The influence of both Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning is evident in Lytton's early poetry, but it was with Mrs. Browning that he was most intimate, sharing her interest in spiritualism. He began at this time to seriously consider himself a poet, but his aspirations in that field brought upon him the wrath of his father,who told him to give up any ideas he might have of a literary career. A compromise was reached by which Robert agreed to forgo his attempts at poetry for two years following the publication of his first book. It was also agreed that, to avoid confusion between father and son, Robert would adopt the pseudonym Owen Meredith, derived from the wife of a Lytton ancestor, Ann Meredith, who was related to Owen Tudor. Lytton kept the pseudonym until 1868, by which time George Meredith had registered his objections to the similarity.
His first book, Clytemnestra, The Earl's Return, The Artist, and Other Poems, was published by Chapman and Hall in 1855. "Clytemnestra," a long verse drama with many echoes of Tennyson, Browning, Marlowe, and Shakespeare, not to mention Aeschylus, was easily the most ambitious work in the volume; it found favor with Matthew Arnold, Mrs.
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