Review of The Ring and the Book, by Robert Browning, within Athenaeum, issue 2148

Review of The Ring and the Book, by Robert Browning, within Athenaeum, issue 2148

Buchanan, Robert Williams

London: New Statesman Ltd., 1868. Athenaeum, issue 2148, 1868-12-26, pp. 875-6

Internet Archive

1868

George Eliot to John Blackwood, 31 December 1868. “I have been reading "The Ring and the Book" aloud to Mr. Lewes. At present it verifies the fear we have always had when we have heard Browning talk of the poem, namely that the subject is too void of fine elements to bear the elaborate treatment he has given to it. It is not really anything more than a criminal trial, and without any of the pathetic or awful psychological interest which is sometimes (though very rarely) to be found in such stories of crime. I deeply regret that he has spent his powers on a subject which seems to me unworthy of them. But I should not choose to say this in ordinary talk: I should choose to be silent on the whole matter. The review in the Athenaeum especially was a laughable mixture of impertinence and attempted compliment. I thought it bore the stamp of the great Dixonian seal. I recognize the often recurring phrases -- "breadth of tone," "warmth of colour" and "certainty of outline."” GEL 4: 501

Buchanan, Robert Williams, Review of The Ring and the Book, by Robert Browning, within Athenaeum, issue 2148, George Eliot's Reading, George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/57155

https://georgeeliotarchive.org/files/original/3eb534a63d0329ba51921c2fcc18134f.pdf