The ring and the book

By Robert Browning

Subjects: Poetry (poetic works by one author), Executions and executioners, Trials (Murder), Murder, Fiction, Poetry, History

Description: Browning's dramatic poem The Ring and the Book narrates the trial of a Roman for the death of his wife and her parents. He suspected his wife of having an affair with a cleric. The man appeals his sentence, though unsuccessfully. The poem is narrated by many different voices, each adding their version of events to the whole in a series of monologues.