Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 December 1903 — A Picture of Browning. [ARTICLE]

A Picture of Browning.

it ti «ald that when Robert Browning waa an Infant hi* father would and him to sleep by humming odea of Anacreon and that he taught the boy the word* he wished him to remember by joining them to a grotesque rhyme. Perhaps this last mental exercise had something to do with the poet’s exasperating style. Misa Corkrnn records thus her first ehildiah impressions of Browning: “I had pictured to myself poets as ethereal beings. It gave me a shock to see Mr. Browning eat with avidity so much bread’ and butter and big slices of cake. He never uttered a word that in nuy way suggested a poetical thought. His ecat, trousers aud gloves were according to the fashion of the time, his voice loud and cheerful, his thick ha!r sel brushed. Altogether, in my oplnl n, he looked a prosperous man of busings.” Elsewhere Miss Corkrnn records Browning’s comment up:n the charge that he was too fond of “society.” He admitted frankly: “I do like to be witli refined people who appreciate me. It la a pleasure. Wealthy people have leisure to read, and their houses are j pleasant. I am not ashamed to eonfees that I do enjoy belli? with cil tured folk. Besides, I find that mixing with others and the friction of ideas are necessary to a writer.”