A great artist, by his comprehensive grasp of the main issue of his work, even in a short lyric or a small picture, and by his luminous representation of it, suggests, without direct expression of them, all the strange psychology, and the play of character in the situations.

And such an artist does this excellent thing by his noble composition, and by his lofty, clear, and melodious style.

The excuse is, then, of some weight, but it does not relieve Browning of the charge.

Had he been a greater artist, he would have been a greater master of the right way of saying things and a greater pleasurer of the future.

Had he taken more pains with his style, but without losing its individual elements, he might have had as high a poetic place as Tennyson in the judgment of posterity.
(3) In one thing more--in this matter of form--the beauty of poetry lies.