[262]. [Leonard]. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), another of Italy's great men: artist, poet, musician, and scientist.
Construct the scene and action of the poem. How does the coloring harmonize with the artist's mood? Why is he weary? How does he think of his art: what merit has it? What does[page 263] it lack? How does he explain this lack? What clew to it does his life afford? Is his art soulless because he has done wrong? Or, do the lack of soul in his painting, and the wrongdoing, and the infatuation with Lucrezia's beauty, all arise from the same thing,—the man's own nature? Does he appeal to your sympathy, or provoke your condemnation? Does he blame himself, or another, or circumstances?
What idea have you of Lucrezia? What does she think of Andrea? Of his art? What things does he desire of her?
What problems of life are here presented? Which is principal: the relation of man and woman, the need of soul for great work, or the interrelation between character and achievement? Or, is there something else for which the poem stands?
Can you cite any lines that embody the main idea of the poem? Does anything in it remind you of The Grammarian, or of Rabbi Ben Ezra?
CALIBAN UPON SETEBOS. (PAGE [161].)
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Setebos was the god of Caliban's mother, the witch Sycorax, on Prospero's island.
Read Shakespeare's The Tempest. Observe especially all that is said by or about Caliban. Observe that Browning makes Caliban usually speak of himself in the third person, and prefixes an apostrophe to the initial verb, as in the first line.
Tylor's Primitive Culture and Early History of Mankind give interesting accounts of the religions of savages.