VII. He always uses the measure most appropriate to his subject, whether
it be the ten-syllabled blank verse which makes up "The Ring and the
Book," the separate dramatic monologues, and nearly all the dramas, or
the heroic rhymed verse which occurs in "Sordello" and "Fifine at the
Fair;" or one of the lyrical measures, of which his slighter poems
contain almost, if not quite, every known form.[6]

VIII. He takes no liberties with unusual measures; though he takes any
admissible liberty with the usual measures, which will interrupt their
monotony, and strengthen their effect.

IX. He eschews many vulgarisms or inaccuracies which custom has
sanctioned, both in prose and verse, such as, "thou _wert_;" "better
than _them_ all;" "he _need_ not;" "he _dare_ not." The universal "I
_had_ better;" "I _had_ rather," is abhorrent to him.[7]

X. No prosaic turns or tricks of language are ever associated in his
verse with a poetic mood.

THE CONTINUOUS CHARACTER OF HIS WORK.

The writer of a handbook to Mr. Browning's poetry must contend with
exceptional difficulties, growing out of what I have tried to describe
as the unity in variety of Mr. Browning's poetic life. This unity of
course impresses itself on his works; and in order to give a systematic
survey of them, we must treat as a collection of separate facts what is
really a living whole; and seek to give the impression of that whole by
a process of classification which cuts it up alive. Mr. Browning's work
is, to all intents and purposes, one group; and though we may divide and
subdivide it for purposes of illustration, the division will be always
more or less artificial, and, unless explained away, more or less
misleading. We cannot even divide it into periods, for if the first
three poems represent the author's intellectual youth, the remainder are
one long maturity; while even in these the poetic faculty shows itself
full-grown. We cannot trace in it the evidence of successive manners
like those of Raphael, or successive moods like those of Shakespeare;
or, if we do, this is neutralized by the simple fact that Mr. Browning's
productive career has been infinitely longer than was Raphael's, and
considerably so than Shakespeare's; and that changes which meant the
development of a genius in their case, mean the course of a life in his.

And this is the central fact of the case. Mr. Browning's work is
himself. His poetic genius was in advance of his general growth, but