Most of Browning's education came from home. He was an extremely bright and intellegent child. He was a voracious reader and learned Latin, Greek, French, and Italian by the time he was fourteen years old. He attended the University of London in 1828, the first year it opened. However; he left in discontent to pursue his own reading at his own pace. This somewhat idiosyncratic but extensive education has led to difficulties for his readers because he did not always realize ow obscure his references and allusions really were.
In the 1930's he met actor William Macready and tried several times to write verse drama for the stage. At about the same time he discovered that his real talents lay in taking a single character and allowing him to discover himself to us by revealing more of himself in his speeches than he suspects-the characteristics of Dramatic Monologue. The reviews of Paracelsus (1835) had been encouraging, but the difficulty and obsurity of his long poem, Sordello (1840) turned the critics against him. For many years they continued to complain of obscurity even in his shorter, more accessible lyrics.
In 1845, Browning saw Elizabeth Barrett's poems and contrived to meet her. Although she was an invalid and very much under the control of a domineering father, the two meet and were married in September 1846. A few days later they eloped to Italy, where they lived until her death in 1861. The years in Florence were among the happiest for the couple. Her love for him was demonstrated in the Sonnets from the Portugese and to her he dedicated Men and Women, which contains his best poetry. Public sympathy for him after her death (she was a much more popular poet during their lifetimes) surely helped the critcal reception of his Collected Poems in 1862 and Dramtis Personae in 1863.
The Ring and the Book (1868-1869), based on an "old yellow book" which told of a Roman murder and trial, finally won him considerable popularity. he and Afred Lord Tennyson were now mentioned together as the foremost poets of the age. Although he lived and wrote actively for another twenty years, the late 60's were the peak of his career. His influence continued to grow, however; and finally lead to the founding of the Browning Society in 1881. He died in 1889, on the same day that is final volume of verse, Asolando, was published. He is buried in the Poet's Corner of Westminister Abbey.
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