The Poetical Works of Robert Browning: Volume IV
Volume IV: Bells and Pomegranates VII-VIII (Dramatic Romances and Lyrics, Luria, a Soul's Tragedy) and Christma
Published on 24. January 1991
Book
Hardback
478 pages
978-0-19-812789-5 (ISBN)
Description
`Browning really comes back to life in the marvellous third volume of the new Oxford Browning', wrote John Bayley, choosing it as one of his Books of the Year for 1988. While Volume III included six of the eight Bells and Pomegranates pamphlets, the present volume completes the series and includes the most remarkable of all, Dramatic Romances and Lyrics. Here we find `Pictor Ignotus', `The Lost Leader', `The Bishop orders his Tomb', `The Laboratory', `The Boy and the Angel', and the first part of `Saul'. Also included are Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day and the essay on Shelley.
As the Times Literary Supplement reviewer of the earlier volumes commented, `readers of a poet like this need all the help they can get; and Jack and Smith have provided it in abundance.' Each poem is fully annotated, and accompanied by a detailed introduction which provides information on the chronology of composition and on Browning's sources.
As the Times Literary Supplement reviewer of the earlier volumes commented, `readers of a poet like this need all the help they can get; and Jack and Smith have provided it in abundance.' Each poem is fully annotated, and accompanied by a detailed introduction which provides information on the chronology of composition and on Browning's sources.
Reviews / Votes
`excellent text produced in Oxford from Browning's last supervised edition with judicious editorial corrections. This is indeed essentially a purified version of the canonical texts we all know ... In addition, the editing is based on full reference to the Brownings' correspondence, manuscripts, proof sheets, and corrected copies of various sorts, and provides authoritative information about the publishing history and revisions.'Victorian Poetry, Vol 31, No 3/Autumn 1993 `excellent ... detailed in its bibliographical information'
Eric Griffiths, Times Literary Supplement `All readers of Browning will have their appreciation enhanced by the fine work here. Like the preceding volumes, this one is meticulously researched and edited, ...The text as a whole is well laid out and easy to read. The editors have examined meticulously the 1888-9 text in the light of all previous texts and Browning's known corrections. What they give us is something as near as it is possible to get to Browning's final wishes: the 1888-9 text without its blemishes. ... The annotation is excellent, never heavy or irrelevant, but always incisive and to the point; it comes out of a wide acquaintance with Browning's reading, and with all relevant contemporary matter.'Stefan Hawlin, Review of English Studies
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Oxford University Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
frontispiece
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
803 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-812789-5 (9780198127895)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Author
Editor
Emeritus Professor of EnglishEmeritus Professor of English, University of Cambridge
Staff Tutor in LiteratureStaff Tutor in Literature, University of Bristol
Honorary Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Research in the HumanitiesHonorary Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Research in the Humanities, University of Birmingham
Content
Textual introduction; References and abbreviations; Introduction to Dramatic Romances and Lyrics; Dramatic Romances and Lyrics; Introduction to Luria; Luria; Introduction to A Soul's Tragedy; A Soul's Tragedy; Introduction to Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day; Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day; Appendices: A. Browning's Essay on Shelley; B. Fugitives; C. Index of the titles and first lines of the poems in Dramatic Lyrics and Dramatic Romances and Lyrics; Additions and corrections to volumes I-III