Loucks, James wrote:

>Has anyone noticed that "The Love Song of J. Alfred" begins with Browningseque abruptness that recalls RB's "Andrea del Sarto": "But do not let us quarrel any more..."; cf. : "Let us go then, you and I...."
>
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I don't mean to take anything away from Browning or from Jim's
observation, but I'd not call this particular characteristic
"Browningseque."  Here is an earlier poet writing about what a good poet
does:

    To tell Diomedes’ story he doesn’t think
    He has to start with the death of the hero’s uncle,
    Or start, in telling about the Trojan War,
    By telling us how Helen came out of an egg.
    He goes right to the point and carries the reader
    Into the midst of things, as if known already;

        [From the Ars Poetica, Horace; David Ferry's translation]


Marcia