When a soul declares itself—to wit,
By its fruit, the thing it does!”
In One Word More he describes his own poetry with keen insight:
“Love, you saw me gather men and women,
Live or dead or fashioned by my fancy,
Enter each and all and use their service,
Speak from every mouth,—the speech a poem.”
It is a mistake to say that Browning is a metaphysical poet: he is a psychological poet. His interest does not lie in the abstract problems of time and space, mind and matter, divinity and humanity. It lies in the concrete problems of opportunity and crisis, flesh and spirit, man the individual and God the person. He is an anatomist of souls.
“Take the least man of all mankind, as I;
Look at his head and heart, find how and why