A Lovers' Quarrel by Robert Browning
With his beloved absent on a bright March morning, a speaker remembers their affectionate games and conversations while snowbound three months earlier. He attributes their quarrel to a hasty word, imagines winter hardship bringing forgiveness, and ends by confidently expecting her return.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Love Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Dramatic Monologue · 1,430 words
First lines
Oh, what a dawn of day! / How the March sun feels like May! / All is blue again / After last night's rain, / And the South dries the hawthorn-spray. / Only, my Love's away! / I 'd as lief that the blue were gray.
Runnels, which rillets swell, / Must be dancing down the dell, / With a foaming head / On the beryl bed / Paven smooth as a hermit's cell; / Each with a tale to tell, / Could my Love but attend as well.
What this Textopian page supports
A Lovers' Quarrel is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Browning, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Browning
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Love Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Dramatic Monologue
- Length: 1,430 words
- Structure: 1 section, 22 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for A Lovers' Quarrel by Robert Browning
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph
Genres
- Love Poetry — The speaker recalls mutual affection, pleads with his absent beloved over their quarrel, and anticipates forgiveness.
- Lyric Poetry — Rhymed seven-line stanzas move between remembered winter intimacy and the speaker's present longing.
- Dramatic Monologue — One speaker addresses an absent woman, defending his hasty word and imagining how she might forgive him.
Tags
lovers' quarrels · separation · longing · winter memories · forgiveness · hoped-for reunion