An Introduction to the Study of Robert Browning's Poetry Part 10

"Was he proud,--a true scion of the stock Which bore the blazon, shall make bright my page"-- XII. The Book and the Ring, v. 821.

2. The use of the infinitive without the prepositive "to", is frequently extended beyond present usage, especially in 'Sordello'

and 'The Ring and the Book'. The following are examples:--

"Who fails, through deeds howe'er diverse, RE-TRACK My purpose still, my task?"

Sordello, p. 168.

"failed Adelaide SEE then Who was the natural chief, the man of men?"

Sordello, p. 175.

"but when 'Twas time expostulate, attempt withdraw Taurello from his child," . . .

Sordello, p. 180.

Here are two infinitives, with the prepositive omitted, "expostulate" and "attempt", both dependent on the noun "time", and another, "withdraw", without the prepositive, dependent on "attempt": "but when 'twas time {to} expostulate, {to} attempt {to} withdraw", etc.

"For thus he ventured, to the verge, Push a vain mummery." . . .

Sordello, p. 190.

i.e., for thus he ventured {to} push to the verge a vain mummery.

"as yet He had inconsciously contrived FORGET I' the whole, to dwell o' the points". . .

Sordello, p. 190.

"Grown b.e.s.t.i.a.l, dreaming how BECOME divine."

Sordello, p. 191.

"And the whole music it was framed AFFORD,"-- Sordello, p. 203.

"Was such a lighting-up of faith, in life, Only allowed initiate, set man's step In the true way by help of the great glow?"

R. and B. X. The Pope, v. 1815.

i.e. only allowed {to} initiate, {to} set man's step, etc.

"If I might read instead of print my speech,-- Ay, and enliven speech with many a flower Refuses obstinately blow in print."

R. and B. IX. Johannes-Baptista Bottinius, v. 4.

Here the subject relative of "refuses" is omitted, and the verb followed by an infinitive without the prepositive: "many a flower {that} refuses obstinately {to} blow in print."

3. Instead of the modern a.n.a.lytic form, the simple form of the past subjunctive derived from the Anglo-Saxon inflectional form, and identical with that of the past indicative, is frequently employed, the context only showing that it is the subjunctive. (See Abbott's 'Shakespearian Grammar', 361 et seq.)

"Would we some prize might hold To match those manifold Possessions of the brute,--gain most, as we did best!"

Rabbi Ben Ezra, St. xi.

i.e., as we should do best.

"Thus were abolished Spring and Autumn both,"

I. The Ring and the Book, 1358.

i.e., would be abolished.

"His peevishness had promptly put aside Such honor and refused the proffered boon," . . .

II. Half Rome (R. and B.), 369.

i.e., would have promptly put aside.

"(What daily pittance pleased the plunderer dole.)"

X. The Pope (R. and B.), 561.

i.e., as the context shows, {it} might please the plunderer {to} dole.

"succession to the inheritance Which bolder crime had lost you:"

IV. Tertium Quid (R. and B.), 1104.

i.e., would have lost you.

But the verbs "be" and "have" are chiefly so used, and not often beyond what present usage allows. *

-- * Tennyson uses "saw" = 'viderem', in the following pa.s.sage:--

"But since I did not see the Holy Thing, I sware a vow to follow it till I saw."

Sir Percivale in 'The Holy Grail'.

4. The use of the dative, or indirect object, without "to" or "for".

Such datives are very frequent, and scarcely need ill.u.s.tration.

The poet has simply carried the use of them beyond the present general usage of the language. But there's a noticeable one in the Pope's Monologue, in 'The Ring and the Book', vv. 1464-1466: The Archbishop of Arezzo, to whom poor Pompilia has applied, in her distress, for protection against her brutal husband, thinks it politic not to take her part, but send her back to him and enjoin obedience and submission. The Pope, in his Monologue, represents the crafty Archbishop as saying, when Pompilia cries, "Protect me from the wolf!"

"No, thy Guido is rough, heady, strong, Dangerous to disquiet: let him bide!

He needs some bone to mumble, help amuse The darkness of his den with: so, the fawn Which limps up bleeding to my foot and lies, --Come to me daughter!--thus I throw him back!"

i.e., thus I throw back {to} him the fawn which limps up bleeding to my foot and lies. The parenthesis, "Come to me, daughter", being interposed, and which is introduced as preparatory to his purpose, adds to the difficulty of the construction.

There are, after all, but comparatively few instances in Browning's poetry, where these features of his diction can be fairly condemned. They often impart a crispness to the expressions in which they occur.

The contriving spirit of the poet's language often results in great complexity of construction. Complexity of construction may be a fault, and it may not. It may be justified by the complexity of the thought which it bears along. "Clear quack-quack is easily uttered." But where an author's thought is nimble, far-reaching, elliptical through its energy, and discursive, the expression of it must be more or less complex or involved; he will employ subordinate clauses, and parentheses, through which to express the outstanding, restricting, and toning relations of his thought, that is, if he is a master of perspective, and ranks his grouped thoughts according to their relative importance.

The poet's apostrophe to his wife in the spirit-world, which closes the long prologue to 'The Ring and the Book' (vv. 1391-1416), and in which he invokes her aid and benediction, in the work he has undertaken, presents a greater complexity of construction than is to be met with anywhere else in his works; and of this pa.s.sage it may be said, as it may be said of any other having a complex construction, supposing this to be the only difficulty, that it's hard rather than obscure, and demands close reading. But, notwithstanding its complex structure and the freight of thought conveyed, the pa.s.sage has a remarkable LIGHTSOMENESS of movement, and is a fine specimen of blank verse. The un.o.btrusive, but distinctly felt, alliteration which runs through it, contributes something toward this lightsomeness. The first two verses have a Tennysonian ring:--

"O lyric Love, half-angel and half-bird And all a wonder and a wild desire,-- Boldest of hearts that ever braved the sun, Took sanctuary within the holier blue, 5 And sang a kindred soul out to his face,-- Yet human at the red-ripe of the heart-- When the first summons from the darkling earth Reached thee amid thy chambers, blanched their blue, And bared them of the glory--to drop down, 10 To toil for man, to suffer or to die,-- This is the same voice: can thy soul know change?

Hail then, and hearken from the realms of help!

Never may I commence my song, my due To G.o.d who best taught song by gift of thee, 15 Except with bent head and beseeching hand-- That still, despite the distance and the dark, What was, again may be; some interchange Of grace, some splendour once thy very thought, Some benediction anciently thy smile: 20 --Never conclude, but raising hand and head Thither where eyes, that cannot reach, yet yearn For all hope, all sustainment, all reward, Their utmost up and on,--so blessing back In those thy realms of help, that heaven thy home, 25 Some whiteness which, I judge, thy face makes proud, Some wanness where, I think, thy foot may fall!" *

-- * In the last three verses of 'The Ring and the Book'