1. Life and literary activity of Robert Browning. Analysis of Robert Browning's works

Sources for further study -The Life and Letters of Browning, by Mrs Sutherland Orr (1891), one of his most intimate friends in later years, and The Love Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, 1845-1846, published by his son in 1899, are the main authorities. A collection of Browning’s poems in 2 vols. appeared in 1849, another in 3 vols. in 1863, another in 6 vols. in 1868, and a revised edition in 16 vols. in 1888-1889; in 1896 Mr Augustine Birrell and Mr F.G. Kenyon edited a complete edition in 2 vols.; another two-volume edition was issued by Messrs Smith, Elder in 1900.
Among commentaries on Browning’s works, Mrs Sutherland Orr’s Handbook to the Works of Browning was approved by the poet himself. See also the Browning Society’s Papers; and Mr T.J. Wise’s Materials for a Bibliography of the Writings of Robert Browning, included in the Literary Anecdotes of the Nineteenth Century (1895), by W. Robertson Nicoll and T.J. Wise; Mr. Edmund Gosse’s Robert Browning: Personalia (1890), from notes supplied by Browning himself.
2. Analysis of Robert Browning's works.
'The Confessional' by Robert Browning is a dramatic monologue depicting a woman's story about losing her lover due to the betrayal of a priest who uses her naivety against her.
Robert Browning’s ‘The Confessional‘ is a dramatic monologue written in thirteen stanzas that tells a story of betrayal and naivety. The main protagonist is a woman attempting to save her and her lover’s souls from sin. The main antagonist is a priest who uses the woman’s blind faith to gather information about her lover to provide evidence to hang her lover. 
The Confessional
Robert Browning
I.It is a lie—their Priests, their Pope,Their Saints, their... all they fear or hopeAre lies, and lies—there! through my doorAnd ceiling, there! and walls and floor,There, lies, they lie—shall still be hurledTill spite of them I reach the world!
II.You think Priests just and holy men!Before they put me in this denI was a human creature too,With flesh and blood like one of you,A girl that laughed in beauty’s prideLike lilies in your world outside.
III.I had a lover—shame avaunt!This poor wrenched body, grim and gaunt,Was kissed all over till it burned,By lips the truest, love e’er turnedHis heart’s own tint: one night they kissedMy soul out in a burning mist.
IV.So, next day when the accustomed trainOf things grew round my sense again,‘That is a sin,’ I said: and slowWith downcast eyes to church I go,And pass to the confession-chair,And tell the old mild father there.
V.But when I falter Beltran’s name,‘Ha?’ quoth the father; ‘much I blame’The sin; yet wherefore idly grieve?‘Despair not—strenuously retrieve!’Nay, I will turn this love of thine‘To lawful love, almost divine;
VI.’For he is young, and led astray,‘This Beltran, and he schemes, men say,’To change the laws of church and state'So, thine shall be an angel’s fate,‘Who, ere the thunder breaks, should roll’Its cloud away and save his soul.
VII.‘For, when he lies upon thy breast,’Thou mayst demand and be possessed‘Of all his plans, and next day steal’To me, and all those plans reveal,‘That I and every priest, to purge’His soul, may fast and use the scourge.'
VIII.That father’s beard was long and white,With love and truth his brow seemed bright;I went back, all on fire with joy,And, that same evening, bade the boyTell me, as lovers should, heart-free,Something to prove his love of me.
IX.He told me what he would not tellFor hope of heaven or fear of hell;And I lay listening in such pride!And, soon as he had left my side,Tripped to the church by morning-lightTo save his soul in his despite.
X.I told the father all his schemes,Who were his comrades, what their dreams;‘And now make haste,’ I said, ‘to pray’The one spot from his soul away;‘To-night he comes, but not the same’Will look!' At night he never came.
XI.Nor next night: on the after-morn,I went forth with a strength new-born.The church was empty; something drewMy steps into the street; I knewIt led me to the market-place:Where, lo, on high, the father’s face!
XII.That horrible black scaffold dressed,That stapled block... God sink the rest!That head strapped back, that blinding vest,Those knotted hands and naked breast,Till near one busy hangman pressed,And, on the neck these arms caressed...
XIII.No part in aught they hope or fear!No heaven with them, no hell!—and here,No earth, not so much space as pensMy body in their worst of densBut shall bear God and man my cry,Lies—lies, again—and still, they lie!
Explore The Confessional
Summary
A story of tragedy, love, and betrayal, ‘The Confessional‘ by Robert Browning tells the story of two lovers and a holy man who betrays them.
The poem is about a woman who confesses her and her lover’s sins upon the request of a priest who says he will wash their sins away. But, the priest betrays the woman, instead hanging her lover and imprisoning her, never cleansing their souls. Structure and Form
‘The Confessional‘ is thirteen stanzas long, each stanza following an AABBCC format, with six lines in each stanza. The poem is a dramatic monologue, a type that often does not consistently have a strict structure across all poets. But, Browning uses the AABBCC structure to keep a steady pacing throughout the poem, making it read much like a story.
Tone and Mood
The tone and mood of ‘The Confessional‘ by Robert Browning are essential to the poem’s pacing and readability. Firstly, the pacing is quickened with anger, anticipation, and tension felt throughout different moments of the piece. You see anger at the introduction and conclusion, you feel the suspense as the readers see the consequences of the woman’s actions unfold, and the reader feels the tension when the priest asks questions about her lover, with more information than he should know. We then see the tone shifting throughout the piece, especially during the stanzas with the priest. While the reader can sense the woman trusts the priest, you also get the sense that the priest is lying to the woman and that she is being tricked in some way. Both tone and mood, therefore, affect a large portion of how the poem is read and interpreted. If you did not pick up on these aspects, you would not have had the same reaction to the piece as others did.