Jocoseria
Jocoseria is a collection of short poems by Robert Browning, first published in 1883. Effectively a continuation of the Dramatic Idyls series, the book was not well received by critics at the time and has continued to be considered one of the poet's least effective collections, aside from the famous prologue to the collection.
The prologue, which has no official title but is usually referred to by its first line, "Wanting is—what?", became one of Browning's favourite short lyrics and is a standard fixture in anthologies. Jocoseria—whose title comes from a 1598 collection of jokes and anecdotes, referring to its jocose and serious contents—was released in late 1883, and enjoyed decent sales despite the lack of critical plaudits, to such an extent that Browning's already-completed follow-up Ferishtah's Fancies was delayed for nearly a year so as not to crowd it out of the shops.
Contents
- Wanting is—what?
- Donald
- Solomon and Balkis
- Cristina and Monaldeschi
- Mary Wollstonecraft and Fuseli
- Adam, Lilith, and Eve
- Ixion
- Jochanan Hakkadosh
- Never the Time and the Place
- Pambo
- v
- t
- e
- Strafford (1837)
- Pippa Passes (1841)
- King Victor and King Charles (1842)
- The Return of the Druses (1843)
- A Blot in the 'Scutcheon (1843)
- Colombe's Birthday (1844)
- Luria (1846)
- A Soul's Tragedy (1846)
- In a Balcony (1855)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/49/Robert_Browning_1865.jpg/78px-Robert_Browning_1865.jpg)
and poems
- Pauline: A Fragment of a Confession (1833)
- Paracelsus (1835)
- "Porphyria's Lover" (1836)
- "Johannes Agricola in Meditation" (1836)
- Sordello (1840)
- Dramatic Lyrics (1842, "My Last Duchess", "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister", "Count Gismond")
- Dramatic Romances and Lyrics (1845, "Home-Thoughts, from Abroad", "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix", "Meeting at Night", "The Laboratory", "The Lost Leader")
- Christmas-Eve and Easter-Day (1850)
- Men and Women (1855, "Love Among the Ruins", "Evelyn Hope", "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came", "Andrea del Sarto", "Fra Lippo Lippi", "A Toccata of Galuppi's")
- Dramatis Personæ (1864, "Rabbi ben Ezra", "Caliban upon Setebos")
- The Ring and the Book (1868–9)
- Balaustion's Adventure (1871)
- Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society (1871)
- Fifine at the Fair (1872)
- Red Cotton Night-Cap Country (1873)
- Aristophanes' Apology (1875)
- The Inn Album (1875)
- Pacchiarotto, and How He Worked in Distemper (1876)
- The Agamemnon of Aeschylus (1877)
- La Saisiaz and The Two Poets of Croisic (1878)
- Dramatic Idyls (1879, 1880)
- Jocoseria (1883)
- Ferishtah's Fancies (1884)
- Parleyings with Certain People of Importance in Their Day (1887)
- Asolando (1889)
- Elizabeth Barrett Browning (wife)
- Robert Barrett Browning (son)
- Casa Guidi