NOTES - Browning's Shorter Poems - 78 - Robert Browning

XIX I. MARCHING ALONG

NOTES

THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN. ([PAGE] 1.)

The poem is based on an old myth found in many forms, all turning upon the attempt to cheat a magician out of his promised reward. See Brewer's Reader's Handbook, Baring-Gould's Curious Myths of the Middle Ages, Grimm's Deutsche Sagen, and the Encyclopaedia Britannica. There are Persian and Chinese analogues.

The eldest son of William Macready, the actor, was confined to the house by illness, and Browning wrote this jeu d'esprit to amuse the boy and to give him a subject for illustrative drawings.

[1]. [Hamelin]. A town in Hanover, Prussia.

[89]. [Cham], or Khan. The title of the rulers of Tartary.

[91]. [Nizam]. The title of the sovereign of Hyderabad, the principal state of India.

[158]. [Claret], Moselle, etc. Names of wines.

[179]. [Caliph]. The title given to the successor of Mohammed, as head of the Moslem state, and defender of the faith. Century Dictionary.

[page 236]

TRAY. (PAGE [15].)

The poem tells in detail an actual incident, and was written as a protest against vivisection.

[3]. Sir [Olaf]. A conventional name in romances of mediæval chivalry.

[6]. A satire upon [Byronism]. Manfred and Childe Harold are heroes of this type.

Note the abruptness and vigor of the style. Where does it seem effective? Where unduly harsh? Why does the poet welcome the third bard? What things does the poem satirize?

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,[page 237] 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 circumstances 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]. [Düffeld]. Twelve miles from Boom.

[17]. [19], 31, etc. [Mecheln] (Fr. Malines), Aershot, Hasselt, 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.

HERVÉ 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,[page 238] except that Hervé 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 Pornic 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 repetition, in 79-80; the picture of Hervé 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.

[Χαίρετε, νικωμεν]. Rejoice, we conquer.

[4]. [Zeus]. The chief of the Greek gods (Roman Jupiter). Her of the ægis and spear. These were the emblems of Athena (Roman Minerva), the goddess of wisdom and of [page 239] warfare.

[5]. Ye of the bow and the [buskin]. Apollo and Diana.

[8]. [Pan]. The god of nature, of the fields and their fruits.

[9]. [Archons]. Rulers. tettix, the grasshopper, whose image symbolized old age, and was worn by the senators of Athens. See the myth of Tithonus 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 Eubœa, twenty-nine miles north of Athens.

[20]. [Hellas]. 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 Phœbus. Apollo, god of the sun and the arts. Artemis (Roman Diana), goddess of the moon and patroness of hunting.

[33]. [Olumpos]. Olympus. A mountain of Greece which was the abode of Zeus and the other gods.

[52]. [Parnes]. A mountain on the ridge between Attica and Bœotia, now called Ozia.

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

[89]. [Miltiades] (?-489 B.C.). The Greek general who won the[page 240] 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 goddess Athene.

[109]. [Fennel]-field. The Greek name for [fennel] was ['ο Μαραθών] (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 gods 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 encyclopedia or dictionary.

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].)

[page 241]

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 mediæval kings on solemn occasions, and still worn by deacons at the mass 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[page 242] 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 "assertion 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?[page 243] 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]-parés. Fancy-dress balls.

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[page 244] "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[page 245] the qualities of the Cavaliers, see Macaulay's Essay on Milton.