ABSTRACT
These, as much as any of Mr. Browning’s previous works, except perhaps Sordello, demand faith and patience. The nut is undeniably hard to crack. Whether the kernel is worth the labour of getting at it, we shall not stay to argue… His poetry is not to be taken up to occupy an idle moment or to charm away an incipient headache. People who want poetry to serve such ends as these must go elsewhere… The present volume confirms the verdict which has already placed Mr. Browning in the foremost rank of modern poets.
