able to develop their knowledge of one of the most important poets of the nineteenth century.

I don't know why Amazon amalgamates reviews of different anthologies -- not merely different "formats" of the same "book" -- and places them, in this instance, on the product page advertising Greg Wagland's (Magpie Audio) audiobook. Their computer works in mysterious ways, I guess. My review describes the audiobook:

"BURYING THE BISHOP (AND DISINTERRING ROBERT BROWNING'S SHORTER POEMS): GREG WAGLAND HITS THE MARK!"

Born (as was Charles Dickens) in 1812; died (as did Gerard Manley Hopkins) in 1889, Robert Browning (part Romantic, part Victorian, and certainly part Modern) remains one of the most influential yet controversial literary giants of the 19th Century. Controversial? Henry James called him "a poet without a lyre." Oscar Wilde acknowledged that Browning had a lyre but that its strings were broken, famously remarking, "He used poetry as a medium for writing in prose." Yet both men admired him as a consummate creator of character, even rivaling Shakespeare. These evaluations notwithstanding, those of us who vaguely remember Browning from high school as the quintessential composer of blank-verse dramatic monologues, will perhaps be surprised and delighted at the range of rhythmic -- and rhyming -- patterns the poems in this collection show. Indeed, in a market fairly saturated with wonderful Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning offerings, it was savvy of acclaimed actor Greg Wagland to concentrate here on shorter, lyrical poems that I, as a casual Browning fan, was unfamiliar with.

But how, with the aforementioned embarrassment of riches, does one choose one Robert Browning audiobook? If, as publisher-critic Michael Schmidt has written, "we read [poetry] with our ears," I would rephrase this by saying that if we're lucky, we also hear it with our eyes. But I'm not lucky; unlike prose, I MUST HEAR poetry spoken (performed?) out loud, and the nature of (especially) this particular poet's oeuvre is such that he demands to be heard in dramatically polished recordings such as this one by Wagland -- the new kid on the Browning block. (You can also compare veteran voice actors David Timson and Patience Tomlinson's superb collaboration The Great Poets: Robert Browning, with James Mason's iconic portrayals of disturbed priests and uxoricidal husbands The Poetry of Browning; you can purchase 3 to 15-minute readings by Cathy Dobson, or at the other extreme Frederick Davidson's 5-hour (!) monotone marathon (Robert Browning: Selected Poems). Obviously narrators differ in vocal tone and timbre, as well as interpretive approach. For these reasons alone you and I may prefer different readers. On a theoretical continuum from straight-up reading to the over-wrought "ACTING!" so preciously satirized by Jon Lovitz's "Saturday Night Live" sketches on American television, Greg Wagland lands in the golden middle: not quite understated; pensive but not subdued. That said, unlike say Davidson (who always sounds like Davidson), Wagland's tone varies as it should depending upon the poem, and his interpretations are always moving and dead on.

The poems on this audiobook, listed in ORDER, are: 1. The Bishop Orders his Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church 2. The Lost Leader 3. Love Among the Ruins. 4. Up at a Villa, Down in the City 5. A Woman's Last Word 6. A Toccata of Galuppi's 7. Love in a Life. 8. Life in a Love. 10. Two in the Campagna 11. Dubiety 12. Apparent Failure 13. Prospice 14. Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister 15. A Grammarian's Funeral 16. Pictor Ignatius 17. My Star.

All poems but the first one rhyme. So much for high-school memories and Oscar Wilde.