Excerpt from The Poems and Plays This volume has been planned for the less experienced reader of Browning; the more advanced reader is satisfied only with the complete edition. The Introduction, therefore, aims merely to suggest briefly an approach to Browning, to point out such difficulties as often perplex one who reads Browning for the first time, and to state simply a few of the poet's fundamental ideas. Allusions in the text are annotated only where ignorance might come between the reader and the meaning of the poem; critical and interpretative notes have been omitted altogether, in the belief that most of the intellectual stimulus Browning has to offer is lost if the reader's thinking is done for him in advance. As accounts of Browning's life are easily accessible, it has seemed unnecessary to include any biographical material, but a brief reading list has been appended to the introduction.