Editing Robert Browning (section)

===Marriage===
{{See also|Elizabeth Barrett Browning}}
[[File:Thomas B. Read (American, 1822-1872) - Portraits of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning.jpg|thumb|Portraits of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning.]]
[[File:Clasped Hands of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning MET DT8282.jpg|thumb|''[[Clasped Hands of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning]]'', 1853 by [[Harriet Hosmer]].]]

In 1845, Browning met the poet [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning|Elizabeth Barrett]], six years his senior, who lived as a semi-invalid in her father's house in [[Wimpole Street]], London. They began regularly corresponding and gradually a romance developed between them, leading to their marriage and journey to Italy (for Elizabeth's health) on 12 September 1846.<ref name="Karlin10">Browning, Robert. Ed. Karlin, Daniel (2004) ''Selected Poems'' Penguin p10</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/182 |title=Robert Browning|website=poets.org |access-date=7 May 2020}}</ref> The marriage was initially secret because Elizabeth's domineering father disapproved of marriage for any of his children. Mr. Barrett disinherited Elizabeth, as he did each of his children who married: "The Mrs. Browning of popular imagination was a sweet, innocent young woman who suffered endless cruelties at the hands of a tyrannical papa but who nonetheless had the good fortune to fall in love with a dashing and handsome poet named Robert Browning."<ref>Peterson, William S. ''Sonnets From The Portuguese''. Massachusetts: Barre Publishing, 1977.</ref> At her husband's insistence, the second edition of Elizabeth's ''Poems'' included her love sonnets. The book increased her popularity and high critical regard, cementing her position as an eminent Victorian poet. Upon [[William Wordsworth]]'s death in 1850, she was a serious contender to become [[Poet Laureate]], the position eventually going to [[Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson|Tennyson]].

From the time of their marriage and until Elizabeth's death, the Brownings lived in Italy, residing first in [[Pisa]], and then, within a year, finding an apartment in [[Florence]] at [[Casa Guidi]] (now a museum to their memory).<ref name="Karlin10"/> Their only child, [[Robert Barrett Browning|Robert Wiedemann Barrett Browning]], nicknamed "Penini" or "Pen", was born in 1849.<ref name="Karlin10"/> In these years Browning was fascinated by, and learned from, the art and atmosphere of Italy. He would, in later life, describe Italy as his university. As Elizabeth had inherited money of her own, the couple were reasonably comfortable in Italy, and their relationship together was happy. However, the literary assault on Browning's work did not let up and he was critically dismissed further, by patrician writers such as [[Charles Kingsley]], for deserting England.<ref name="Karlin10"/>