Correct option is B
Explanation:
The correct answer is Robert Browning.
Fra Lippo Lippi is one of Robert Browning’s most famous dramatic monologues, published in 1855 as part of his collection Men and Women. The poem is based on the real-life Renaissance painter Fra Lippo Lippi and presents his reflections on art, life, and morality.
In this poem, Lippo Lippi, a monk and painter, narrates his experiences, defends his artistic philosophy, and critiques the constraints imposed by religious authorities.
Information Booster:
Robert Browning (1812–1889) – A Victorian poet famous for dramatic monologues, exploring psychological depth, irony, and historical themes.
What is a Dramatic Monologue?
Dramatic monologue, a poem written in the form of a speech of an individual character; it compresses into a single vivid scene a narrative sense of the speaker’s history and psychological insight into his character. Though the form is chiefly associated with Robert Browning, who raised it to a highly sophisticated level in such poems as “My Last Duchess,” “The Bishop Orders His Tomb at St. Praxed’s Church,” “Fra Lippo Lippi,” and “Andrea del Sarto,” it is actually much older.
-A poem in which a single speaker addresses a silent listener.
-Reveals the speaker’s character, emotions, and conflicts through speech.
Example: My Last Duchess.
Summary of Fra Lippo Lippi:
Considered one of Browning’s finest dramatic monologues, “Fra Lippo Lippi” is written in blank verse. The poem is loosely based on the life of Florentine painter Filippo Lippi (c. 1406–69) as described in Giorgio Vasari’s 16th-century Lives of the Painters. The poem relates that Lippi’s impoverished aunt had placed him in a monastery because she could not afford to raise him. His patron Cosimo de’ Medici later tries to lock the carousing monk in his quarters at night, but when Lippi escapes through a window, Cosimo grants him freedom.
-Defends his naturalistic art style, arguing that art should reflect real life rather than just religious themes.
-Criticizes the Church’s restrictions on artistic freedom.
Themes in the Poem:
-Art vs. Religion – The tension between artistic creativity and religious dogma.
-Freedom vs. Control – The speaker's struggle against imposed limitations.
-The Nature of Art – Lippi’s belief that art should be realistic and capture human emotions.
Other Famous Dramatic Monologues by Browning:
My Last Duchess
The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church
Andrea del Sarto
Additional Knowledge:
Elizabeth Barrett Browning – Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an English poet whose fame is mostly based on her love poems, Sonnets from the Portuguese and Aurora Leigh, the latter of which is generally regarded as an early feminist work. She was born on March 6, 1806, close to Durham, Durham County, England, and died on June 29, 1861, in Florence, Italy. Robert Browning was her husband.
Matthew Arnold –English Victorian poet and literary and social critic. He is best known for his classic critiques of the modern manners and tastes of the "Populace," the "Philistines," and the "Barbarians," or the aristocracy, middle class, and commercial middle class. In writings like Culture and Anarchy (1869), he became an ambassador for "culture." He has written Dover beach.
Gerard Manley Hopkins – One of the most well-known poets in England, Gerard Manley Hopkins was a Jesuit priest and poet. He was recognized as an innovator by his love of God through the use of nature and vivid imagery, as well as by his prosody, particularly his concept of sprung rhythm and curtal sonnet. Robert Bridges featured a few of Hopkins's more mature poems in anthologies after his passing in an effort to get his style more widely recognized. Wrote The Windhover.