Poet
Robert Browning
English poet · 1812–1889
Meeting at NightMy Last DuchessPippa's Song
Robert Browning perfected the dramatic monologue — poems spoken by invented characters whose words reveal more than they intend. In his own lifetime he was half of literature's most famous marriage, having wooed and secretly wed the poet Elizabeth Barrett.
"Meeting at Night" distills his early romantic urgency into twelve breathless lines, while "Pippa's Song" gave English its most quoted morning optimism: "God's in his heaven— / All's right with the world!"
44 poems by Robert Browning
Full text, free to read — all in the public domain.
- Meeting at NightThe grey sea and the long black land;…12 lines
- A FaceIf one could have that little head of hers…22 lines
- A Light WomanSo far as our story approaches the end,…56 lines
- A Pretty WomanThat fawn-skin-dappled hair of hers,…72 lines
- A Toccata of Galuppi'sOh Galuppi, Baldassaro, this is very sad to find!…45 lines
- A WallO the old wall here! How I could pass…24 lines
- A Woman's Last WordLet's contend no more, Love,…40 lines
- Abt Vogler: After he has been extemporizing upon the musical instrument of his inventionWould that the structure brave, the manifold music I build,…96 lines
- Apparent FailureNo, for I'll save it! Seven years since…63 lines
- ApparitionsSuch a starved bank of moss…12 lines
- Cavalier TunesKentish Sir Byng stood for his King,…61 lines
- ConfessionsWhat is he buzzing in my ears?…36 lines
- "De Gustibus—"Your ghost will walk, you lover of trees,…46 lines
- Epilogue to "Asolando"At the midnight in the silence of the sleep-time,…20 lines
- Evelyn HopeBeautiful Evelyn Hope is dead!…56 lines
- Fears and ScruplesHere's my case. Of old I used to love him.…48 lines
- Home Thoughts, From AbroadOh, to be in England…20 lines
- Home-Thoughts, From the SeaNobly, nobly, Cape Saint Vincent to the Northwest died away;…7 lines
- How They Brought the Good News From Ghent to AixI sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;…60 lines
- Incident of the French CampYou know, we French stormed Ratisbon:…40 lines
- Instans TyrannusOf the million or two, more or less,…72 lines
- Love Among the RuinsWhere the quiet-coloured end of evening smiles…84 lines
- MemorabiliaAh, did you once see Shelley plain,…16 lines
- MisconceptionsThis is a spray the bird clung to,…14 lines
- My Last DuchessThat's my last Duchess painted on the wall,…56 lines
- My StarAll that I know…13 lines
- Natural MagicAll I can say is — I saw it!…18 lines
- Porphyria's LoverThe rain set early in to-night,…60 lines
- ProspiceFear death? to feel the fog in my throat,…28 lines
- ProtusAmong these latter busts we count by scores,…57 lines
- Songs From Pippa PassesDay!…44 lines
- Summum BonumAll the breath and the bloom of the year in the bag of one bee:…8 lines
- The Boy and the AngelMorning, evening, noon, and night,…78 lines
- The Heretic's Tragedy: A Middle-Age InterludeThe Lord, we look to once for all,…92 lines
- The Laboratory (Ancien Regime)Now that I, tying thy glass mask tightly,…48 lines
- The Lost LeaderJust for a handful of silver he left us,…32 lines
- The Patriot: An Old StoryIt was roses, roses, all the way,…30 lines
- The TwinsGrand rough old Martin Luther…28 lines
- Time's RevengesI've a Friend, over the sea;…66 lines
- TraySing me a hero! Quench my thirst…46 lines
- Up at a Villa—Down in the City_(As distinguished by an Italian person of quality.)_…67 lines
- Why I am a Liberal"Why?" Because all I haply can and do,…14 lines
- Youth and ArtIt once might have been, once only:…68 lines
- Pippa's SongPippa…10 lines