English Literature
Never doubted clouds would break,
Never dreamed, tho' right were worsted, wrong would triumph,
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,
Sleep to wake.
WORKS. A glance at even the titles which Browning gave to his best known
volumes--_Dramatic Lyrics_ (1842), _Dramatic Romances and Lyrics_ (1845),
_Men and Women_ (1853), _Dramatis Persona_ (1864)--will suggest how strong
the dramatic element is in all his work. Indeed, all his poems may be
divided into three classes,--pure dramas, like _Strafford_ and _A Blot in
the 'Scutcheon_; dramatic narratives, like _Pippa Passes_, which are
dramatic in form, but were not meant to be acted; and dramatic lyrics, like
_The Last Ride Together_, which are short poems expressing some strong
personal emotion, or describing some dramatic episode in human life, and in
which the hero himself generally tells the story.
Though Browning is often compared with Shakespeare, the reader will
understand that he has very little of Shakespeare's dramatic talent. He
cannot bring a group of people together and let the actions and words of
his characters show us the comedy and tragedy of human life. Neither can
the author be disinterested, satisfied, as Shakespeare was, with life
itself, without drawing any moral conclusions. Browning has always a moral
ready, and insists upon giving us his own views of life, which Shakespeare
never does. His dramatic power lies in depicting what he himself calls the
history of a soul. Sometimes, as in _Paracelsus_, he endeavors to trace the
progress of the human spirit. More often he takes some dramatic moment in
life, some crisis in the ceaseless struggle between good and evil, and
describes with wonderful insight the hero's own thoughts and feelings; but
he almost invariably tells us how, at such and such a point, the good or
the evil in his hero must inevitably have triumphed. And generally, as in
"My Last Duchess," the speaker adds a word here and there, aside from the
story, which unconsciously shows the kind of man he is. It is this power of
revealing the soul from within that causes Browning to fascinate those who
study him long enough. His range is enormous, and brings all sorts and
conditions of men under analysis. The musician in "Abt Vogler," the artist
in "Andrea del Sarto," the early Christian in "A Death in the Desert," the
Arab horseman in "Muteykeh," the sailor in "Herve Kiel," the mediæval
knight in "Childe Roland," the Hebrew in "Saul," the Greek in "Balaustion's
Adventure," the monster in "Caliban," the immortal dead in "Karshish,"--all
these and a hundred more histories of the soul show Browning's marvelous
versatility. It is this great range of sympathy with many different types
of life that constitutes Browning's chief likeness to Shakespeare, though
otherwise there is no comparison between the two men.
If we separate all these dramatic poems into three main periods,--the
early, from 1833 to 1841; the middle, from 1841 to 1868; and the late, from
1868 to 1889,--the work of the beginner will be much more easily
designated. Of his early soul studies, _Pauline_ (1833), _Paracelsus_
(1835), and _Sordello_ (1840), little need be said here, except perhaps
this: that if we begin with these works, we shall probably never read
anything else by Browning. And that were a pity. It is better to leave
these obscure works until his better poems have so attracted us to Browning
that we will cheerfully endure his worst faults for the sake of his
undoubted virtues. The same criticism applies, though in less degree, to
his first drama, _Strafford_ (1837), which belongs to the early period of
his work.
The merciless criticism which greeted _Sordello_ had a wholesome effect on
Browning, as is shown in the better work of his second period. Moreover,
his new power was developing rapidly, as may be seen by comparing the eight
numbers of his famous _Bells and Pomegranates_ series (1841-1846) with his
earlier work. Thus, the first number of this wonderful series, published in
1841, contains _Pippa Passes_, which is, on the whole, the most perfect of
his longer poems; and another number contains _A Blot in the 'Scutcheon_,
which is the most readable of his dramas. Even a beginner must be thrilled
by the beauty and the power of these two works. Two other noteworthy dramas
of the period are _Colombe's Birthday_ (1844) and _In a Balcony_ (1855),
which, however, met with scant appreciation on the stage, having too much
subtle analysis and too little action to satisfy the public. Nearly all his
best lyrics, dramas, and dramatic poems belong to this middle period of
labor; and when _The Ring and the Book_ appeared, in 1868, he had given to
the world the noblest expression of his poetic genius.
In the third period, beginning when Browning was nearly sixty years old, he
wrote even more industriously than before, and published on an average
nearly a volume of poetry a year. Such volumes as _Fifine at the Fair, Red
Cotton Night-Cap Country, The Inn Album, Jocoseria_, and many others, show
how Browning gains steadily in the power of revealing the hidden springs of
human action; but he often rambles most tiresomely, and in general his work
loses in sustained interest. It is perhaps significant that most of his
best work was done under Mrs. Browning's influence.
WHAT TO READ. Of the short miscellaneous poems there is such an unusual
variety that one must hesitate a little in suggesting this or that to the
beginner's attention. "My Star," "Evelyn Hope," "Wanting is--What?" "Home
Thoughts from Abroad," "Meeting at Night," "One Word More" (an exquisite
tribute to his dead wife), "Prospice" (Look Forward); songs from _Pippa
Passes;_ various love poems like "By the Fireside" and "The Last Ride
Together"; the inimitable "Pied Piper," and the ballads like "Hervé Riel"
and "How They Brought the Good News,"--these are a mere suggestion,
expressing only the writer's personal preference; but a glance at the
contents of Browning's volumes will reveal scores of other poems, which
another writer might recommend as being better in themselves or more
characteristic of Browning.[237]
Among Browning's dramatic soul studies there is also a very wide choice.
"Andrea del Sarto" is one of the best, revealing as it does the strength
and the weakness of "the perfect painter," whose love for a soulless woman
with a pretty face saddens his life and hampers his best work. Next in
importance to "Andrea" stands "An Epistle," reciting the experiences of
Karshish, an Arab physician, which is one of the best examples of
Browning's peculiar method of presenting the truth. The half-scoffing,
half-earnest, and wholly bewildered state of this Oriental scientist's mind
is clearly indicated between the lines of his letter to his old master. His
description of Lazarus, whom he meets by chance, and of the state of mind
of one who, having seen the glories of immortality, must live again in the
midst of the jumble of trivial and stupendous things which constitute our
life, forms one of the most original and suggestive poems in our
literature. "My Last Duchess" is a short but very keen analysis of the soul
of a selfish man, who reveals his character unconsciously by his words of
praise concerning his dead wife's picture. In "The Bishop Orders his Tomb"
we have another extraordinarily interesting revelation of the mind of a
vain and worldly man, this time a churchman, whose words tell you far more
than he dreams about his own character. "Abt Vogler," undoubtedly one of
Browning's finest poems, is the study of a musician's soul. "Muléykeh"
gives us the soul of an Arab, vain and proud of his fast horse, which was
never beaten in a race. A rival steals the horse and rides away upon her
back; but, used as she is to her master's touch, she will not show her best
pace to the stranger. Muléykeh rides up furiously; but instead of striking
the thief from his saddle, he boasts about his peerless mare, saying that
if a certain spot on her neck were touched with the rein, she could never
be overtaken. Instantly the robber touches the spot, and the mare answers
with a burst of speed that makes pursuit hopeless. Muléykeh has lost his
mare; but he has kept his pride in the unbeaten one, and is satisfied.
"Rabbi Ben Ezra," which refuses analysis, and which must be read entire to
be appreciated, is perhaps the most quoted of all Browning's works, and
contains the best expression of his own faith in life, both here and
hereafter. All these wonderful poems are, again, merely a suggestion. They
indicate simply the works to which one reader turns when he feels mentally
vigorous enough to pick up Browning. Another list of soul studies, citing
"A Toccata of Galuppi's," "A Grammarian's Funeral," "Fra Lippo Lippi,"
"Saul," "Cleon," "A Death in the Desert," and "Soliloquy of the Spanish
Cloister," might, in another's judgment, be more interesting and
suggestive.
[Pippa Passes] Among Browning's longer poems there are two, at least, that
well deserve our study. _Pippa Passes_, aside from its rare poetical
qualities, is a study of unconscious influence. The idea of the poem was
suggested to Browning while listening to a gypsy girl singing in the woods
near his home; but he transfers the scene of the action to the little
mountain town of Asolo, in Italy. Pippa is a little silk weaver, who goes
out in the morning to enjoy her one holiday of the whole year. As she
thinks of her own happiness she is vaguely wishing that she might share it,
and do some good. Then, with her childish imagination, she begins to weave
a little romance in which she shares in the happiness of the four greatest
and happiest people in Asolo. It never occurs to her that perhaps there is
more of misery than of happiness in the four great ones of whom she dreams;
and so she goes on her way singing,
The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hillside's dew-pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn:
God's in his heaven--
All's right with the world!
Fate wills it that the words and music of her little songs should come to
the ears of four different groups of people at the moment when they are
facing the greatest crises of their lives, and turn the scale from evil to
good. But Pippa knows nothing of this. She enjoys her holiday, and goes to
bed still singing, entirely ignorant of the good she has done in the world.
With one exception, it is the most perfect of all Browning's works. At best
it is not easy, nor merely entertaining reading; but it richly repays
whatever hours we spend in studying it.
_The Ring and the Book_ is Browning's masterpiece. It is an immense poem,
twice as long as _Paradise Lost_, and longer by some two thousand lines
than the _Iliad;_ and before we begin the undoubted task of reading it, we
must understand that there is no interesting story or dramatic development
to carry us along. In the beginning we have an outline of the story, such
as it is--a horrible story of Count Guido's murder of his beautiful young
wife; and Browning tells us in detail just when and how he found a book
containing the record of the crime and the trial. There the story element
ends, and the symbolism of the book begins. The title of the poem is
explained by the habit of the old Etruscan goldsmiths who, in making one of
their elaborately chased rings, would mix the pure gold with an alloy, in
order to harden it. When the ring was finished, acid was poured upon it;
and the acid ate out the alloy, leaving the beautiful design in pure gold.
Browning purposes to follow the same plan with his literary material, which
consists simply of the evidence given at the trial of Guido in Rome, in