Abstract

Even a cursory look at the body of Robert Browning's poetry reveals his love of music. For Browning, music was the supreme communicator of Soul, and his concern with injecting musical awareness into his written words was specifically to awaken his readers' empathy, consciousness or Soul. He used a variety of means to incorporate music into language, ranging from describing his own feelings about music, to simulating musical forms and analysing musicians and the effects of their music on an audience. Paradoxically, Browning's unique musical ear produced some versification which many of his contemporaries found unmusical; but his purpose was always dramatic in that he chose language and metrics which suited his characters and the atmosphere of the poems. In this fusion of drama, word and music, Browning emulated a composer of opera. Like the composer of opera, too, Browning wanted to present his readers with images that would move them emotionally: he wanted to reach their Souls.