LECTURE VII
LA SAISIAZ
LECTURE VII
LA SAISIAZ
The peculiar interest attaching to Christmas Eve and Easter Day is wholly absent from La Saisiaz; for here is no uncertainty as to the identity of the speaker, no soliloquist interposed between the author and his public. The dramatic interest absent, the personal interest is, however, proportionately stronger. As in Prospice the closing lines are unmistakably the outcome of an overwhelming torrent of feeling, so in the later poem the problems demanding consideration have been forced into prominence by the events of the hour; and the mourner, who was “ever a fighter,” will not rest until he has confronted them, and has done all that may be fairly and honestly done towards the settlement of tormenting doubts and fears. Thus, in La Saisiaz, we get, perhaps, the sole example in Browning’s work of a direct attempt on his part to give to the world a rational and sustained argument, resulting in his personal decision as to the questions immediately involved; the immortality of the soul and the relation of its future to its present phase of existence. It is to this deliberate design that the striking difference in character of these two similarly inspired poems may be mainly attributable: that the joyful assurance of Prospice is succeeded by the reasoned hope of La Saisiaz. The mourner hesitates to launch himself upon the waves of faith until he has argued the questions before him in so far as they are capable of argument. For the confidence of Prospice that
The fiend-voices that rave
Shall dwindle, shall blend,
Shall change, shall become ... a peace out of pain:
we have the hope of La Saisiaz,
No more than hope, but hope—no less than hope. (l. 535.)
In place of the triumphant certainty of future reunion,