Of Pictures and Poets: The humanist interpretation of Renaissance art in Browning’s Dramatic Lyrics and Walter Pater’s Studies in the History of the Renaissance, Aishwarya Anam

Walter Pater’s landmark Studies in the History of the Renaissance suggested that artists should attempt to capture emotive realities as best as possible even if meant subverting the purposes of moral instruction. This shift away from didactic writing, with a view to faithfully representing reality is also demonstrated time and again in Robert Browning’s poetry. This essay will suggest that his style of writing in dramatic monologues is similar to Pater’s treatment of the Renaissance, in that it identifies and illustrates the emotional or human aspects of artists and their work as opposed to focusing abstractly on technical superficial impressions.