This volume in the 21st-Century Oxford Authors series offers students and readers a comprehensive selection of the work of Robert Browning (1812-1889). Accompanied by full scholarly apparatus, this is the first one-volume fully annotated edition of Browning's poetry. It presents work written across the breadth of his career, from the very first poem he published, Pauline, to Asolando, the volume that was published on the day that he died. The text chosen is, wherever possible, the text of the poem as it was first published by Browning himself, and as a consequence the volume also constitutes a kind of biography that enables students to understand Browning's development over the course of his life. The edition reveals a poet who began as a bold experimentalist, and who continued to experiment throughout a writing career of more than fifty years. Browning is best known for his dramatic monologues, and the dramatic monologues are fully represented in this volume, but he was also a narrative poet, a poet of philosophical reflection, and a poet who fashioned an extraordinary variety of lyric measures. This volume reveals Browning as a far more versatile poet than he is often taken to be. There are two important prose items, an essay on Shelley and a letter to Ruskin which clarify Browning's intellectual stance. The Notes include brief headnotes to each poem followed by detailed annotation, and they assist the reader in developing a full understanding of these masterful poems. Explanatory notes and commentary are included, to enhance the study, understanding, and enjoyment of these works, and the edition includes an Introduction to the life and works of Browning, and a Chronology.

About the Author
Richard Cronin has published very widely on nineteenth-century literature. After teaching for many years at the University of Glasgow, he has recently been appointed to a chair at Oxford Brookes University. Dorothy McMillan is an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Glasgow, and has published widely with a particular focus on Scottish literature and poetry by women.

Reviews
This splendidly edited selection of Robert Browning's poetry is the ideal one-volume edition for undergraduate study. Richard Cronin and Dorothy McMillan choose expertly from the whole range of the poetry, convincing one of the importance of the later work as well as underscoring the magnificent achievement of the more widely read earlier verse and including the important Essay on Shelley; their vibrant introduction relishes Browning's originality and unexpectedness, and their annotations are informative and critically suggestive. With its attractively clean reading texts and editorial savvy, the volume brings Browning thrillingly to life. * Michael O'Neill, Durham University *
This essential edition seems to prove that poetry is best examined by two people. Cronin and McMillan have wonderful ears and eyes for Browning's work. The annotations are inspiring, insightful, revealing and surprising. Browning's late work finally gets the attention it deserves too. A beautifully accessible achievement in Browning scholarship. * John Gardner, Anglia Ruskin University *
In addition to a useful and judicious selection of Browning's poems, this volume includes three letters by Browning and his Essay on Shelley.' The annotations are learned and lucid. * T. Hoagwood, CHOICE *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198797623
Author Richard Cronin
Format Paperback
Page Count 900
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 844g
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 141mm * 39mm