Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper

Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper is a short collection of English poems by Robert Browning, published in 1876.[1]: 93  The collection marked Browning's first collection of short pieces for more than twelve years. It received a mixed reception.[1]: 93–94  The title poem, which ostensibly discusses the life and works of 15th-century Italian painter Giacomo Pacchiarotti, is actually a thinly veiled attack on Browning's own critics, in particular Alfred Austin,[1]: 93–94  and many other pieces in the collection take the same tone.

Contents

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  • Prologue
  • Of Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper
  • At the "Mermaid"
  • House
  • Shop
  • Pisgah-Sights
  • Fears and Scruples
  • Natural Magic
  • Magical Nature
  • Bifurcation
  • Numpholeptos
  • Appearances
  • St. Martin's Summer
  • Hervé Riel
  • A Forgiveness
  • Cenciaja
  • Filippo Baldinucci on the Privilege of Burial
  • Epilogue

Reception

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William Lyon Phelps called the poem Pachiarotto "an error in judgment".[1]: 94  Park Honan and Edward Irvine regarded it as indicating "a growing perversity not wholly attributable to old age, a new failure in self-control and more deeply in self-assurance."[1]: 94 

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Crowder, Ashby Bland (1989). "Browning and How He Worked in Good Temper: A Study of the Revisions of "Pacchiarotto"". Browning Institute Studies. 17. Cambridge University Press: 93–113. ISSN 0092-4725. Retrieved 21 November 2024.