Robert Browning interests musicians because he was a major poet as well as a competent musician. Music was a central theme in his poetry and formed the basis for many of his images and ideas. This unusual element compels musicological criticism as well as literary. The subject of Nachum Schoffman's book is the nature of Browning's musicality and the role and influence of music in his poetry.
Schoffman carries the musicological analysis of Browning's poetry to its logical conclusions, revealing more than other literary critics have of the poet's musicality. On the basis of his analysis, he advances two new ideas. First, he identifies the piece described in the poem
A Toccata of Galuppi's
as the Sonata in F Major. Second, he offers a new interpretation of the relationship between words and music in Browning's music poems. Schoffman's unique musicological perspective enriches our understanding of one of the great nineteenth century poets. His book is required reading for scholars and students of Browning and those involved in interdisciplinary approaches to literature.