Browning's Shorter Poems Part 28

7. =King Charles= the First. =Pym=, John (1584-1643). Leader of the Parliament in its actions against King Charles and the Royalist party.

13. =Hampden=, John (1594-1643). One of the leaders of Parliament, known princ.i.p.ally for his resistance to the illegal taxations of Charles I.

14. =Hazelrig=, Sir Arthur. One of the members of Parliament whom Charles tried to impeach. =Fiennes=, Nathaniel. One of the leading members of Parliament. =young Harry=. Son of Sir Henry Vane, and a member of the Puritan party.

15. =Rupert=. Prince of the Palatinate (1619-1682), and nephew of Charles I. He served in the King's army during the civil war.

23. =Nottingham=. "Charles I raised his standard here, in 1642, as the beginning of the civil war."--_Century Dictionary_.

II. GIVE A ROUSE

16. =Noll= was a contemptuous nickname for Oliver Cromwell, the leader of the Puritans.

HOME-THOUGHTS, FROM THE SEA. (PAGE 70.)

This poem is a companion piece to _Home Thoughts, from Abroad_.

It is, however, distinctly inferior to it in clearness, vividness of feeling, and lyric sweetness.

3. =Trafalgar=, The scene of the famous victory of the English admiral, Nelson, over the French fleet in 1805.

4. =Gibraltar=. The famous rocky promontory at the entrance of the Mediterranean. It has been held as an English fort since 1704.

SUMMUM BONUM. (PAGE 71.)

This little poem, published in 1890, is one of the good examples of a love lyric written by an old man whose spirit is still youthful. There are some similar things by Tennyson, in _Gareth and Lynette_, and elsewhere in his later publications.

Note here the somewhat exaggerated art of the poem in the alliterations and in the multiple comparisons.

SONGS FROM PIPPA Pa.s.sES. (PAGE 73.)

The drama of _Pippa Pa.s.ses_ is a succession of scenes, each representing some crisis of human life, into which breaks, with beneficent influence, a song of the girl Felippa, or "Pippa," on her holiday from the silk-mills. She is unconscious of the influence she exerts. William Sharp says these songs "are as pathetically fresh and free as a thrush's song in a beleaguered city, and with the same unconsidered magic."

THE LOST LEADER. (PAGE 75.)

The desertion of the liberal cause by Wordsworth, Southey, and others, is the germinal idea of this poem. But Browning always strenuously insisted that the resemblance went no further; that _The Lost Leader_ is no true portrait of Wordsworth, though he became poet-laureate. _The Lost Leader_ is a purely ideal conception, developed by the process of idealization from an individual who serves as a "lay figure."

13. =Shakespeare= was more of an aristocrat, surely, than a democrat.

Milton had championed the cause of liberty in prose and poetry, and had worked for it as Cromwell's Latin secretary.

14. =Burns, Sh.e.l.ley=. What poems can you cite of either poet to place him in this list?

Who is the speaker? What is the cause? Why does he not wish the "lost leader" to return? How does he judge him? What does he expect for his cause? What does he mean by lines 29-30? lines 31-32? Point out the climax in the second stanza.

APPARENT FAILURE. (PAGE 77.)

3. =your Prince=. Son of Napoleon III., born in March, 1856.

7. =The Congress= a.s.sembled to discuss Italy's unity and freedom.

=Gortschakoff= represented Russia; =Count Cavour=, Italy; =Buol=, Austria. Austria had conquered Italy. See Browning's _The Italian in England_.

12. =Petrarch's Vaucluse=. The fountain from which the Sorgue rises.

The town of Vaucluse (Valclusa) was the home of the poet Petrarch (1304-1374).

14. =debt=. The obligation to visit a famous place.

39. =Tuileries=. The imperial palace in Paris.

43-44. What is meant? Death? Freedom?

46-47. In allusion to the game of _rouge-et-noir_. Criticise the taste shown here.

In what sense does the poet intend to "save" the building? Describe the scene that he recalls. What three types are the suicides? How does the poet know? Why does he deny the failure of their lives? Does he base his optimistic hope on reason or feeling? Note the climax in line's 55-57. State in your own words the meaning of the last six lines.

FEARS AND SCRUPLES. (PAGE 80.)

The problem of the religions doubter is here set forth by an a.n.a.logy.

5. =letters=. The reference is of course to the Scriptures.

17 ff. In reference to sceptical criticism.

What are the "fears and scruples" held by the speaker? What proof does he desire to allay his doubts? Does he settle the doubt or put it aside? Where is his spirit of reverence best shown?

INSTANS TYRANNUS. (PAGE 82.)

="Instans Tyrannus"=, the threatening tyrant. The phrase is from Horace's _Odes_, Book III., iii., as is probably the idea of the poem. Gladstone translates the pa.s.sage:--

"The just man in his purpose strong, No madding crowd can turn to wrong.

The forceful tyrant's brow and word . . . . . . .

His firm-set spirit cannot move."

There is novelty of conception in giving the situation from the tyrant's point of view. Compare also the seventh Ode of Horace in Book II.

44. =gravamen=. Latin for burden, difficulty, annoyance.

69. =Just= (as) =my vengeance= (was) =complete=.

What conception do you get of the tyrant? What is his motive? What things aggravate his hatred? How does he seek to "extinguish the man"?

What baffles him at first? What defeats him finally? Is he deterred by physical or moral fear? By what means is the poem given vigor and clearness? Note the dramatic effect in the last stanza.

THE PATRIOT. (PAGE 85.)