Too Late by Robert Browning
A rejected lover mourns Edith, who married another man and has died, regretting that he did not press his suit. He scorns her poet husband, recalls her appearance and speech, and imagines kneeling before her in renewed devotion.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Dramatic Monologue, Love Poetry, Elegiac Poetry · 1,845 words
First lines
Here was I with my arm and heart / And brain, all yours for a word, a want / Put into a look -- just a look, your part, -- / While mine, to repay it... vainest vaunt, / Were the woman, that's dead, alive to hear, / Had her lover, that's lost, love's proof to show! / But I cannot show it; you cannot speak / From the churchyard neither, miles removed, / Though I feel by a pulse within my cheek, / Which stabs and stops, that the woman I loved / Needs help in her grave and finds none near, / Wants warmth from the heart which sends it -- so!
What this Textopian page supports
Too Late 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: Dramatic Monologue, Love Poetry, Elegiac Poetry
- Length: 1,845 words
- Structure: 1 section, 12 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Too Late by Robert Browning
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Dramatic Monologue — One speaker addresses the dead Edith, revealing his rejected love, resentment of her husband, and regrets through an uninterrupted speech.
- Love Poetry — The speaker recalls offering Edith his life and imagines renewed courtship and complete devotion to her.
- Elegiac Poetry — Edith's death prompts a sustained lament for her presence and for the chance of love that the speaker has lost.
Tags
unrequited love · bereavement · regret · jealousy · remembrance