Publisher's Synopsis
An audio celebration of the romantic union of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barret Browning, two of the greatest Victorian poets
Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, best-known for their famous love poetry, are celebrated in this two-cassette recording, which presents some of their most highly regarded poems within a biographical framework.
Acclaimed in her own time as a successor to William Wordsworth as poet laureate of England, Elizabeth Barrett Browning is best known for the 44 intensely personal poems, Sonnets from the Portuguese, written during her courtship with Robert Browning. This collection includes the famous sonnet that begins "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways". Robert Browning, master of the dramatic soliloquy, helped usher in the modern era of poetry with such famous poems as "My Last Duchess" and "Fra Lippo Lippi".
The first cassette is a "dialogue" of poetry between the two, including selections from their letters to one another and additional biographical material. This format particularly suits the Brownings, who were united not only as husband and wife, but as writers who shared and debated ideas, values, and literary craft. Actress Joanna David reads the poems and letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Steven Pacey reads the work of Robert Browning, and Sean Barrett reads the biographical material and linking narration. The second cassette contains some of these poets' best-loved verses in their entirety -- Elizabeth's on one side and Robert's on the other.
