Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society
"Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society" is a long poem by Robert Browning, first published in 1871.[1]
Overview
The poem, which takes the French Emperor Napoleon III as its subject, was largely written in Florence in the early 1860s before apparently being abandoned. It appears that the poem was largely forgotten while Browning worked on Dramatis Personae and The Ring and the Book, which raised his profile and commercial appeal. In 1871, following the Franco-Prussian War and the forced end of Napoleon's reign, Browning dusted off his lengthy poem and made some revisions and additions before publishing it as Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau in December 1871.
Sales were initially very strong, with more than one and a half thousand copies being sold in the first week, but they soon tailed off sharply; the poem's length and complexity apparently put off prospective readers, and the first printing run failed to sell out. No second edition was ever required. Some critics have called this poem the least-read of all Browning's works, though unlike Sordello 31 years earlier, the poem's reception had no discernible damaging effect on his continued popularity and strong critical reputation.
References
- ^ "Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 23 February 2024.
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- Strafford (1837)
- Pippa Passes (1841)
- King Victor and King Charles (1842)
- The Return of the Druses (1843)
- A Blot in the 'Scutcheon (1843)
- Colombe's Birthday (1844)
- Luria (1846)
- A Soul's Tragedy (1846)
- In a Balcony (1855)
and poems
- Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession (1833)
- Paracelsus (1835)
- "Porphyria's Lover" (1836)
- "Johannes Agricola in Meditation" (1836)
- Sordello (1840)
- Dramatic Lyrics (1842, "My Last Duchess", "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister", "Count Gismond")
- Dramatic Romances and Lyrics (1845, "Home-Thoughts, from Abroad", "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix", "Meeting at Night", "The Laboratory", "The Lost Leader")
- Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day (1850)
- Men and Women (1855, "Love Among the Ruins", "Evelyn Hope", "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came", "Andrea del Sarto", "Fra Lippo Lippi", "A Toccata of Galuppi's")
- Dramatis Personæ (1864, "Rabbi ben Ezra", "Caliban upon Setebos")
- The Ring and the Book (1868–9)
- Balaustion's Adventure (1871)
- Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society (1871)
- Fifine at the Fair (1872)
- Red Cotton Night-Cap Country (1873)
- Aristophanes' Apology (1875)
- The Inn Album (1875)
- Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper (1876)
- The Agamemnon of Aeschylus (1877)
- La Saisiaz and The Two Poets of Croisic (1878)
- Dramatic Idyls (1879, 1880)
- Jocoseria (1883)
- Ferishtah's Fancies (1884)
- Parleyings with Certain People of Importance in Their Day (1887)
- Asolando (1889)
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning (wife)
- Robert Barrett Browning (son)
- Casa Guidi
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