Romantic has meant many things as we've worked our way through the history of British literature.​

​

​Beowulf? The Tempest? Les Miserables?

​Romantic? Depends what you mean...

​

​One of the most famous romances in history, Robert fell in love with his future wife's poetry. It wasn't until after her death that he became really well known as a poet.

​

Romance in real life

​When you tell a story alone on the stage, you're monologuing. It can be done well or poorly. Browning got that and made his work be revealing character through his poems.

​

Dramatic monologues

Browning's early works were book length poems. Pauline and Paracelsus didn't sell well when they were published.​

​

​What do we like that's long?

​Super long poems are a hard sell.

​