One reason may be that Love-poems of this kind are naturally lyrical, and demand a sweet melody in the verse, and Browning's genius was not especially lyrical, nor could he inevitably command a melodious movement in his verse.

But the main reason is that he was taken up with other and graver matters, and chiefly with the right theory of life; with the true relation of God and man; and with the picturing--for absolute Love's sake, and in order to win men to love one another by the awakening of pity--of as much of humanity as he could grasp in thought and feeling.

Isolated and personal love was only a small part of this large design.
One personal love, however, he possessed fully and intensely.

It was his love for his wife, and three poems embody it.

The first is _By the Fireside_.