A Browning Chronology

Several thousand letters to and from Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning have survived, together with other information on the composition and context of works from Barrett's "Line on Virtue" written at the age of eight in 1814 to Browning's "Asolando" (1889). The chronology seeks to guide readers through this material in three main sections: youth, contrasting early backgrounds and careers, and growing interest in each other's work to 1845; courtship, marriage, Italy, and work including "Aurora Leigh" and "Men and Women" (1845-61); and Browning's later life of relentless socializing and prolific writing from his return to London to his death in Venice in 1889. The book provides not only dating but matter on such topics as the Brownings' extensive reading in English, French and classical literature, their many friendships, and their sometimes conflicting political beliefs.