Browning's Shorter Poems Part 27

This dainty love lyric is said to have been written with Mrs. Browning in mind. It needs, however, no such narrow application for its interpretation. It is the simple declaration of the lover that the loved one reveals to him qualities of soul not revealed to others.

Observe the "order of lyric progress" in speaking first of nature, then of the feelings.

EVELYN HOPE. (PAGE 41.)

The lover denies the evanescence of human love. He implies that in some future time the love will reappear and be rewarded. Browning's optimism lays hold sometimes of the present, sometimes of the future, for the fulfilment of its hope. Especially strong is his "sense of the continuity of life." "There shall never be one lost good," he makes Abt Vogler say. The charm of this poem is more, perhaps, in its tenderness of tone and purity of atmosphere than in its doctrine of optimism.

LOVE AMONG THE RUINS. (PAGE 43.)

This poem was written in Rome in the winter of 1853-1854. The scene is the Roman Campagna. The verse has a softness and a melody unusual in Browning. Compare its structure with that of Holmes's _The Last Leaf_. Note the elements of pastoral peace and gentleness in the opening, and in the coloring of the scene. What two scenes are brought into contrast? Note how the scenes alternate throughout the poem, and how each scene is gradually developed according to the ordinary laws of description. What ideals are thus compared? What does the poem mean?

MISCONCEPTIONS. (PAGE 47.)

11. =Dalmatic=. A robe worn by mediaeval kings on solemn occasions, and still worn by deacons at the ma.s.s in the Roman Catholic church.

The lyric order appears sharply developed here in the parallelism of the two stanzas. Point out this parallelism of idea. Does it fail at any point? Note the chivalrous absence of reproach by the lover.

Observe the climax up to which each stanza leads, and the climax within the last line of each stanza.

NATURAL MAGIC. (PAGE 48.)

5. =Nautch=. An Indian dancing-girl, to whom Browning ascribes the skill of a magician.

The poem celebrates the transforming and life-giving power of affection. Note the abrupt and excited manner of utterance, and how the speaker begins in the midst of things. He has already told his story once, when the poem opens. Note also the parallelism of structure, as in _Misconceptions_, the climax in each stanza, and the echo in the last line of each. Tell the story in the common order of prose narrative.

APPARITIONS. (PAGE 49.)

Study the development of the idea in the same manner as in _Misconceptions_ and _Natural Magic_. Note the felicity of imagery and diction.

A WALL. (PAGE 50.)

The clew to the meaning is to be sought in the last two stanzas. This is one of the best examples of Browning's "a.s.sertion of the soul in song."

CONFESSIONS. (PAGE 51.)

First construct the scene of the poem. What has the priest said? What is the sick man's answer? What evidence is there that his imagination is struggling to recall the old memory? What view of life does the priest offer, and he reject? Does Browning indicate his preference for either view, or tell the story impartially?

A WOMAN'S LAST WORD. (PAGE 53.)

What key to the situation in the first line? Who are the speaker and the one addressed? What mood and feeling are in control? Comment upon the condensation of the thought and the movement of the verse.

A PRETTY WOMAN. (PAGE 55.)

25-27. Compare Emerson's lines in _The Rhodora:_--

"If eyes were made for seeing, Then beauty is its own excuse for being."

To what things is the "Pretty Woman" compared? Of what use is she? How is she to be judged?

YOUTH AND ART. (PAGE 58.)

8. =Gibson, John= (1790-1866). A famous sculptor.

12. =Grisi, Giulia=. A celebrated singer (1811-1869).

18. In allusion to the asceticism of the Hindoo religious devotees.

58. =bals-pares=. Fancy-dress b.a.l.l.s.

The poem is half-humorous, half-serious. The speaker, in her imaginary conversation, gives her own history and that of the man she thinks she might have loved. The story is on the "Maud Muller" motive, but with less of sentimentality. The setting suggests the life of art students in Paris, or in some Italian city. The poem is a plea for the freedom of the individuality of a soul against the restrictions imposed by conventional standards of value. Its touches of humor, of human nature, and its summary of two lives in brief, are admirably done. Its rhymes sometimes need the indulgence accorded to humorous writing.

A TALE. (PAGE 61.)

The source of the story is an epigram given in Mackail's _Select Epigrams from Greek Anthology_. It is one of the happiest pieces of Browning's lighter work.

65. =Lotte=, or Charlotte. A character in Goethe's _Sorrows of Werther_, said to be drawn from the heroine of one of Goethe's earlier love-affairs.

Who are the speaker and the one addressed? Whom does the cicada of the tale symbolize? Whom the singer helped by the cicada? What application is made of the story? What serious meanings and feelings underlie the tone of raillery? What things mark the light and humorous tone of the speaker? Point out the harmony between style and theme.

CAVALIER TUNES. (PAGE 67.)

Note the swinging, martial movement, and the energetic spirit in these lyrics. For an account of the history of the period, see Green's _Short History of the English People_, Chapter VIII, and Macaulay's _History of England_, Chapter I. For an account of the qualities of the Cavaliers, see Macaulay's _Essay on Milton_.

I. MARCHING ALONG

1. =Kentish Sir Byng=. The first of the family known to fame was George Byng, Viscount Torrington (1663-1733), who could not be the man meant here by Browning.

2. =crop-headed=. In allusion to the close-cropped hair of the Puritans. Long wigs were the fashion among the Cavaliers; hence the Puritans were nicknamed "Roundheads."