Browning's Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day as Meditational Verse

Abstract

Robert Browning's Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day has eluded generic identification. One possible solution to this critical problem is to view the poem as falling within the tradition of meditational verse. Evidence for such a reading may be drawn from a look at the origin of the poem as well as the literary relationship between Browning and John Donne. This essay offers a reading of the poem that focuses on identifying and illustrating its characteristics as a meditation.