Another Way of Love by Eleanor Fortescue Brickdale, ROI, RWS (1872-1945). 1908. An illustration signed EFB in Browning, facing p. 246. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
This colourful scene of a young angel-winged woman gathering up rose petals on a hillside, watched by a much smaller winged cherub or cupid, illustrates a short poem in which the female speaker asserts herself in opposition to a male: should their love, epitomised by the roses in June, grow dull, this speaker says, she might make it more prickly or even stormy, with "June-lightning." The poem is a companion piece or stinging riposte to another short poem, "One Way of Love," in which the male lover claims that his devotion will continue despite rejection. The woman, it seems, is more resilient than the man, and more spiteful!
The cherub seems to be looking on with interest, perhaps wondering which way the wind will blow. Love (epitomised by the drifts of red rose-blooms in summer) may be there for the gathering, but the two poems suggest that it can be handled very differently by different people.
Related Material
Image scan and text by Jacqueline Banerjee. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Bibliography
Browning, Robert. "Pippa Passes" & Men and Women. 1908. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott/London: Chatto and Windus, 1909. Internet Archive, from a copy in the library of the University of St Francis University. Web. 9 June 2026.
Created 9 June 2026