It is worth remembering too that in later years Browning hated to write poetry, and nothing but a sense of duty kept him during the long mornings at his desk. He felt the responsibility of genius without its inspiration.
Browning has given a little trouble to bibliographers by redistributing the poems originally published in the three works, _Dramatic Lyrics_ (1842), _Dramatic Romances and Lyrics_ (1845), and _Men and Women_ (1855). The _Dramatic Lyrics_ at first contained sixteen pieces; the _Dramatic Romances and Lyrics_ twenty-three; the _Men and Women_ fifty-one. In the final arrangement the first of these included fifty; the second, called simply _Dramatic Romances_, twenty-five; whilst the last was reduced to thirteen. He also changed the titles of many of the poems, revised the text somewhat, classified two separate poems under one title, _Claret and Tokay_, and _Here's to Nelson's Memory_, under the heading _Nationality in Drinks_, and united the two sections of _Saul_ in one poem. It is notable that he omitted not one, and indeed it is remarkable that with the exception of _The Boy and the Angel_, _A Lover's Quarrel_, _Mesmerism_, and _Another Way of Love_, every poem in the long list has the indubitable touch of genius; and even these four are not the worst of Browning's compositions.
It would have seemed to us perhaps more fitting if Browning had grouped the contents of all three works under the one heading _Men and Women_; for that would fairly represent the sole subject of his efforts. Perhaps he felt that the title was too general, and as a matter of fact, it would apply equally well to his complete poetical works. I think, however, that he especially loved the appellation _Dramatic Lyrics_, for he put over half of the poems finally under that category. The word "dramatic" obsessed Browning.
What is a dramatic lyric? When Tennyson published in 1842 his _Ulysses_, a Yankee farmer in America made in one sentence three remarks about it: a statement and two prophecies. He said that _Ulysses_ belonged to a high class of poetry, destined to be the highest, and to be more cultivated in the next generation. Now _Ulysses_ is both a dramatic lyric and a dramatic monologue, and Tennyson never wrote anything better than this poem. As it became increasingly evident that the nineteenth century was not going to have a great literary dramatic movement on the stage, while at the same time the interest in human nature had never been keener, the poets began to turn their attention to the interpretation of humanity by the representation of historical or imaginary individuals speaking: and their speech was to reveal the secrets of the human soul, in its tragedy and comedy, in its sublimity and baseness, in its nobility and folly. Later in life Tennyson cultivated sedulously the dramatic monologue; and Browning, the most original force in literature that the century produced, after abandoning his early attempts at success on the stage, devoted practically the entire strength of his genius to this form of poetry. Emerson was a wise man.