But Browning, unlike Tennyson, filled the background of the stage on which he placed his single figure with a multitude of objects, or animals, or natural scenery, or figures standing round or in motion; and these give additional vitality and interest to the representation.

Again, they are short, as short as a soliloquy or a letter or a conversation in a street.

Shortness belongs to this form of poetic work--a form to which Browning gave a singular intensity.

It follows that they must not be argumentative beyond what is fitting.

Nor ought they to glide into the support of a thesis, or into didactic addresses, as _Bishop Blougram_ and _Mr.Sludge_ do.