Browning's Shorter Poems Part 26

INCIDENT OF THE FRENCH CAMP. (PAGE 17.)

The incident is real, except that the actual hero was a man, not a boy.

1. =Ratisbon= (German Regensburg). A city in Austria, stormed by Napoleon in 1809.

11. =Lannes=. Duke of Montebello, a general in Napoleon's army.

20. This sentence is incomplete. The idea is begun anew in line 23.

What two ideals are contrasted in Napoleon and the boy? By what means is sympathy turned from one to the other? Show how rapidity and vividness are given to the story.

HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX. (PAGE 19.)

Browning thus explains the origin of the poem: "There is no sort of historical foundation about _Good News from Ghent_. I wrote it under the bulwark of a vessel off the African coast, after I had been at sea long enough to appreciate even the fancy of a gallop on the back of a certain good horse 'York,' then in my stable, at home." It would require a skilful imagination to create a set of circ.u.mstances which could give any other plausible reason for the ride to "save Aix from her fate."

14. =Lokeren=. Twelve miles from Ghent.

15. =Boom=. Sixteen miles from Lokeren.

16. =Duffeld=. Twelve miles from Boom.

17. 19, 31, etc. =Mecheln= (Fr. Malines), =Aershot=, =Ha.s.selt=, etc.

The reader may trace the direction and length of the ride in any large atlas. Minute examinations of the route are, however, of no special value.

Note the rapidity of narration and the galloping movement of the verse; the time of starting, and the anxious attention to the _time_ as the journey proceeds. How are we given a sense of the effort and distress of the horses? How do we see Roland gradually emerging as the hero? Where is the climax of the story? Note, especially, the power or beauty of lines 2, 5, 7, 15, 23, 25, 39, 40, 47, 51-53, 54-56.

HERVe RIEL. (PAGE 22.)

(Published in the _Cornhill Magazine_, 1871. Browning gave the 100 received for the poem to the fund for the relief of the people of Paris, who were starving after the siege of 1870.)

The cause of James II., who had been removed from the English throne in 1688, and succeeded by William and Mary, was taken up by the French. The story is strictly historical, except that Herve Riel asked a holiday for the rest of his life.

5. =St. Malo on the Rance=. On the northern coast of France, in Brittany. See any large atlas.

43. =pressed=. Forced to enter service in the navy.

44. =Croisickese=. A native of Croisic, in Brittany. Browning has used the legends of Croisic for poetic material in his Gold Hair of p.o.r.nic and in The Two Poets of Croisic.

46. =Malouins=. Inhabitants of St. Malo.

135. =The Louvre=. The great palace and art gallery of Paris.

Note the suggestion of the sea, and of eager hurry, in the movement of the verse. Compare the directness of the opening with that of the preceding poem: What is the advantage of such a beginning? How much is told of the hero? By what means is his heroism emphasized? How is Browning's departure from the legend a gain? Observe the abrupt energy of lines 39-40; the repet.i.tion, in 79-80; the picture of Herve Riel in stanzas viii and x.

PHEIDIPPIDES. (PAGE 30.)

The story is from Herodotus, told there in the third person. See Herodotus, VI., 105-106. The final incident and the reward asked by the runner are Browning's addition.

[Greek: =Chairete, nikomen=]. Rejoice, we conquer.

4. =Zeus=. The chief of the Greek G.o.ds (Roman Jupiter). =Her of the aegis and spear=. These were the emblems of Athena (Roman Minerva), the G.o.ddess of wisdom and of warfare.

5. =Ye of the bow and the buskin=. Apollo and Diana.

8. =Pan=. The G.o.d of nature, of the fields and their fruits.

9. =Archons=. Rulers. =tettix=, the gra.s.shopper, whose image symbolized old age, and was worn by the senators of Athens. See the myth of t.i.thonus and Tennyson's poem of that name.

13. =Persia= attempted a conquest of Athens in 490 B.C. and was defeated by the Athenians in the famous battle of Marathon, under Miltiades.

18. To bring earth and water to an invading enemy was a symbol of submission.

19. =Eretria=. A city on the island of Eub[oe]a, twenty-nine miles north of Athens.

20. =h.e.l.las=. The Greek name for Greece.

21. The Greeks of the various provinces long regarded themselves as of one blood and quality, superior to the outer barbarians.

32. =Phoibos=, or Ph[oe]bus. Apollo, G.o.d of the sun and the arts.

=Artemis= (Roman Diana), G.o.ddess of the moon and patroness of hunting.

33. =Olumpos=. Olympus. A mountain of Greece which was the abode of Zeus and the other G.o.ds.

52. =Parnes=. A mountain on the ridge between Attica and B[oe]otia, now called Ozia.

62. =Erebos=. The lower world; the place of night and the dead.

80. =Miltiades= (?-489 B.C.). The Greek general who won the victory over the Persians at Marathon in 490 B.C.

106. =Akropolis=. The citadel of Athens, where stood the court of justice and the temple of the G.o.ddess Athene.

109. =Fennel-field=. The Greek name for fennel was [Greek: ho Marathon] (Marathon). Hence the prophetic significance of Pan's gift to the runner.

Compare the story in Herodotus (VI., 105-106) with Browning's more spirited and poetic version. Observe how the strong patriotism, the Greek love of nature, and the Greek reverence for the G.o.ds are brought to the fore. What imagery in the poem is especially effective? What is the claim of Pheidippides--as Browning presents him--to memory as a hero? What ideals are most prominent in the poem?

MY STAR. (PAGE 40.)

4. =angled spar=. The Iceland spar has the power of polarizing light and producing great richness and variety of color.

11. =Saturn=. The planet next beyond Jupiter; here chosen, perhaps, for its changing aspects. See an encyclopaedia or dictionary.