Browning and Dogma Part 13

The h.e.l.l designed for this man is one in which externals inevitably take no part. The world and its inhabitants apparently pursue their course, "as they were wont to do," before the time of probation was at an end. The sole difference is to be found in the spiritual outlook. The interest attaching to these things of time is no longer existent; no longer is the soul "visited by G.o.d's free spirit." Thus is again suggested that central doctrine of Browning's creed: the superlative worth of the individual soul in the divine scheme of the universe. "G.o.d is, thou art." From this it is only one step to the a.s.surance,

The rest is hurled to nothingness for thee. (ll. 666-667.)

All upon which the eye rests has become for the spectator but an outward show, to be regarded with the consciousness that his own period of probation is for ever ended. It is, of course, in reference to this result of the judgment that in Section XIII the speaker questions the utility of a narration of his story; since if, on the one hand, the listener is actually alive, not to be numbered amongst the outward shows of things, then this fact is proof sufficient of the illusory character of the Vision. Yet, on the other hand, should the listener be "what I fear," that is, the presentation of a man pa.s.sed already beyond his probationary phase of existence, then, in good sooth, will the

Warnings fray no one; (ll. 360-361.)

as they will convert no one. With him, the speaker, alone rests the knowledge of the nature of his surroundings, and at times he, too, experiences the old uncertainty as to their true character.

And what the results following the Judgment? (_a_) At first, joy that all is now free of access where heretofore part only was attainable. _Nature_ lies open not merely for the gratification of the senses, but to be studied by aid of science--

I stooped and picked a leaf of fern, And recollected I might learn From books, how many myriad sorts Of ferns exist (etc.). (ll. 738-741.)

Will not the vistas of "earth's resources," thus opening out before the lover of nature, prove composed of "vast exhaustless beauty, endless change of wonder?" Yes: but the Judgment has taught that which the term of probation failed to teach--that a genuine appreciation of these beauties was even then a possibility. Absolute renunciation was not essential to spiritual development: for that alone was needed the insight capable of looking beyond "the gift to the giver," beyond "the finite to infinity."

Which could recognize in

All partial beauty--a pledge Of beauty in its plenitude. (ll. 769-770.)

The cause of life's failure, justifying condemnation, lay in an acceptance of the means as the end, of the pledge in place of the ultimate fulfilment. Now, absolute satiety being attained, the soul's ambition being bounded by the limits of earth, the plenitude of "those who looked above" is not for it.

(_b_) But if Nature refuses to yield the satisfaction demanded, the seeker for consolation would turn thence to a contemplation of _Art_, the works of which he holds as "supplanting," mainly giving worth to Nature: Art which bears upon it the impress of human labour. And here again recurs the teaching of _Andrea del Sarto_, of _A Toccata of Galuppi's_, of _Old Pictures in Florence_, of _Rabbi Ben Ezra_, of _Cleon_: in short, of almost any of the more characteristic poems. In so far as these artists, to whom the lover of earth looks for satisfaction in his search for the beautiful, refused to recognize as binding the limitations imposed upon their work by temporary conditions: in so far was a sphere of higher development prepared for and awaiting them elsewhere. Undesirous of contemporary appreciation, the true artist is represented as fearing lest judgment should be pa.s.sed upon that which he realizes to be but the imperfection denoting "perfection hid, reserved in part to grace" that after-time of labour, the existence of which the world ignores. He was

Afraid His fellow men should give him rank By mere tentatives which he shrank Smitten at heart from, all the more, That gazers pressed in to adore. (ll. 791-795.)

And the speaker has been amongst the throng of spectators who accepted these "mere tentatives" as the consummation of the artist's powers. Thus with Art as with Nature, "the pledge sufficed his mood." Hence, in both relations--failure. Enjoyment, enjoyment to the full, of Art as of Nature was no impossibility, only, here too, with the sensuous gratification should have subsisted also the "spirit's hunger,"

Unsated--not unsatable. (ll. 860-861.)

Unsated, until the soul's true sphere shall have been attained. Now is that judgment p.r.o.nounced which we find Andrea del Sarto pa.s.sing upon himself whilst life and its opportunities yet remained his.

Deride Their choice now, thou who sit'st outside. (ll. 862-863.)

Their choice, whose guide has been "the spirit's fugitive brief gleams."

So says Andrea of his fellow artists in Florence--

Themselves, I know, Reach many a time a heaven that's shut to me,

My works are nearer heaven, but I sit here.[67]

(_c_) Nature and Art have then alike failed. Wherein may the yearnings of the soul discover the satisfaction hitherto denied them? Perchance, through a more complete _intellectual development_.

Mind is best--I will seize mind. (l. 874.)

Oh, let me strive to make the most Of the poor stinted soul, I nipped Of budding wings, else now equipped For voyage from summer isle to isle! (ll. 867-870.)

Here a direct reversal of the theory of Bishop Blougram, implied by his censure of the traveller whose equipment was ever adapted to the needs of the future to the neglect of existing requirements. This man, the soliloquist of _Easter Day_, whose lot is now irrevocably confined to earth, recognizes too late the fatal character of the mistake perpetrated in "nipping the budding wings": realizes that, as an inevitable result, the course of the race and the goal of the ambition are alike limited, henceforth, by an earthly environment. That "the earth's best is but the earth's best." The failure to look above is, in fact, here more disastrous in its results than in either of the earlier instances: since here the possibilities are also greater. Through the mind alone may come

Those intuitions, grasps of guess, Which pull the more into the less, Making the finite comprehend Infinity. (ll. 905-908.)

To genius have been granted from time to time glimpses of the spiritual world, made plain in moments of insight, yet not too plain. A world which, during his sojourn on earth, is intended not for man's permanent habitation. A world he must "traverse, not remain a guest in." Once capable of continuing a denizen of the spiritual world, the uses of earth as a training-ground would be for that man at an end. He who should so live would become a Lazarus, as the Arabian physician presents him to us; in Dr. Westcott's phrase, "not a man, but a sign." Brief visions of heaven are vouchsafed, that he who has once seen may "come back and tell the world," himself "stung with hunger" for the fuller light. As in Nature, as in Art, so, too, here in a more purely intellectual sphere, the pledge is not the plenitude, the symbol not the reality.

Since highest truth, man e'er supplied, Was ever fable on outside. (ll. 925-926.)

This, too, left unrealized; hence failure also here.

(_d_) The search for sensuous and for intellectual satisfaction having alike failed, is there no refuge for him whose lot is earth in its fulness? Yes, there is _Love_, Love which we saw the soliloquist of _Christmas Eve_ recognizing as the "sole good of life on earth." So now the wearied soul recalls to mind, in the past,

How love repaired all ill, Cured wrong, soothed grief, made earth amends With parents, brothers, children, friends. (ll. 938-940.)

Hence the appeal for "leave to love only," made in full confidence of the divine approval. In place of approval, however, falls the reproof of Section x.x.x: the warning that all now left to the pet.i.tioner is "the show of love," since love itself has pa.s.sed with the judgment. The "semblance of a woman," "departed love," "old memories," now alone survive of that which might have been all in all to the soul during its life's struggle.

And here we find the man who has failed through a too exclusive devotion to things temporal taught, by this vision of the final judgment, the truth, at first accepted in _Christmas Eve_ by the man who had looked through Nature to the G.o.d of Nature, and refused to worship in the "narrow shrines" of the temples made with hands. That love

Shall arise, made perfect, from death's repose of it.

And I shall behold thee, face to face, O G.o.d, and in thy light retrace How in all I loved here, still wast thou![68]

Thus the voice of judgment before the Easter dawn--

All thou dost enumerate Of power and beauty in the world, The mightiness of love was curled Inextricably round about.

Love lay within it and without, To clasp thee. (ll. 960-965.)

But we saw the soliloquist of _Christmas Eve_ ultimately rejecting this universal recognition of love in favour of the narrow shrine of Zion Chapel: acting, as he believed, with the divine approval. Again proof of the dramatic character of the poems. The lesson of life is variously interpreted by its different students.

Yet even here, where love is at length sought as the supreme good, the Voice of _Easter Day_ proclaims once more--failure--and its cause, the inability to recognize the divine Love: the object of search is even now but human love.

Some semblance of a woman yet, With eyes to help me to forget, Shall look on me. (ll. 941-943.)

The love of "parents, brothers, children, friends": the seeker has stopped short of Pippa's final decision,[69] "Best love of all is G.o.d's." Why has he failed to realize this until Time has pa.s.sed? Why, but because, with Cleon, he deemed it "a doctrine to be held by no sane man," that divine Love should prove commensurate with divine Power; that He "who made the whole," should love the whole, should

Undergo death in thy stead In flesh like thine. (ll. 974-975.)

But this scepticism, based upon the ground that in the Gospel story is found "too much love," is illogical, since it suggests by implication the belief of man that his fellow mortals, in whom he daily discerns abundant capacity for ill-will, have been yet capable of inventing a scheme of perfect love such as that involved in the history of the Incarnation. The doctrine that this was the divine work is a.s.suredly less difficult of credence than that which a.s.signs it to the invention of the human imagination? Disbelief on this the ground of "too much love," revealed in the Gospel story, is dealt with also by the Evangelist in _A Death in the Desert_. There, too, is presented a position similar to that occupied by the soliloquist of Easter Day. Through satiety, man

Has turned round on himself and stands,[70]

Which in the course of nature is, to die.

When man demanded proof of the existence of a G.o.d, the representative of Power and Will, evidence of all was granted--

And when man questioned, "What if there be love Behind the will and might, as real as they?"-- He needed satisfaction G.o.d could give, And did give, as ye have the written word.

But when the written word no longer sufficed, when (following the argument of this thirtieth Section of _Easter Day_) man believed himself to be the originator of love, when

Beholding that love everywhere, He reasons, "Since such love is everywhere, And since ourselves can love and would be loved, We ourselves make the love, and Christ was not."

Then, asks the Evangelist,