WHY I AM A LIBERAL. (PAGE [92].)
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Note the essential elements of sonnet structure in metre, rhyme, and number of lines. See the Introduction to Sharp's Sonnets of this Century. Compare the idea of the poem with that of The Lost Leader.
PROSPICE. (PAGE [93].)
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Written shortly after the death of Mrs. Browning.
Note the vividness of the imagery, the swiftness of the movement, the rise to the climax, the change in spirit after the climax,[page 251] and the note of courage and hope that informs this poem. Compare it with Tennyson's Crossing the Bar. What difference in spirit between the two?
EPILOGUE TO ASOLANDO. (PAGE [94].)
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Sharp's Life of Browning has the following passage: "Shortly before the great bell of San Marco struck ten, he turned and asked if any news had come concerning Asolando, published that day. His son read him a telegram from the publishers, telling how great the demand was, and how favorable were the advance articles in the leading papers. The dying poet turned and muttered, 'How gratifying!' When the last toll of St. Mark's had left a deeper stillness than before, those by the bedside saw a yet profounder silence on the face of him whom they loved."