intellectual processes, there is a quite unmatched agility and
dexterity. Probably no two forms of poetry contain more of Browning's
most noteworthy work than the lyric, especially the reflective love
lyric, and that form which is distinctively his own, the dramatic
monologue. In his best poems in this last form he has no competitor. It
is in the presentation of character through the medium of dramatic
monologue that he most fully reveals the unerring precision of his
analysis, his lightning glance into the heart of a mystery, the ease
with which he tracks a motive or mood or thought to its last hiding
place, and his consequent passion and fire of sympathy or scorn.

Finally, whether we consider Browning's style or subject matter or
philosophy of life, we become growingly conscious of his force. The
"clear Virgilian line" of Tennyson is the outcome of a nature
instinctively aristocratic and aloof. Browning is out in the thick of
the fight and almost vociferously demands a hearing. Whatever makes his
thought clear, vivid, active, forcible, seems to him, however prosaic it
may appear at first glance, proper poetic material. The immediate effect
of his verse is the rousing of the mind to great issues. His tremendous
sincerity results in a dispelling of mists, a stripping off of husks.
His demand for the truth is a trumpet note of challenge to our doubt or
fear or indifference. His penetrating study of human problems leads to
an inevitable widening of the horizon of comprehension and sympathy on
the part of his readers. And his courage and optimism constitute an
inspiration and stimulus of an uncommonly virile sort.

It has been said that Browning is "not a poet, but a literature," and in
work so vast and varied that it can be thus characterized there must be
wide extremes of value. It is almost certain that portions of his work
cannot live. They are too difficult, too unliterary. But in the portions
where great thought finds adequate form, the product is a priceless gift
and one not equaled by any other poet of his age.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: _The Century_, December, 1881, Vol. XXIII, pp. 189-200.]

[Footnote 2: See the article by Mr. F. J. Furnivall in the _Pall Mall
Gazette_ for April, 1890.]

[Footnote 3: The first production of _Pippa Passes_ was given in Copley
Hall, Boston, in 1899, with an arrangement in six scenes by Miss Helen
A. Clarke. _The Return of the Druses_ was arranged and presented by Miss
Char