Room after room,
I hunt the house through
We inhabit together.
Heart, fear nothing, for, heart, thou shalt find her―
Next time, herself!―not the trouble behind her
Left in the curtain, the couch’s perfume!
As she brushed it, the cornice-wreath blossomed anew :
Yon looking-glass gleamed at the wave of her feather.
Yet the day wears,
And door succeeds door;
I try the fresh fortune―
Range the wide house from the wing to the centre.
Still the same chance! She goes out as I enter.
Spend my whole day in the quest,―who cares?
But ’tis twilight, you see,―with such suites to explore,
Such closets to search, such alcoves to importune!
Robert Browning
Notes on "Love in a life"
Robert Browning (1812-1889) was not a love poet as such. For the most part, he wrote historical and narrative poems and various experimental poetry in the form of dramatic monologues. His
romantic courtship and secret marriage to Elizabeth Barrett Browning
made him a celebrated figure of romantic love poetry however. This poem, Love in a life, was part of Men and
Women, a book of 51 poems written in Italy and published in 1855, after he had married Elizabeth Barrett. The book
helped to repair his reputation, which had been suffered at the hands of critics in 1840 when he published Sordello.
This poem is perhaps a pair with "Life in a Love" from the same book.
Robert Browning (1812-1889) was a prolific poet of the victorian age. He did not achieve fame, however, until relatively late in life. His unconventional style and experimentation tended to confuse Victorian readers. His fascination with horror tales is in some ways reminiscent of Edgar Allan Poe.
He is perhaps most famous today for his marriage to Elizabeth Barrett. He published a volume that included love poems, Men and Women, in 1855. Some of these poems were later recognized as masterpieces. His 20,000 line The Ring and the Book published in 1868 and 1869, was evidently inspired by Elizabeth Barrett, and achieved the fame that had eluded him earlier.
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