,,browning ,,and ,,his ,,century        
,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author              
,,browning',s ,,italy   ,,browning',s   
,,england   ,a ,,guide ,,to ,,mythology 
,,ancient ,,myths ,,in ,,modern ,,poets 
,,longfellow',s ,,country               
,,hawthorne',s ,,country   ,,the        
,,poets' ,,new ,,england                
,illustration3 ,,browning ,,at #bc      
7,,london #ahce7       ,browning and    
,his ,century     ,,by ,,helen          
,,archibald ,,clarke   ,author of       
,browning's ,italy1   ,browning's       
,england1 etc4     ,,illustrated ,,from 
,,photographs     ,,garden ,,city       
,,new ,,york   ,,doubleday1 ,,page      
,,company   #aiab       ,copyright1     
#aiab1 by   ,,doubleday1 ,,page  ,,co4  
,all rights reserved1 including that of 
translation into foreign languages1     
including the ,scandinavian       ,to   
,,the ,,boston ,,browning ,,society     
,,in ,,commemoration ,,of ,,the         
,,browning ,,centenary--#ahab-aiab      
,,contents                              

,,page    ,,chapter ,i     ,,the        
,,battle ,,of ,,mind ,,and ,,spirit     
#c    ,,chapter ,,ii     ,,the          
,,century',s ,,end3 ,,promise ,,of      
,,peace               #gg    ,,chapter  
,,iii     ,,political ,,tendencies      
#aah    ,,chapter ,,iv     ,,social     
,,ideals                                
#agd    ,,chapter ,v     ,,art          
,,shibboleths                           
#bag    ,,chapter ,,vi     ,,classic    
,,survivals                             
#bgg    ,,chapter ,,vii     ,,prophetic 
,,visions                               
#cdb     ,,illustrations     ,browning  
at #bc 7,london #ahce7                  
,frontispiece                           
,,facing ,,page    ,paracelsus          
#ch    ,herbert ,spencer                
#id    ,david ,strauss                  
#aab    ,cardinal ,wiseman              
#abj    ,william ,ewart ,gladstone      
#afj    ,william ,morris                
#aif    ,john ,burns                    
#bjh    ,alfred ,tennyson               

#bej    ,a4 ,c4 ,swinburne              
#bfj    ,dante ,gabriel ,rossetti       
#bff    ,george ,meredith               
#bgb    ,euripides                      
#bif    ,aristophanes                   
#cjf    ,walter ,savage ,landor         
#ccj    ,browning at #gg 7#ahhi7        
#cfj     ,,browning ,,and ,,his         
,,century     ,,prologue   ,,to ,,robert
 ,,browning    ,say not we know but     
rather that we love1     ,and so we know
 enough4 ,thus deeply spoke     ,the    
,sage2 and in men's stunted hearts awoke
   ,a haunting fear1 for fain are they  
to prove   ,their life1 their ,god1 with
 yeas and nays that move     ,the mind's
 uncertain flow4 ,then fierce           
outbroke1--     ,knowledge1 the child of
 pain shall we revoke8   ,the guide     
wherewith men climb to things above8    
,nay1 calm your fears6 ',tis but the    
mere mind's knowing1     ,the soul's    
alone the poet worthy deeming4     ,let 
mind up-build its entities of seeming   
,with toil and tears6 ,the toil is but  

for showing     ,how much there lacks of
 truth4 ,but 'tis no dreaming     ,when 
sky throbs back to heart1 with ,god's   
love beaming4     ,i  ,,the ,,battle    
,,of ,,mind ,,and ,,spirit   ,during the
 nineteenth century1 which has already  
receded far enough into the perspective 
of the past for us to be able to take a 
comprehensive view of it1 the advance   
guard of the human race found itself in 
a position entirely different from that 
ever before occupied by it4 ,through the
 knowledge of cosmic1 animal1 and social
 evolution gradually accumulated by the 
laborious and careful studies of special
 students in every department of        
historical research and scientific      
experiment1 a broader and higher state  
of self-consciousness was attained4     
,mankind1 on its most perceptive plane1 
no longer pinned its faith to inherited 
traditions1 whether of religion1 art1 or
 morals4 ,every conceivable fact and    
every conceivable myth was to be tested 
in the laboratory of the intellect1 even

 the intellect itself was to undergo    
dissection1 with the result that1 once  
for all1 it has been decided what       
particular range of human knowledge lies
 within the reach of mental perception1 
and what particular range of human      
knowledge can be grasped only through   
spiritual perception4  ,such a momentous
 decision as this in the history of     
thought has not been reached without a  
long and protracted struggle extending  
back into the early days of             
,christianity1 nor1 it may be said1 is  
the harmony as yet complete1 for there  
are to-day1 and perhaps always will be1 
human beings whose consciousness is not 
fully orbed and who either seek their   
point of equilibrium too entirely in the
 plane of mind or too entirely in the   
plane of spirit4  ,in the early days1   
before ,christianity came to bring its  
sword upon earth1 there seems to have   
been little or no consciousness of such 
a struggle4 ,the ancient ,hindu1        
observing ,nature and meditating upon   

the universe1 arrived intuitively at a  
perception of life and its processes    
wonderfully akin to that later          
experimentally proved by the nineteenth 
century scientist1 nor did he have a    
suspicion that such truth was in any way
 antagonistic to religious truth4 ,on   
the contrary1 he considered that1 by it1
 the beauty and mystery of religion was 
immeasurably enhanced1 and1 letting his 
imagination play upon his intuition1 he 
brought forth a theory of spiritual     
evolution in which the world to-day is  
bound to recognize many elements of     
beauty and power necessary to any       
complete conception of religion in the  
future4  ,even the ,babylonians made    
their guesses at an evolutionary theory 
of the universe4 ,greek philosophy1     
later1 was permeated with the idea1 it  
having been derived by them perhaps from
 the ,chaldeans through the             
,phoenicians1 or if the theories of     
,aryan migrations be correct1 perhaps   
through inheritance from a remote ,aryan

 ancestry4  ,when ,christian thought    
gained its hold upon the world1 the     
account of creation given in ,genesis   
became so thoroughly impressed upon the 
minds of men that it was regarded as the
 orthodox view1 rooted in divine        
revelation1 and to question it was to   
incur the danger of being called an     
atheist1 with its possibly uncomfortable
 consequences of being martyred4        
,strangely enough1 the early ,church    
adopted into its fold many pagan        
superstitions1 such as a belief in      
witchcraft and in signs and wonders1 as 
well as some myths1 but this great truth
 upon which the pagan mind had stumbled1
 it would have none of4  ,these two     
circumstances--the adoption on the part 
of ,christianity of pagan superstitions 
and its utter repudiation of the pagan  
guesses upon evolution1 carrying within 
it the germs of truth1 later to be      
unearthed by scientific                 
research--furnished exactly the right   
conditions for the throwing down of the 

gauntlet between the mind and the       
spirit4 ,the former1 following          
intellectual guidance1 found itself     
coming more and more into antagonism    
with the spirit1 not yet freed from the 
trammels of imagination4 ,the latter1   
guided by imagination1 continued to     
exercise a mythopoeic faculty1 which not
 only brought it more and more into     
antagonism with the mind1 but set up    
within its own realm an internecine     
warfare which has blackened the pages of
 religious history with crimes and      
martyrdoms so terrible as to force the  
conviction that the true devil in       
antagonism to spiritual development has 
been the imagination of mankind1        
masquerading as verity1 and not yet     
having found its true function in art4  
,regarded from the point of view of the 
student of intellectual development1    
this conflict of two thousand years has 
the fascination of a great drama of     
which the protagonist is the mind       
struggling to free the spirit from its  

subjection to the evil aspects of the   
imagination4 ,great thinkers in the     
field of science1 philosophy1 and       
religion are the dramatis personae1 and 
in the onward rush of this world-drama  
the sufferings of those who have fallen 
by the way seem insignificant4  ,but    
when the student of history takes his   
more intimate survey of the purely human
 aspects of the struggle1 heartrending1 
indeed1 become the tragedies resulting  
from the exercise of human bigotry and  
stupidity4  ,indignation and sorrow take
 possession of us when we think upon    
such a spectacle as that of ,roger      
,bacon1 making ready to perform a few   
scientific experiments before a small   
audience at ,oxford1 confronted by an   
uproar in which monks1 fellows1 and     
students rushed about1 their garments   
streaming in the wind1 crying out1 ,down
 with the magician6 ,and this was only  
the beginning of a persecution which    
ended in his teaching being solemnly    
condemned by the authorities of the     

,franciscan order and himself thrown for
 fourteen years into prison1 whence he  
issued an old and broken man of eighty4 
,more barbarous still was the treatment 
of ,giordano ,bruno1 a strange sort of  
man who developed his philosophy in     
about twenty-five works1 some prose1    
some poetry1 some dialogues1 some       
comedies1 with such enticing titles as  
,the ,book of the ,great ,key1 ,the     
,explanation of the ,thirty ,seals1 ,the
 ,expulsion of the ,triumphant ,beast1  
,the ,threefold ,minimum1 ,the          
,composition of ,images1 ,the           
,innumerable1 the ,immense and the      
,unfigurable4 ,his utterances were      
vague1 especially to the intellects of  
his time1 yet not so vague that         
theology1 whether ,catholic or          
,calvinistic1 did not at once take      
fright4  ,he held that the investigation
 of nature in the unbiased light of     
reason is our only guide to truth4 ,he  
rejected antiquity1 tradition1 faith1   
and authority2 he exclaimed1 ,let us    

begin by doubt4 ,let us doubt till we   
know4 ,acting upon these principles1 he 
began to unfold again that current of   
,greek thought which the system imposed 
by the ,church had intercepted for more 
than a thousand years1 and arrived at a 
conception of evolution prefiguring the 
modern theories4  ,he conceived the law 
of the universe to be unceasing change4 
,each individual1 he declared1 is the   
resultant of innumerable individuals2   
each species is the starting point for  
the next4 ,furthermore1 he maintained   
that the perfecting of the individual   
soul is the aim of all progress4        
,tenets so opposite to the orthodox view
 of special creation and the fall of man
 could not be allowed to go             
unchallenged4 ,it is to be remembered   
that he was a priest in holy orders in  
the ,convent of ,st4 ,dominic1 and in   
the year #aegf he was accused by the    
,provincial of his order of heresy on   
one hundred and thirty counts4 ,he did  
not await his trial1 but fled to ,rome1 

thence to northern ,italy1 and became   
for some years a wanderer4 ,he was      
imprisoned at ,geneva2 at ,toulouse he  
spent a year lecturing on ,aristotle2 in
 ,paris1 two years as professor         
extraordinary in the ,sorbonne2 three   
years in ,london1 where he became the   
friend of ,sir ,philip ,sidney1 and     
influenced the philosophy of both ,bacon
 and ,shakespeare4 ,oxford1 however1 was
 unfriendly to his teachings and he was 
obliged to flee from ,england also4     
,then he wandered for five years from   
city to city in ,germany--at one time   
warned to leave the town1 at another    
excommunicated1 at another not even     
permitted to lodge within the gates4    
,finally1 he accepted the invitation of 
a noble ,venetian1 ,zuane ,mocenigo1 to 
visit ,venice and teach him the higher  
and secret learning4 ,the two men soon  
quarreled1 and ,bruno was betrayed by   
the count into the hands of the         
,inquisition4 ,he was convicted of      
heresy in ,venice and delivered to the  

,inquisition in ,rome4 ,he spent seven  
years in its dungeons1 and was again    
tried and convicted1 and called upon to 
recant1 which he stoutly refused to do4 
,sentence of death was then passed upon 
him and he was burned at the stake on   
,february #ag1 #afjj1 on the ,campo de' 
,fiori1 where there now stands a statue 
erected by ,progressive ,italy in his   
honor4  ,his last words were1 ,i die a  
martyr1 and willingly4 ,then they cast  
his ashes into the ,tiber and placed his
 name among the accused on the rolls of 
the ,church4 ,and there it probably     
still remains1 for no longer ago than   
#ahhi1 when his statue was unveiled on  
the ninth of ,june1 on the site of his  
burning1 in full view of the ,vatican1  
,pope ,leo ,,xiii1 it is said1 refused  
food and spent hours in an agony of     
prayer at the foot of the statue of ,st4
 ,peter4 ,catholic1 and even            
,protestant1 denunciation of ,bruno at  
this time showed that the smoke from    
this particular battle in the war of    

mind with spirit was still far from     
being laid4  ,with the fate of ,giordano
 ,bruno still fresh in his mind1        
,galileo succumbed to the demands of the
 ,inquisition and recanted1 saying that 
he no longer believed what he1 himself1 
with his telescope had proved to be     
true4      ,i1 ,galileo1 being in my    
seventieth year1 being a prisoner and on
 my     knees1 and before your          
,eminences1 having before my eyes the   
,holy     ,gospel1 which ,i touch with  
my hands1 abjure1 curse1 and detest the 
error and the heresy of the movement of 
the earth4  ,if this recantation had    
brought any comfort or peace into his   
life it might have been hard to forgive 
,galileo's perjury of himself4 ,his     
persecution1 however1 continued to the  
end4 ,he was exiled from his family and 
friends1 and1 even when he had become   
blind and wasted by sorrow and disease1 
he was still closely watched lest he    
might utter the awful heresy that the   
earth moved4  ,a hundred years later    

than this1 when ,buffon attempted to    
teach the simple truths of geology1 he  
was deposed from his high position and  
made to recant by the theological       
faculty of the ,sorbonne4 ,the man who  
promulgated geological principles1 as   
firmly established to-day as that of the
 rotation of the earth upon its axis1   
was forced to write3 ,i declare that ,i 
had no intention to contradict the text 
of ,scripture2 that ,i believe most     
firmly all therein related about the    
creation1 both as to order of time and  
matter of fact4 ,i abandon everything in
 my book respecting the formation of the
 earth1 and generally all which may be  
contrary to the narrative of ,moses4    
,such are the more heinous examples of  
the persecution of the men who          
discovered the truths of science4 ,to   
these should be added the wholesale     
persecution of witches and magicians1   
for unusual knowledge of any sort ran   
the chance of being regarded as contrary
 to biblical teaching and of being      

attributed to the machinations of the   
,prince of ,darkness4  ,every new step  
made in the direction of scientific     
truth has had thus to face the most     
determined opposition4 ,persecution by  
torture and death died out1 but up to   
the nineteenth century1 and well on     
through it1 denunciation1               
excommunication1 suppression1 the loss  
of honorable positions have all been    
used as weapons by church or university 
in the attempt to stamp out whatever it 
considered dangerous and subverting     
doctrines of science4  ,the decisive    
battle was not to be inaugurated until  
the latter half of the nineteenth       
century1 with the advent in the field of
 such names in science as ,spencer1     
,darwin1 ,tyndall and ,huxley1 and such 
names in biblical criticism as ,strauss 
and ,renan4  ,the outposts1 it is true1 
had been won by advancing scientific    
thought1 for step by step the ,church   
had compromised1 and had admitted one   
scientific doctrine after another as not

 incompatible with biblical truth4 ,but 
now1 not only theology1 the imperfect   
armor in which the spirit had been      
clothed1 was attacked1 but the very     
existence of spirit itself was to be    
questioned4 ,the thinking world was to  
be divided into materialists and        
supernaturalists4 ,now1 at last1 mind   
and spirit1 who in the ages long gone   
had been brothers1 were to stand face to
 face as enemies4 ,was this mortal      
combat to end in the annihilation of    
either1 or would this1 too1 end in a    
compromise leading to harmony8  ,at the 
dawn of this century1 in #ahab1 came    
into the world its master poetic mind4  
,i say this to-day without hesitation1  
for no other ,english poet of the       
century has been so thoroughly aware of 
the intellectual tendencies of his      
century1 and has so emotionalized them  
and brought them before us under the    
humanly real conditions of dramatic     
utterance4  ,it is not surprising1      
considering this fact1 that in his      

second poem1 written in #ahce1 ,browning
 ventures into the arena and at once    
tackles the supreme problem of the age1 
what is to be the relation of mind and  
spirit8  ,it is characteristic of the   
poetic methods1 which dominated his     
work1 that he should have presented this
 problem through the personality of a   
historical figure who played no         
inconsiderable part in the intellectual 
development of his time1 though not a   
man to whom general historians have been
 in the habit of assigning much space in
 their pages4 ,browning1 however1 as    
,hall ,griffin informs us1 had been     
familiar with the name of ,paracelsus   
from his childhood1 of whom he had read 
anecdotes in a queer book1 ,wanley's    
,wonders of the ,little ,world4         
,besides1 his father's library1 wherein 
as a boy he was wont to browse          
constantly1 contained the ,opera ,omnia 
of ,paracelsus4  ,with the confidence of
 youth and of genius the poet attempts  
in this poem a solution of the problem4 

,to mind he gives the attribute of      
knowledge1 to spirit the attribute of   
love4  ,the poem as a whole does not    
concern us here except as a background  
for its final thoughts4 ,in order1      
however1 to put the situation clearly   
before readers not already familiar with
 it1 ,i venture to transcribe a portion 
of a former analysis of my own4         
,paracelsus aspires to the acquisition  
of absolute knowledge and feels born    
within him the capabilities for         
attaining this end1 and1 when attained1 
it is to be devoted to enlarging the    
possibilities of man's life4 ,the whole 
race is to be elevated at once4 ,man may
 not be doomed to cope with seraphs1 yet
 by the exercise of human strength alone
 he hopes man may one day beat ,god's   
angels4  ,he is a revolter1 however1    
against the magical and alchemistic     
methods of his age1 which seek for the  
welfare of men through the elixir of    
youth or the philosopher's stone4 ,he   
especially disclaims such puerile       

schemes in the passionate moment when he
 has realized how futile all his        
lifelong efforts have been4 ,he stands1 
indeed1 at the threshold of a new world4
 ,he has a glimmering of the true       
scientific methods which would discover 
first the secrets of life's laws1 and   
then use these natural laws to bring    
about life's betterment1 instead of     
hoping for salvation through the        
discovery of some magic secret by means 
of which life's laws might be overcome4 
,yet he is sufficiently of his own      
superstitious age to desire and expect  
fairly magical results from the laws he 
hopes to discover4 ,the creed which     
spurs him to his quest is his belief    
that truth is inborn in the soul1 but to
 set this truth free and make it of use 
to mankind correspondences in outer     
nature must be found4 ,an intuitive mind
 like ,paracelsus's will recognize these
 natural corollaries of the intuition   
wherever it finds them2 and these are   
what ,paracelsus goes forth over the    

earth to seek and find1 sure he will    
arrive4 ,one illustration of the results
 so obtained is seen in the doctrine of 
the signatures of plants according to   
which the flowers1 leaves1 and fruits of
 plants indicate by their color or      
markings1 etc41 the particular diseases 
they are intended to cure4 ,the real    
,paracelsus practised medicine upon this
 theory4  ,though such methods are a    
long distance from those of the modern  
scientist1 who deduces his laws from    
careful and patient observation of      
nature1 they go a step toward his in    
seeking laws in nature to correspond to 
hypotheses born of intuition4           
,browning's presentation of the attitude
 of mind and the place held by          
,paracelsus in the development of       
science is exactly in line with the most
 recent criticisms of this extraordinary
 man's life4 ,according to these he     
fluctuated between the systems of magic 
then prevalent and scientific           
observation1 but always finally threw in

 the balance of his opinion on the side 
of scientific ways of working2 and above
 all made the great step from a belief  
in the influence of nature upon man to  
that of the existence of parallelisms   
between nature processes and human      
processes4  ,though he thus opened up   
new vistas for the benefit of man1 he   
must necessarily be a failure1 from his 
own point of view1 with his ,india not  
found1 his absolute truth unattained2   
and it is upon this side that the poet  
dwells4 ,for a moment he is somewhat    
reassured by the apparition of ,aprile1 
scarcely a creature of flesh and blood1 
more the spirit of art who aspires to   
love infinitely and has found the       
attainment of such love as impossible as
 ,paracelsus has found the attainment of
 knowledge4 ,both have desired to help  
men1 but ,paracelsus has desired to help
 them rather through the perfecting1    
even immortalizing1 of their physical   
being2 ,aprile1 through giving man1 as  
he is1 infinite sympathy and through    

creating forms of beauty which would    
show him his own thoughts and hopes     
glorified by the all-seeing touch of the
 artist4  ,paracelsus recognizes his    
deficient sympathy for mankind1 and     
tries to make up for it in his own way  
by giving out of the fulness of his     
knowledge to men4 ,the scornful and     
proud reformer has not1 however1 truly  
learned the lesson of love1 and verily  
has his reward when he is turned against
 by those whom he would teach4 ,then the
 old ideal seizes upon him again1 and   
still under the influence of ,aprile he 
seeks in human experience the loves and 
passions of mankind which he learns     
through ,aprile he had neglected for the
 ever-illusive secret1 but neither does 
success attend him here1 and only on his
 deathbed does his vision clear up1 and 
he is made to indulge in a prophetic    
utterance quite beyond the reach of the 
original ,paracelsus4  ,in this passage 
is to be found ,browning's first        
contribution to a solution of the great 

problem4 ,that it is instinct with the  
idea of evolution has become a          
commonplace of ,browning criticism1 a   
fact which was at least independently   
or1 as far as ,i know1 first pointed out
 by myself in an early essay upon       
,browning4 ,at the time1 ,i was reading 
both ,browning and ,spencer1 and could  
not but be impressed by the parallelisms
 in thought between the two1 especially 
those in this seer-like passage and ,the
 ,data of ,ethics4  ,writers whose      
appreciation of a poet is in direct     
ratio to the number of exact historical 
facts to be found in a poem like to     
emphasize this fact that the doctrine of
 evolution can be found in the works of 
,paracelsus4 ,why not8 ,since1 as we    
have seen it had been floating about in 
philosophical thought in one form or    
another for some thousands of years4    
,indeed1 it has been stated upon good   
authority that the idea of a gradual    
evolution according to law and of a ,god
 from whom all being emanates1 from whom

 all power proceeds1 is an inherent     
necessity of the ,aryan mind as opposed 
to the ,semitic idea of an outdwelling  
,god and of supernaturalism4 ,thus1 all 
down the ages the ,aryan mind has       
revolted from time to time against the  
religious ideas superimposed upon it by 
the ,semitic mind4 ,this accounts for   
the numerous heresies within the bosom  
of the ,church as well as for the       
scientific advance against the          
superstitions of the ,church4           
,generalizations of this sweeping order 
are apt to contain only partial truth4  
,it would probably be nearer the whole  
truth1 as we are enabled to-day to trace
 historical development1 to say that1   
starting with opposite conceptions1     
these two orders of mind have worked    
toward each other and the harmonization 
of their respective points of view1 and1
 furthermore1 that this difference in   
mind belongs to a period prior even to  
the emergence of the ,aryan or the      
,semitic4 ,researches in mythology and  

folklore seem to indicate that no matter
 how far back one may go in the records 
of human thought there will be found    
these two orders of mind--one which     
naturally thinks of the universe as the 
outcome of law1 and one which naturally 
thinks of it as the outcome of creation4
 ,there are primitive myths in which    
mankind is supposed to be descended from
 a primitive ancestor1 which may range  
all the way from a serpent to an oak    
tree1 or1 as in a certain ,zulu myth1 a 
bed of reeds growing on the back of a   
small animal4 ,and there are equally    
primitive myths in which mankind is     
created out of the trees or the earth by
 an external agent1 varying in          
importance from a grasshopper to a more 
or less spiritual being4  ,browning did 
not need to depend upon ,paracelsus for 
his knowledge of evolution4 ,he may not 
have known that the ancient ,hindu in   
the dim mists of the past had an        
intuition of the cosmic egg from which  
all life had evolved1 and that he did   

not know of the theory as it is         
developed in the great ,german          
philosophers we are certain1 because he1
 himself1 asseverated that he had never 
read the ,german philosophers1 but it is
 hardly possible that he did not know   
something of it as it appears in the    
writings of the ,greek philosophers1 for
 ,greek literature was among the        
earliest of his studies4 ,he might1 for 
instance1 have taken a hint from the    
speculations of that half mythical      
marvel of a man1 ,empedocles1 with which
 the ,paracelsus theory of the universe1
 as it appears in the passage under     
discussion1 has many points of contact4 
,according to ,empedocles1 the four     
primal elements1 earth1 air1 fire and   
water1 are worked upon by the forces of 
love and discord4 ,by means of these    
forces1 out of the primal elements are  
evolved various and horrible            
monstrosities before the final form of  
perfection is reached4 ,it is true he   
did not correctly imagine the stages in 

the processes of evolution1 for instead 
of a gradual development of one form    
from another1 he describes the process  
as a haphazard and chaotic one4 ,many   
heads sprouted up without necks1 and    
naked arms went wandering forlorn of    
shoulders1 and solitary eyes were       
straying destitute of foreheads4 ,these 
detached portions of bodies coming      
together by haphazard produced the      
earlier monstrous forms4 ,many came     
forth with double faces and two breasts1
 some shaped like oxen with a human     
front1 others1 again1 of human race with
 a bull's head4 ,however1 the latter    
part of the evolutionary process as     
described by ,empedocles1 when ,love    
takes command1 seems especially         
pertinent as a possible source of       
,browning's thought3      ,when strife  
has reached the very bottom of the      
seething mass1 and     love assumes her 
station in the center of the ball1 then 
everything     begins to come together1 
and to form one whole--not              

instantaneously1     but different      
substances come forth1 according to a   
steady process of     development4 ,now1
 when these elements are mingling1      
countless kinds of     things issue from
 their union4 ,much1 however1 remains   
unmixed1 in     opposition to the       
mingling elements1 and these1 malignant 
strife still     holds within his grasp4
 ,for he has not yet withdrawn himself  
altogether to the extremities of the    
globe2 but part of his limbs     still  
remain within its bounds1 and part have 
passed beyond4 ,as     strife1 however1 
step by step retreats1 mild and innocent
 love pursues     him with her force    
divine2 things which had been immortal  
instantly     assume mortality2 the     
simple elements become confused by      
interchange     of influences4 ,when    
these are mingled1 then the countless   
kinds of     mortal beings issue forth1 
furnished with every sort of form--a    
sight     of wonder4  ,though evolution 
was no new idea1 it had been only a     

hypothesis arrived at intuitionally or  
suggested by crude observations of      
nature until by perfected methods of    
historical study and of scientific      
experimentation proof was furnished of  
its truth as a scientific verity4  ,let 
us glance at the situation at the time  
when ,paracelsus was published4 ,in     
#ahce science had made great strides in 
the direction of proving the correctness
 of the hypothesis4 ,laplace had lived  
and died and had given to the world in  
mathematical reasoning of remarkable    
power proof of the nebular hypothesis1  
which was later to be verified by       
,fraunhofer's discoveries in spectrum   
analysis4 ,lamarck had lived and died   
and had given to the world his theory of
 animal evolution4 ,lyall in ,england   
had shown that geological formations    
were evolutionary rather than           
cataclysmal4 ,in fact1 greater and      
lesser scientific lights in ,england and
 on the continent were every day adding 
fresh facts to the burden of proof in   

favor of the hypothesis4 ,it was in the 
air1 and denunciations of it were in the
 air4  ,most interesting of all1        
however1 in connection with our present 
theme is the fact that ,herbert ,spencer
 was still a lad of fifteen1 who was    
independently of ,darwin to work out a  
complete philosophy of evolution1 which 
was to be applied in every department of
 cosmic1 geologic1 plant1 animal and    
human activity1 but 7and this is of     
special interest7 he was not to give to 
the world his plan for a synthetic      
philosophy until #ahfj1 and not to      
publish his ,first ,principles until    
#ahfb1 nor the first instalment of the  
,data of ,ethics1 the fruit of his whole
 system1 until #ahgi4  ,besides being   
familiar with the idea as it crops out  
in ,greek thought1 it is impossible that
 the young ,browning was not cognizant  
of the scientific attitude of the time4 
,in fact1 he tells us as much himself1  
for when ,doctor ,wonivall asked him    
some questions as to his attitude toward

 ,darwin1 ,browning responded in a      
letter3 ,in reality all that seems      
proved in ,darwin's scheme was a        
conception familiar to me from the      
beginning4  ,entirely familiar with the 
evolutionary idea1 then1 however he may 
have derived it1 it is just what might  
be expected that he should have worked  
it into ,paracelsus's final theory of   
life4 ,the remarkable thing is that he  
should have applied its principles in so
 masterly a fashion--namely1 that he    
should have made a complete             
philosophical synthesis by bringing the 
idea of evolution to bear upon all      
natural1 human and spiritual processes  
of growth twenty-five years before      
,herbert ,spencer1 who is regarded on   
this particular ground as the master    
mind of the century1 gave his synthetic 
philosophy of evolution to the world4   
,a momentary glance at the passage in   
question will make this clear4          
,paracelsus traces first development as 
illustrated in geological forms3        

,the center-fire heaves underneath the  
earth1   ,and the earth changes like a  
human face2   ,the molten one bursts up 
among the rocks1   ,winds into the      
stone's heart1 outbranches bright   ,in 
hidden mines1 spots barren river beds1  
,crumbles into fine sand where sunbeams 
bask4  ,next he touches upon plant life 
and animal life4 ,the grass grows       
bright1 the boughs are swollen with     
blooms1 ants make their ado1 birds fly  
in merry flocks1 the strand is purple   
with its tribe of nested limpets1 savage
 creatures seek their loves in wood and 
plain4 ,then he shows how in all this   
animal life are scattered attributes    
foreshadowing a being that will combine 
them4 ,then appears primitive man1 only 
half enlightened1 who gains knowledge   
through the slow1 uncertain fruit of    
toil1 whose love is not serenely pure1  
but strong from weakness1 a love which  
endures and doubts and is oppressed4    
,and out of the travail of the human    
soul as it proceeds from lower to higher

 forms is finally evolved self-conscious
 man--man who consciously looks back    
upon all that has preceded him and      
interprets nature by means of his own   
human perceptions4 ,the winds are       
henceforth voices1 wailing or a shout1 a
 querulous mutter or a quick1 gay laugh1
 never a senseless gust1 now man is     
born4  ,but development does not end    
with the attainment of this             
self-consciousness4 ,after this stage   
has been reached there continues an     
evolution which is distinctively        
spiritual1 a tendency to ,god4 ,browning
 was not content with the evolution of  
man1 he was prophetic of the final      
flowering of man in the superman1       
although he had never heard of          
,nietszche4  ,the corollary to this     
progressive theory of life1 a view held 
by scientific thinkers1 is that sin is  
not depravity1 but is merely a lack of  
development4 ,paracelsus is therefore   
made wise to know even hate is but a    
mask of love1 to see a good in evil1 a  

hope in ill-success1 to sympathize1 even
 be proud of man's half-reasons1 faint  
aspirings1 dim struggles for truth--all 
with a touch of nobleness despite their 
error1 upward tending all1 though weak4 
,though there are points of contact     
between the thought of the true         
,paracelsus and of ,browning1 the points
 of contact between ,spencer and        
,browning are far more significant1 for 
,browning seems intuitively to have     
perceived the fundamental truths of     
social and psychic evolution at the     
early age of twenty-three--truths which 
the philosopher worked out only after   
years of laborious study4  ,we1 who1    
to-day1 are familiar with the           
application of the theory of evolution  
to every object from a dustpan to a     
flying machine1 can hardly throw        
ourselves into the atmosphere of the    
first half of the last century when this
 dynamic ideal was flung into a world   
with static ideals4 ,the ,christian     
world knew little and cared less about  

the guesses of ,greek philosophers1 whom
 they regarded when they did know about 
them as unregenerate pagans4 ,german    
thought was caviare to the general1 and 
what new thought of a historical or     
scientific nature made its way into the 
strongholds of conservatism filled      
people with suspicion and dread4 ,such a
 sweeping synthesis1 therefore1 as      
,browning gives of dawning scientific   
theories in ,paracelsus was truly       
phenomenal4 ,that it did not prove a    
bone of contention and arouse           
controversies as hot as those which were
 waged later around such scientific     
leaders as ,spencer1 ,darwin1 ,huxley1  
and ,clifford was probably due to the   
circumstance that the poem was little   
read and less understood1 and also to   
the fact that it contained other        
elements which overlaid the bare        
presentation of the doctrines of        
evolution4  ,so far ,i have spoken only 
of the form of the ,paracelsus theory of
 life1 but a theory of life to be       

complete must have soul as well as form4
 ,only in adding the soul side to his   
theory of life does ,browning really    
give his solution of the problem1 what  
is to be the relation of mind and       
spirit8  ,one other point of resemblance
 is to be noted between the thought of  
,browning's ,paracelsus and ,herbert    
,spencer4 ,they agree that ultimate     
knowledge is beyond the grasp of the    
intellect4 ,neither was this a new idea2
 but up to the time of ,spencer it was  
taken simply as a negative conclusion4  
,spencer1 however1 having found this    
negation makes it the body of his       
philosophy--a body so shadowy that many 
of his critics consider it too ghostly  
to stand as a substantial basis for     
philosophical thought4 ,he regards the  
failure of the intellect to picture the 
nature of the absolute as the most      
certain proof that our intuitions of its
 existence are trustworthy1 and upon    
this he bases all religious aspiration4 
,like the psalmist1 he exclaims1 ,who by

 searching can find out ,god8  ,the     
attitude of ,paracelsus is identical as 
far as the intellect is concerned4 ,his 
life1 spent in the search for knowledge1
 had proved it to him4 ,but he does not1
 like ,spencer1 make it the body of his 
philosophy4 ,through the influence of   
,aprile he is led to a definite         
conception of the ,infinite as a ,being 
whose especial characteristic is that he
 feels6--feels unbounded joy in his own 
creations4 ,this is eminently an        
artist's or poet's perception of the    
relation of ,god to his universe4 ,as   
,aprile in one place says1 ,god is the  
perfect poet1 who in his person acts his
 own creations4  ,as ,i have already    
pointed out1 the evil of pain1 of decay1
 of degeneration is taken no account of4
  ,there is the constant passing onward 
from joy to joy4 ,all the processes of  
nature from the simplest to the most    
complex bring1 in their turn1 a delight 
to their ,creator until man appears1 and
 is not only a joy to his ,creator1 but 

is the first in the order of creation to
 share in the joy of existence1 the     
first to arrive at the full             
consciousness of beauty4 ,so            
overwhelming is this consciousness of   
beauty that man perceives it struggling 
for expression in the hates and         
fallacies of undeveloped natures4  ,all 
this is characteristic of the artistic  
way of looking at life4 ,the artist is  
prone either to ignore the ugly or to   
transmute it by art into something      
possessing beauty of power if not of    
loveliness4 ,what are plays like ,hamlet
 and ,macbeth1 ,brand and ,peer ,gynt1  
music like ,tristan and ,isolde or the  
,pathetic ,symphony1 ,rodin's statues1  
but actual1 palpable realizations of the
 fact that hate is but a mask of love1  
or that human fallacies and human       
passions have within them the seeds of  
immense beauty if only there appear the 
artist who can bring them forth4 ,if    
this is true of the human artist1 how   
much more is it true of the divine      

artist in whose shadow1 as ,pompilia    
says1 even a ,guido may find healing4   
,the optimism of such a theory of       
existence is intoxicating4 ,not only    
does this artist-man look backward and  
rejoice in all the beauty of past phases
 of creation1 but he looks forward to   
endless progression in the enjoyment of 
fresh phases of beauty--a flying point  
of bliss remote4 ,this is a universe in 
which the ,prometheus of the old myths  
is indeed unbound4 ,mankind is literally
 free to progress forever upward4 ,if   
there are some men in darkness1 they are
 like plants in mines struggling to     
break out into the sunlight they see    
beyond4  ,the interesting question      
arises here1 was ,browning1 himself1    
entirely responsible for the soul of his
 ,paracelsus theory of life or was there
 some source beyond him from which he   
drew inspiration8  ,it has frequently   
been suggested that ,aprile in this poem
 is a sort of symbolic representation of
 ,shelley4 ,why not rather a composite  

of both ,shelley and ,keats1 the poet of
 love and the poet of beauty8 ,an       
examination of the greatest poems of    
these two writers1 ,prometheus ,unbound 
and ,hyperion1 will bring out the       
elements in both which ,i believe       
entered into ,browning's conception4    
,in the exalted symbolism of the        
,prometheus ,unbound ,shelley shows     
that1 in his view1 evil and suffering   
were not inherent in the nature of      
things1 the tyranny of evil having      
gained its ascendancy through the       
persistence of out-worn ideals1 such as 
that of ,power or ,force symbolized in  
the ,greek idea of ,jupiter4 ,prometheus
 is the revolting mind of mankind1      
enslaved by the tyranny of ,jupiter1    
hating the tyrant1 yet determined to    
endure all the tyrant can inflict upon  
him rather than admit his right to rule4
 ,the freeing of ,prometheus and the    
dethronement of ,jupiter come through   
the awakening in the heart of           
,prometheus of pity for the tyrant--that

 is1 ,prometheus has learned to love his
 enemies as he loves his friends4 ,the  
remainder of the poem is occupied with  
showing the effects upon humanity of    
this universal awakening of love4  ,in  
the fine passage where the ,spirit of   
the ,earth hears the trumpet of the     
,spirit of the ,hour sound in a great   
city1 it beholds all ugly human shapes  
and visages which had caused it pain    
pass floating through the air1 and      
fading still    ,into the winds that    
scattered them1 and those   ,from whom  
they passed seemed mild and lovely forms
   ,after some foul disguise had fallen1
 and all   ,were somewhat changed1 and  
after brief surprise   ,and greetings of
 delighted wonder1 all   ,went to their 
sleep again4  ,and the ,spirit of the   
,hour relates3    ,soon as the sound had
 ceased whose thunder filled   ,the     
abysses of the sky and the wide earth1  
,there was a change3 the impalpable thin
 air   ,and the all-circling sunlight   
were transformed   ,as if the sense of  

love dissolved in them   ,had folded    
itself around the sphered world4  ,in   
the meantime1 the over-souls of         
humanity--,prometheus1 symbolic of      
thought or knowledge1 is reunited to    
,asia1 his spouse1 symbolic of ,nature  
or emotion1 from whom he has long been  
separated and together with ,asia's     
sisters1 ,panthea and ,ione--retire to  
the wonderful cave where they are       
henceforth to dwell and where their     
occupations are inspired by the most    
childlike and exalted moods of the soul4
  ,before considering the bearing of    
their life of love and art in the cave  
upon the character of ,aprile let us    
turn our attention for a moment to a    
remarkable passage in ,hyperion1 which  
poem was written as far back as #ahbj4  
,keats1 like ,shelley1 deals with the   
dethronement of gods1 but it is the     
older dynasty of ,titans--,saturn and   
,hyperion usurped by ,jupiter and       
,apollo4 ,shelley's thought in the      
,prometheus is strongly influenced by   

,christian ideals1 but ,keats's is      
thoroughly ,greek4  ,the passing of one 
series of gods and the coming into power
 of another series of gods was a        
familiar idea in ,greek mythology4 ,it  
reflected at once the literal fact that 
ever higher and higher forces of nature 
had been deified by them1 beginning with
 crude ,nature gods and ending with     
symbols of the most ideal human         
attributes1 and at the same time that   
their thought leaned in the direction of
 interpreting nature as an evolutionary 
process4 ,seizing upon this1 ,keats has 
presented in the words of the old ,titan
 ,oceanus a theory of the evolution of  
beauty quite as startling as a prophecy 
of psychological theories upon this     
subject as ,browning's is of cosmic and 
social theories4 ,addressing ,saturn1   
,oceanus says3    ,we fall by course of 
,nature's law1 not force   ,of thunder1 
or of love4444     444 ,as thou wast not
 the first of powers   ,so art thou not 
the last2 it cannot be3   ,from chaos   

and parental darkness came   ,light1 the
 first fruits of that intestine broil1  
,that sullen ferment1 which for wondrous
 ends   ,was ripening in itself4 ,the   
ripe hour came   ,and with it light1 and
 light1 engendering   ,upon its own     
producer1 forthwith touched1   ,the     
whole enormous matter into life4   ,upon
 that very hour1 our parentage   ,the   
,heavens and the ,earth were manifest2  
,then thou first-born1 and we the       
giant-race1   ,found ourselves ruling   
new and beauteous realms      99        
99       99       99       99    ,as    
,heaven and ,earth are fairer far       
,than chaos and blank darkness1 though  
once chiefs1   ,and as we show beyond   
that ,heaven and ,earth   ,in form and  
shape compact and beautiful1   ,in will1
 in action free1 companionship   ,and   
thousand other signs of purer life1     
,so on our heels a fresh perfection     
treads1   ,a power more strong in       
beauty1 born of us   ,and fated to excel
 us1 as we pass   ,in glory that old    

darkness3 nor are we   ,thereby more    
conquered than by us the rule   ,of     
shapeless chaos4 ,for 'tis the eternal  
law   ,that first in beauty should be   
first in might4   ,yea1 by that law1    
another race may drive   ,our conquerors
 to mourn as we do now4  ,there is in   
the attitude of ,oceanus a magnificent  
acceptance of this ruthless course of   
nature reminding one of that taken by   
such men as ,huxley and ,clifford in the
 face of their own scientific           
discoveries1 but one is immediately     
struck by the absence of love in the    
idea4 ,an ,apollo1 no matter what new   
beauty he may have1 himself1 to offer1  
who yet disregards the beauty of        
,hyperion and calmly accepts the throne 
of the sun in his stead1 does not       
satisfy us4 ,what unreason it is that so
 splendid a being as ,hyperion should be
 deposed6 ,as a matter of fact1 he was  
not deposed4 ,he is left standing       
forever in our memories in splendor like
 the morn1 for ,keats did not finish the

 poem and no picture of the enthroned   
,apollo is given4 ,perhaps ,keats       
remembered his earlier utterance1 ,a    
thing of beauty is a joy forever1 and   
cared for his own ,hyperion too much to 
banish him for the sake of ,apollo4  ,be
 that as it may1 the points in relation 
to our subject are that ,shelley's      
emphasis is upon the conservation of    
beauty1 while ,keats's emphasis is upon 
the evolution of new beauty4  ,in the   
cave where ,prometheus and ,asia        
dwell--the cave of universal spirit--is 
given forth the inspiration to humanity 
for painting1 poetry and arts1 yet to be
 born1 and all these arts return to     
delight them1 fashioned into form by    
human artists4 ,love is the ruling      
principle4 ,therefore all forms of      
beautiful art are immortal4 ,aprile1#a  
as he first appears1 is an elaboration  
upon this idea4 ,he would love all      
humanity with such intensity that he    
would immortalize in all forms of       
art--painting1 poetry1 music--every     

thought and emotion of which the human  
soul is capable1 and this done he would 
say3                              ,his  
spirits created--   ,god grants to each 
a sphere to be its world1   ,appointed  
with the various objects needed   ,to   
satisfy its own peculiar want2   ,so1 ,i
 create a world for these my shapes     
,fit to sustain their beauty and their  
strength4  ,in short1 he would found a  
universal art museum exactly like the   
cave in which ,prometheus dwelt4 ,the   
stress is no more than it is in ,shelley
 upon a search for new beauty1 and there
 is not a hint that a coming beauty     
shall blot out the old until ,aprile    
recognizes ,paracelsus as his king4     
,then he awakes to the fact that his own
 ideal has been partial1 because he has 
not been a seeker after knowledge1 or   
new beauty1 and in much the same spirit 
as ,oceanus1 he exclaims3    ,lo1 ,i    
forget my ruin1 and rejoice   ,in thy   
success1 as thou6 ,let our ,god's praise
   ,go bravely through the world at     

last6 ,what care   ,through me or thee8 
,but ,paracelsus had learned a lesson   
through ,aprile which the ,apollo of    
,keats had not learned4 ,he does not    
accept kingship at the expense of       
,aprile as ,apollo would do at the      
expense of ,hyperion4 ,he includes in   
his final theory of life all that is    
beautiful in ,aprile's or ,shelley's    
ideal and adds to it all that is        
beautiful of the ,keats ideal4 ,the form
 of his philosophy is evolutionary1 and 
up to the time of his meeting with      
,aprile had expressed itself as the     
search for knowledge4 ,through ,aprile  
his philosophy becomes imbued with soul1
 the attributes of which are the spirit 
of love and the spirit of beauty1 one of
 which conserves and immortalizes       
beauty1 the other of which searches out 
new beauty4  ,so1 working hand in hand1 
they become one1 while the search for   
knowledge1 thus spiritualized1 becomes  
the search for beauty always inspired by
 love4 ,the aim of the evolutionary     

process thus becomes the unfolding of   
ever new phases of beauty in which ,god 
takes endless delight1 and to the final 
enjoyment of which mankind shall attain4
  ,to sum up1 ,browning's solution of   
the problem in the ,paracelsus theory of
 life is reached not only through a     
synthesis of the doctrines of evolution 
as applied to universal activities1     
cosmic and human1 prophetic1 on the one 
hand1 of the most advanced scientific   
thought of the century1 but it is a     
synthesis of these and of the art-spirit
 in its twofold aspect of love and      
beauty as already expressed in the      
poetry of ,shelley and ,keats4  ,it is  
not in the least probable that ,browning
 set to work consciously to piece       
together these ideals4 ,that is not the 
method of the artist6 ,but being        
familiar to him in the two best beloved 
poets of his youth1 they had sunk into  
his very being1 and welled forth from   
his own subconsciousness1 charged with  
personal emotion1 partly dramatic1      

partly the expression of his own true   
feeling at the time1 and the result be  
it said is one of the most inspiring and
 beautiful passages in ,english poetry4 
,illustration3 ,,paracelsus  ,at the end
 of his life and the end of the century 
,herbert ,spencer1 who had spent years  
of labor to prove the fallacies in all  
religious dogmas1 and who had insisted  
upon religion's being entirely relegated
 to intellectually unknowable regions of
 thought1 spoke in his autobiography of 
the mysteries inherent in life1 in the  
evolution of human beings1 in           
consciousness1 in human                 
destiny--mysteries that the very advance
 of science makes more and more evident1
 exhibits as more and more profound and 
impenetrable1 adding3      ,thus        
religious creeds1 which in one way or   
other occupy the sphere     that        
rational interpretation seeks to occupy 
and fails1 and fails the     more1 the  
more it seeks1 ,i have come to regard   
with a sympathy based     on community  

of need3 feeling that dissent from them 
results from     inability to accept the
 solutions offered1 joined with the wish
 that     solutions could be found4     
,loyal to the last to his determination 
to accept as knowledge only what the    
intellect could prove1 he never         
permitted himself to come under the     
awakening influence of an ,aprile1 yet  
like ,browning's ancient ,greek1 ,cleon1
 he longed for a solution of the        
mystery4  ,at the dawn of the century1  
and in his youth1 ,browning ventured    
upon a solution4 ,in the remainder of   
this and the next chapter ,i shall      
attempt to show what elements in this   
solution the poet retained to the end of
 his life1 how his thought became       
modified1 and what relation his final   
solution bears to the final thought of  
the century4  ,in this first attempt at 
a synthesis of life in which the        
attributes peculiar to the mind and to  
the spirit are brought into harmonious  
relationship1 ,browning is more the     

intuitionalist than the scientist4 ,his 
convictions well forth with all the     
force of an inborn revelation1 just as  
kindred though much less rational views 
of nature's processes sprang up in the  
mind of the ancient ,hindu or the       
ancient ,greek4  ,the philosophy of life
 herein flashed out by the poet was     
later to be elaborated fully on its     
objective or observational side by      
,spencer--the philosopher par excellence
 of evolution--and finally1 also1 of    
course1 on the objective side1 to become
 an assured fact of science through the 
publication in #ahei of ,darwin's       
epoch-making book1 ,the ,origin of      
,species1 wherein the laws1 so          
disturbing to many at the time1 of      
natural selection and the survival of   
the fittest were fully set forth4       
,while the genetic view of nature1 as   
the phraseology of to-day goes1 had been
 anticipated in writers on cosmology    
like ,leibnitz and ,laplace1 in geology 
by such men as ,hutton and ,lyall1 and  

had entered into the domain of          
embryology through the researches of    
,von ,baer1 and while ,spencer had      
already formulated a philosophy of      
evolution1 ,darwin went out into the    
open and studied the actual facts in the
 domain of living beings4 ,his studies  
made evolution a certainty4 ,they       
revealed the means by which its         
processes were accomplished1 and in so  
doing pointed to an origin of man       
entirely opposed to orthodox views upon 
this subject4 ,thus was inaugurated the 
last great phase in the struggle between
 mind and spirit4  ,henceforth1 science 
stood completely revealed as the        
unflinching searcher of truth4          
,intuition was but a handmaid whose duty
 was to formulate working hypotheses1 to
 become scientific law if provable by   
investigation or experiment1 to be      
discarded if not4  ,the aspects which   
this battle has assumed in the latter   
half of the century have been many and  
various4 ,older sciences with a new     

lease of life and sciences entirely new 
have advanced along the path pointed out
 by the doctrines of evolution4         
,battalions of determined men have held 
aloft the banner of uncompromising      
truth4 ,each battalion has stormed      
truth's citadel only to find that about 
its inmost reality is an impregnable    
wall4 ,the utmost which has been        
attained in any case is a working       
hypothesis1 useful in bringing to light 
many new objective phenomena1 it is     
true1 but1 in the end1 serving only to  
deepen the mystery inherent in the      
nature of all things4  ,such a working  
hypothesis was the earlier one of       
gravitation whose laws of action were   
elaborated by ,sir ,isaac ,newton1 and  
by the great mind of ,laplace were still
 further developed with marvelous       
mathematical precision in his           
,mechanique ,celeste4  ,such another    
hypothesis is that of the atomic theory 
of the constitution of matter usually   
associated with the name of ,dalton1    

though it has undergone many            
modifications from other scientific     
thinkers4 ,of this hypothesis ,theodore 
,merz writes in his history of          
nineteenth-century scientific thought3  
,as to the nature of the differences of 
the elements1 the atomic view     gives 
no information2 it simply asserts these 
differences1 assumes     them as        
physical constants1 and tries to        
describe them by number and             
measurement4 ,the atomic view is        
therefore at best only a provisional    
basis1 a convenient resting place1      
similar to that which ,newton found     
in physical astronomy1 and on which has 
been established the     astronomical   
view of nature4  ,the vibratory theories
 of the ether1 the theories of the      
conservation of energy1 the vitalistic  
view of life1 the theory of parallelism 
of physical and psychical phenomena are 
all such hypotheses4 ,they have been of 
incalculable value in helping to a      
larger knowledge of the appearances of  

things1 and in the formation of laws of 
action and reaction1 but in no way have 
they aided in revealing the inner or    
transcendent realities of the myriad    
manifestations of nature and life6      
,during the last half of the century    
this truth has forced itself with ever  
increasing power upon the minds of      
scientists1 and has resulted in many    
divisions among the ranks4 ,some rest   
upon phenomena as the final reality2    
hence materialistic or mechanical views 
of life4 ,some believe that the only    
genuine reality is the one              
undiscoverable by science2 hence new    
presentations of metaphysical views of  
life4  ,during these decades the solid  
phalanx of religious believers has      
continued to watch from its heights with
 more or less of fear the advance of    
science4 ,here1 too1 there has been     
division in the ranks4 ,many denounced  
the scientists as the destroyers of     
religion2 others like the good ,bishop  
,colenso could write such words as these

 in #ahgc3 ,bless ,god devoutly for the 
gift of modern science2 and who ten     
years earlier had expressed satisfaction
 in the fact that superstitious belief  
in the letter of the ,bible was giving  
way to a true appreciation of the real  
value of the ancient ,hebrew ,scriptures
 as containing the dawn of religious    
light4  ,from another quarter came the  
critical students of the ,bible1 who    
subjected its contents to the keen tests
 of historical and archaeological study4
 ,serene1 above all the turmoil1 was the
 small band of genuine philosophers who1
 like ,browning's own musician1 ,abt    
,vogler1 knew the very truth4 ,no matter
 what disturbing facts may be brought to
 light by science1 be it man's descent  
from ,anthropoids or a mechanical view  
of sensation1 they continue to dwell    
unshaken in the light of a transcendent 
truth which reaches them through some   
other avenue than that of the mind4     
,browning belonged by nature in this    
last group4 ,already in ,sordello his   

attention is turned to the development  
of the soul1 and from that time on to   
the end of his career he is the champion
 of the soul-side of existence with all 
that it implies of character            
development--little else being worth    
study1 as he declared in his            
introduction to a second edition of the 
poem written twenty years after its     
first appearance4  ,on this rock1 the   
human soul1 he takes his stand1 and1    
though all the complex waves of the     
tempest of nineteenth-century thought   
break against his feet1 he remains firm4
  ,beginning with ,sordello1 it is no   
longer evolution as applied to every    
aspect of the universe but evolution as 
applied to the human spirit which has   
his chief interest4 ,problems growing   
out of the marvelous developments of    
such sciences as astronomy1 geology1    
physics1 chemistry or biology do not    
enter into the main body of the poet's  
thought1 though there are allusions many
 and exact which show his familiarity   

with the growth of these various        
objective sciences during his life4     
,during all the middle years of his     
poetic career the relations of the mind 
and the spirit seemed to fascinate      
,browning1 especially upon the side of  
the problems connected with the         
supernatural bases of religious         
experience4 ,these are the problems     
which grew out of that phase of         
scholarly advance represented by        
biblical criticism4  ,such a poem as    
,saul1 for example1 though full of a    
humanity and tenderness1 as well as of a
 sheer poetic beauty1 which endear it   
alike to those who appreciate little    
more than the content of the poem1 and  
to those whose appreciation is that of  
the connoisseur in poetic art1 is       
nevertheless an interpretation of the   
origin of prophecy1 especially of the   
,messianic idea1 which places ,browning 
in the van of the thought of the century
 on questions connected with biblical   
criticism4  ,at the time when ,saul was 

written1 #ahde1 modern biblical         
criticism had certainly gained very     
little hearing in ,england1 for even as 
late as #ahfb ,bishop ,colenso's        
enlightened book on the ,pentateuch was 
received1 as one writer expresses it1   
with almost unanimous disapprobation and
 widespread horror4  ,critics of the    
,bible there had been since the         
seventeenth century1 but they had       
produced a confused mass of stuff in    
their attacks upon the authenticity of  
the ,bible against which the orthodox   
apologists had succeeded in holding     
their own4 ,at the end of the eighteenth
 and the dawn of the nineteenth century 
came the more systematic criticism of   
,german scholars1 echoes of whose       
theories found their way into ,england  
through the studies of such men as      
,pusey4 ,but these1 though they gave    
full consideration to the foremost of   
the ,german critics of the day1 ranged  
themselves1 for the most part1 on the   
side of orthodoxy4  ,eichhorn1 one of   

the first of the ,germans to be studied 
in ,england1 had found a point of       
departure in the celebrated             
,wolfenbuettel ,fragments1 which had    
been printed by ,lessing from           
manuscripts by an unknown writer        
,reimarus discovered in the             
,wolfenbuettel library4 ,these fragments
 represent criticism of the sweepingly  
destructive order1 characteristic of    
what has been called the naturalistic   
school4 ,although ,eichhorn agreed with 
the writer of the ,fragments that the   
biblical narratives should be divested  
of all their supernatural aspects1 he   
did not interpret the supernatural      
elements as simply frauds designed to   
deceive in order that personal ends     
might be gained4 ,he restored dignity to
 the narrative by insisting at once upon
 its historical verity and upon a       
natural interpretation of the           
supernatural--a spontaneous illumination
 reflected from antiquity itself1 which 
might result from primitive             

misunderstanding of natural phenomena1  
from the poetical embellishment of      
facts1 or the symbolizing of an idea4   
,doctor ,paulus1 in his commentary on   
the ,gospels 7#ahjj71 carried the idea  
still farther1 and the rationalistic    
school of ,bible criticism became an    
assured fact1 though ,kant at this time 
developed an entirely different theory  
of ,bible interpretation1 which in a    
sense harked back to the older          
allegorical interpretation of the       
,bible4  ,he did not trouble himself at 
all about the historical accuracy of the
 narratives4 ,he was concerned only in  
discovering the idea underlying the     
stories1 the moral gist of them in      
relation to human development4 ,with the
 naturalists and the rationalists1 he   
put aside any idea of ,divine           
revelation4 ,it was the moral aspiration
 of the authors1 themselves1 which threw
 a supernatural glamour over their      
accounts of old traditions and turned   
them into symbols of life instead of    

merely records of bona fide facts of    
history4 ,the weakness of ,kant's       
standpoint was later pointed out by     
,strauss1 whose opinion is well summed  
up in the following paragraph4  ,whilst 
,kant sought to educe moral thoughts    
from the biblical writings1 even in     
their historical part1 and was even     
inclined to consider these thoughts as  
the fundamental object of the history3  
on the other hand he derived these      
thoughts only from himself and the      
cultivation of his age1 and therefore   
could seldom assume that they had       
actually been laid down by the authors  
of these writings2 and on the other     
hand1 and for the same reason1 he       
omitted to show what was the relation   
between these thoughts and those        
symbolic representations1 and how it    
happened that the one came to be        
expressed by the other4  ,the next      
development of biblical criticism was   
the mythical mode of interpretation in  
which are prominent the names of        

,gabler1 ,schelling1 ,bauer1 ,vater1 ,de
 ,wette1 and others4 ,these critics     
among them set themselves the difficult 
task of classifying the ,bible          
narratives under the heads of three     
kinds of myths3 historical myths1       
philosophical myths1 and poetical myths4
 ,the first were narratives of real     
events colored by the light of          
antiquity1 which confounded the divine  
and the human1 the natural and the      
supernatural2 the second1 such as clothe
 in the garb of historical narrative a  
simple thought1 a precept1 or an idea of
 the time2 the third1 historical and    
philosophical myths partly blended      
together and partly embellished by the  
creations of the imagination1 in which  
the original fact or idea is almost     
obscured by the veil which the fancy of 
the poet has woven around it4  ,this    
sort of interpretation1 first applied to
 the ,old ,testament1 was later used in 
sifting history from myth to the ,new   
,testament4  ,it will be seen that it   

has something in common with both the   
previously opposed views4 ,the mythical 
interpretation agrees with the old      
allegorical view in so far that they    
both relinquish historical reality in   
favor of some inherent truth or         
religious conception of which the       
historical semblance is merely the      
shell4 ,on the other hand it agrees with
 the rationalistic view in the fact that
 it really gives a natural explanation  
of the process of the growth of myths   
and legends in human society4 ,immediate
 divine agency controls in the          
allegorical view1 the spirit of         
individuals or of society controls in   
the mythical view4  ,neither the        
out-and-out rationalists nor the        
orthodox students of the ,bible approved
 of this new mode of interpretation1    
which was more or less the outcome of   
the study of the sacred books of other  
religions4 ,in #ahce1 however1 appeared 
an epoch-making book which subjected the
 ,new ,testament to the most elaborate  

criticism based upon mythical and       
legendary interpretation4 ,this was the 
,life of ,jesus1 ,critically ,examined1 
by ,dr4 ,david ,friedrich ,strauss4     
,this book caused a great stir in the   
theological world of ,germany4 ,strauss 
was dismissed from his professorship in 
the ,university of ,tuebingen in        
consequence of it4 ,not only this1 but  
in #ahci1 when he was appointed         
professor of ,church ,history and       
,divinity at the ,university of ,zurich1
 he was compelled at once to resign1 and
 the administration which appointed him 
was overthrown4 ,this veritable bomb    
thrown into the world of theology was   
translated by ,george ,eliot1 and       
published in ,england in #ahdf4         
,through this translation the most      
advanced ,german thought must have      
become familiar to many outside the pale
 of the professional scholar1 and among 
them was1 doubtless1 the poet ,browning1
 if indeed he had not already become    
familiar with it in the original4 ,when 

the content and the thought of          
,browning's poems upon religious        
subjects are examined1 it becomes       
certain that he was familiar with the   
whole trend of biblical criticism in the
 first half of the century and of its   
effect upon certain of the orthodox     
churchmen1 and that with full           
consciousness he brought forward in his 
religious poems1 not didactically1 but  
often by the subtlest indirections1 his 
own attitude toward the problems raised 
in this department of scientific        
historical inquiry4  ,some of the       
problems which occupied his attention1  
such as that in ,the ,death in the      
,desert1 are directly traceable to the  
influence of ,strauss's book4 ,whether  
he knew of ,strauss's argument or not   
when he wrote ,saul1 his treatment of   
the story of ,david and ,saul is not    
only entirely in sympathy with the creed
 of the ,german school of mythical      
interpreters1 but the poet himself      
becomes one of the myth makers in the   

series of prophets--that is1 he takes   
the idea1 the ,messianic idea1          
poetically embellishes an old tradition1
 making it glow with humanness1 throws  
into that idea not only a content beyond
 that which ,david could have dreamed   
of1 but suggests a purely psychical     
origin of the ,messianic idea itself in 
keeping with his own thought on the     
subject4  ,the history of the origin and
 growth of the ,messianic ideal as      
traced by the most modern ,jewish       
critics claims it to have been a slow   
evolution in the minds of the prophets4 
,in ,genesis it appears as the prophecy 
of a time to come of universal happiness
 promised to ,abraham1 through whose    
seed all the peoples of the earth shall 
be blessed1 because they had hearkened  
unto the voice of ,god4 ,from a family  
ideal in ,abraham it passed on to being 
a tribal ideal with ,jacob1 and with the
 prophets it became a national ideal1 an
 aspiration toward individual happiness 
and a noble national life4 ,not until   

the time of ,isaiah is a special agent  
mentioned who is to be the instrument by
 means of which the blessing is to be   
fulfilled1 and there we read this       
prophecy3 ,there shall sprout forth a   
shoot from the stem of ,jesse1 upon whom
 will rest the spirit of ,yahveh1 the   
spirit of wisdom and understanding1 of  
counsel and strength1 of the knowledge  
and fear of ,god4 ,he will not judge    
according to appearance1 nor will he    
according to hearsay4 ,he will govern in
 righteousness the poor1 and judge with 
equity the humble of the earth4 ,he will
 smite the mighty with the rod of his   
mouth1 and the wicked with the breath of
 his lips4  ,the ideal expressed here of
 a great and wise national ruler who    
would bring about the realization of    
liberty1 justice and peace to the       
,hebrew nation1 and not only to them but
 to all mankind1 becomes in the         
prophetic vision of ,daniel a mystic    
being4 ,i saw in the visions of night1  
and behold1 with the clouds of heaven   

came down as a likeness of the son of   
man4 ,he stepped forward to the ancient 
of days4 ,to him was given dominion1    
magnificence and rule4 ,and all the     
peoples1 nations and tongues did homage 
to him4 ,his empire is an eternal empire
 and his realm shall never cease4  ,in  
,saul ,browning makes ,david the type of
 the prophetic faculty in its complete  
development4 ,his vision is of an ideal 
which was not fully unfolded until the  
advent of ,jesus himself--the ideal not 
merely of the mythical political        
liberator but of the spiritual saviour1 
who through infinite love would bring   
redemption and immortality to mankind4  
,david in the poem essays to cheer ,saul
 with the thought of the greatness that 
will live after him in the memory of    
others1 but his own passionate desire to
 give something better than this to     
,saul awakens in him the assurance that 
,god must be as full of love and        
compassion as he is4 ,thus ,browning    
explains the sudden awakening of ,david1

 not as a divine revelation from        
without1 but as a natural growth of the 
human spirit ,godward4 ,this new        
perception of values produces the       
ecstasy during which ,david sees his    
visions1 the witnesses1 cohorts about   
him1 angels1 powers1 the unuttered1     
unseen1 the alive1 the aware4  ,this    
whole conception was developed by       
,browning from the single phrase in ,i  
,samuel3 ,and ,david came to ,saul1 and 
stood before him3 and he loved him      
greatly4 ,in thus making ,david prophesy
 of an ideal which had not been evolved 
at his time1 ,browning indulges in what 
the biblical critic would call prophecy 
after the fact1 and so throws himself in
 on the side of the mythical            
interpreters of the ,bible4  ,he has    
taken a historical narrative1           
embellished it poetically as in the     
imaginary accounts of the songs sung by 
,david to ,saul1 and given it a         
philosophical content belonging on its  
objective side to the dawn of           

,christianity in the coming of ,jesus   
himself and on its subjective side to   
his 7the poet's7 own time--that is1 the 
idea of internal instead of external    
revelation--one of the ideas about which
 has been waged the so-called conflict  
of ,science and ,religion as it was     
understood by some of the most prominent
 thinkers of the latter half of the     
century4 ,in this1 again1 it will be    
seen that ,browning was in the van of   
the thought of the century1 and still   
more was he in the van in the           
psychological tinge which he gives to   
,david's experience4 ,professor ,william
 ,james himself could not better have   
portrayed a case of religious ecstasy   
growing out of genuine exaltation of    
thought than the poet has in ,david's   
experience4  ,this poem undoubtedly     
sheds many rays of light upon the       
feelings1 at the time1 of its writer4   
,while he was a profound believer in the
 spiritual nature and needs of man1 he  
was evidently not opposed to the        

contemporary methods of biblical        
criticism as applied to the prophecies  
of the ,old ,testament1 for has he not  
himself worked in accord with the light 
such criticism had thrown upon the      
origin of prophecy8 ,furthermore1 the   
poem is not only an instance of his     
belief in the supremacy of the human    
spirit1 but it distinctly repudiates the
 ,comtian ideal of a religion of        
humanity1 and of an immortality existing
 only in the memory of others4 ,the     
,comte philosophy growing out of a      
material conception of the universe and 
a product of scientific thought has been
 one of the strong influences through   
the whole of the nineteenth century in  
sociology and religion4 ,while it has   
worked much good in developing a deeper 
interest in the social life of man1 it  
has proved altogether unsatisfactory and
 barren as a religious ideal1 though    
there are minds which seem to derive    
some sort of forlorn comfort from this  
religion of positivism--from such hopes 

as may be inspired by the worship of    
,humanity as a continuity and solidarity
 in time without any special existence1 
more largely composed of the dead than  
of the living1 by the thought of an     
immortality in which we shall be        
reunited with the remembrance of our    
grandsires like ,tyltyl and ,mytyl in   
,maeterlinck's ,blue ,bird4  ,here1 as  
always1 the poet throws in his weight on
 the side of the paramount worth of the 
individual1 and of a conception of life 
which demands that the individual shall 
have a future world in which to overcome
 the flaws and imperfections incident to
 earthly life4  ,although1 as ,i have   
tried to show1 this poem undoubtedly    
bears witness to ,browning's awareness  
to the thought currents of the day1 it  
is couched in a form so dramatic1 and in
 a language so poetic1 that it seems    
like a spontaneous outburst of belief in
 which feeling alone had played a part4 
,certainly1 whatever thoughts upon the  
subject may have been stowed away in the

 subconscious regions of the poet's     
mind1 they well up here in a fountain of
 pure inspiration1 carrying the thought 
forward on the wings of the poet's own  
spirit4  ,poems reflecting several      
phases of the turmoil of religious      
opinion rife in mid-century ,england are
 ,christmas ,eve and ,easter ,day4      
,baffling they are1 even misleading to  
any one who is desirous of finding out  
the exact attitude of the poet's mind1  
for example1 upon the rival doctrines of
 a ,methodist parson and a ,german      
biblical critic4  ,the ,methodist       
,chapel and the ,german ,university     
might be considered as representative of
 the extremes of thought in the more or 
less prescribed realm of theology1 which
 largely through the influence of the   
filtering in of scientific and          
philosophic thought had divided itself  
into many sects4  ,within the ,church of
 ,england itself there were high church 
and low church1 broad church and        
,latitudinarian1 into whose different   

shades of opinion it is not needful to  
enter here4 ,outside of the ,established
 ,church were the numerous dissenters1  
including ,congregationalists1          
,baptists1 ,quakers1 ,methodists1       
,swedenborgians1 ,unitarians1 and       
numerous others4  ,there was one broad  
line of division between the            
,established ,church and the dissenting 
bodies4 ,in the first was inherent the  
ancient principle of authority1 while   
the principle of self-government in     
matters of faith guided all the         
dissenters in their search for the      
light4  ,it is not surprising that with 
so many differing shades of opinion     
within the bosom of the ,anglican       
,church it should1 in the earlier half  
of the century1 have lost its grip upon 
not only the people at large1 but upon  
many of its higher intellects4 ,the     
principle of authority seemed to be     
tottering to its fall4 ,in this crisis  
the ,roman ,catholic ,church exercised a
 peculiar fascination upon men of       

intellectual endowment who1 fearing the 
direction in which their intellect might
 lead them1 turned to that church where 
the principle of authority kept itself  
firmly rooted by summarily dismissing   
any one who might question it4 ,it is of
 interest to remember that at the date  
when this poem was written the          
,tractarian ,movement1 in which was     
conspicuous the ,oxford group of men1   
had succeeded in carrying over four     
hundred clergymen and laity into the    
,catholic ,church4  ,those who were     
unafraid followed the lead of ,german   
criticism and ,french materialism1 but  
the large mass of common people found in
 ,methodism the sort of religious       
guidance which it craved4  ,to this sect
 has been attributed an unparalleled    
influence in the moral development of   
,england4 ,by rescuing multitudes from  
ignorance and from almost the           
degradation of beasts1 and by fostering 
habits of industry and thrift1          
,methodism became a chief factor in     

building up a great1 intelligent and    
industrious middle-class4 ,its influence
 has been felt even in the ,established 
,church1 and as its enthusiastic        
historians have pointed out1 ,england   
might have suffered the political and   
religious convulsions inaugurated by the
 ,french ,revolution if it had not been 
for the saving grace of ,methodism4     
,appealing at first to the poor and     
lowly1 suffering wrong and persecution  
with its founder1 ,wesley1 it was so    
flexible in its constitution that after 
the death of ,wesley it broadened out   
and differentiated in a way that made it
 adaptable to very varied human needs4  
,in consequence of this it finally      
became a genuine power in the ,church   
and ,state of ,great ,britain4  ,the    
poem ,christmas ,eve becomes much more  
understandable when these facts about   
,methodism are borne in mind--facts     
which were evidently in the poet's mind1
 although the poem itself has the       
character of a symbolic rather than a   

personal utterance4 ,the speaker might  
be regarded as a type of the religious  
conscience of ,england4 ,in spite of    
whatever direct visions of the divine   
such a type of conscience may gain      
through the contemplation of nature and 
the revelations of the human heart1 its 
relations to the past cause it to feel  
the need of some sectarian form of      
religion--a sort of inherited need to be
 orthodox in one form or another4 ,this 
religious conscience has its artistic   
side2 it can clothe its inborn religious
 instincts in exquisite imaginative     
vision4 ,also1 it has its clear-sighted 
reasoning side4 ,this is able unerringly
 to put its finger upon any flaw of     
doctrine or reasoning in the forms of   
religion it contemplates4 ,hence1       
,catholic doctrine1 which was claiming  
the allegiance of those who were willing
 to put their troublesome intellects to 
sleep and accept authority where        
religion was concerned1 does not satisfy
 this keen analyzer4 ,nor yet is it able

 to see any religious reality in such a 
myth of ,christ rehabilitated as an     
ethical prophet as the ,goettingen      
professor constructs in a manner so     
reminiscent of a passage in ,strauss's  
,life of ,jesus1 where he is describing 
the opinions of the rationalists' school
 of criticism1 that a comparison with   
that passage is enlightening4  ,having  
swept away completely the supernatural  
basis of religion1 the rationalist is   
able still to conceive of ,jesus as a   
divine ,messenger1 a special favorite   
and charge of the ,deity3      ,he had  
implanted in him by ,god the natural    
conditions only of that     which he was
 ultimately to become1 and his          
realization of this destiny     was the 
result of his own spontaneity4 ,his     
admirable wisdom he     acquired by the 
judicious application of his            
intellectual powers and     the         
conscientious use of all the aids within
 his reach2 his moral     greatness1 by 
the zealous culture of his moral        

dispositions1 the     restraint of his  
sensual inclinations and passions1 and a
 scrupulous     obedience to the voice  
of his conscience2 and on these alone   
rested     all that was exalted in his  
personality1 all that was encouraging in
     his example4  ,the difficulty to   
this order of mind of the direct        
personal revelation lies in the fact    
that it is convincing only to those who 
experience it1 having no basis in       
authority1 and may even for them lose   
its force4  ,what then is the conclusion
 forced upon this ,english religious    
conscience8 ,simply this3 that1 though  
failing both from the intellectual and  
the aesthetic standpoint1 the dissenting
 view was the only religious view of the
 time possessing any genuine vitality4  
,it represented the progressive1        
democratic religious force which was    
then in ,england bringing religion into 
the lives of the people with a          
positiveness long lost to the ,anglican 
,church4 ,the religious conscience of   

,england was growing through this       
,methodist movement4 ,this is why the   
speaker of the poem chooses at last that
 form of worship which he finds in the  
little chapel4  ,while no one can doubt 
that the exalted mysticism based upon   
feeling1 and the large tolerance of the 
poem1 reflect most nearly the poet's    
personal attitude1 on the other hand it 
is made clear that in his opinion the   
dissenting bodies possessed the forms of
 religious orthodoxy most potent at the 
time for good4  ,in ,easter ,day1 the   
doubts and fears which have racked the  
hearts and minds of hundreds and        
thousands of individuals1 as the result 
of the increase of scientific knowledge 
and biblical criticism are given more   
personal expression4 ,the discussion    
turns principally upon the relation of  
the finite to the ,infinite1 a          
philosophical problem capable of much   
hair-splitting controversy1 solved here 
in keeping with the prevailing thought  
of the century--namely1 that the finite 

is relative and that this relativity is 
the proof of the ,infinite4  ,the       
boldness of this statement1 one such as 
might be found in the pages of ,spencer1
 is by ,browning elaborated with        
pictorial and emotional power4 ,only by 
a marvelous vision is the truth brought 
home to the speaker that the beauties   
and joys of earth are not               
all-sufficient1 but that they are in the
 poet's speech but partial beauty1      
though through this very limitation they
 become a pledge of beauty in its       
plenitude1 gleams meant to sting with   
hunger for full light4 ,it is not1      
however1 until this see-er of visions   
perceives the highest gleam of earth    
that he is able to realize through the  
spiritual voice of his vision that the  
nature of the ,infinite is in its       
essence ,love1 the supreme manifestation
 of which was symbolized in the death   
and resurrection of ,christ4  ,this     
revelation is nevertheless rendered null
 by the man's conviction that the vision

 was merely such stuff as dreams are    
made on4 ,at the end as at the beginning
 he finds it hard to be a ,christian4   
,his vision1 which thus symbolizes his  
own course of emotionalized reasoning1  
brings hope but not conviction4 ,like   
the type in ,christmas ,eve1 conviction 
can come to him only through a belief in
 supernatural revelation4 ,he is        
evidently a man of broad intellectual   
endowment1 who cannot1 as the           
,tractarians did1 lay his mind asleep1  
and rest in the authority of a church1  
nor yet can he be satisfied with the    
unconscious anthropomorphism of the     
sectarian4 ,he doubts his own reasoning 
attempts to formulate religious         
doctrines1 he doubts even the           
revelations of his own mystic states of 
consciousness2 hence there is nothing   
for him but to flounder on through life 
as best he can1 hoping1 fearing1        
doubting1 as many a serious mind has    
done owing to the nineteenth-century    
reaction against the supernatural dogmas

 of ,christianity4 ,like others of his  
ilk1 he probably stayed in the ,anglican
 ,church and weakened it through his    
latitudinarianisms4  ,a study in        
religious consciousness akin to this is 
that of ,bishop ,blougram4 ,here we have
 not a generalized type as in ,christmas
 ,eve1 nor an imaginary individual as in
 ,easter ,day1 but an actual study of a 
real man1 it being no secret that       
,cardinal ,wiseman was the inspiration  
for the poem4  ,wiseman's influence as a
 ,catholic in the ,tractarian movement  
was a powerful one1 and in the poet's   
dissection of his psychology an attempt 
is made to present the reasoning by     
means of which he made his appeal to    
less independent thinkers4 ,with faith  
as the basis of religion1 doubt serves  
as a moral spur1 since the will must    
exercise itself in keeping doubt        
underfoot4 ,browning1 himself1 might    
agree that aspiration toward faith was  
one of the tests of its truth1 he might 
also consider doubt as a spur to greater

 aspiration1 but these ideals would     
connote something different to him from 
what he makes them mean to ,blougram4   
,the poet's aspiration would be toward a
 belief in ,omniscient ,love and ,power1
 his doubts would grow out of his       
inability to make this ideal tally with 
the sin and evil he beholds in life4    
,blougram's consciousness is on a lower 
plane4 ,his aspiration is to believe in 
the dogmas of the ,church1 his doubts   
arise from an intellectual fear that the
 dogmas may not be true4 ,where         
,browning seems to miss comprehension of
 such a nature as ,blougram's is in     
failing to recognize that on his own    
plane of consciousness genuine feeling  
and the perception of beauty play at    
least as large a part in the basis of   
his faith as utilitarian and instinctive
 reasoning do4 ,while this poem shows in
 its references to the scientific       
theories of the origin of morals and its
 allusions to ,strauss1 as well as in   
the indirect portrayal of ,gigadibs1 the

 man emancipated from the ,church1 how  
entirely familiar the poet was with the 
currents of religious and scientific    
thought1 it falls short as a fair       
analysis of a man who is acknowledged to
 have wielded a tremendous religious    
influence upon ,englishmen of the       
caliber of ,cardinal ,newman1 ,kingsley1
 ,arnold1 and others4  ,if we leave out 
of account its connection with a special
 individual1 the poem stands1 however1  
as a delightful study of a type in which
 is depicted in passingly clever fashion
 methods of reasoning compounded of     
tantalizing gleams of truth and         
darkening sophistication4  ,the poem    
which shows most completely the effect  
of contemporary biblical criticism on   
the poet is ,a ,death in the ,desert4   
,it has been said to be an attempt to   
meet the destructive criticism of       
,strauss4 ,the setting of the poem is   
wonderfully beautiful1 while the        
portrayal of the mystical quality of    
,john's reasoning is so instinct with   

religious feeling that it must be a wary
 reader indeed who does not come from   
the reading of this poem with the       
conviction that here1 at least1         
,browning has declared himself          
unflinchingly on the side of            
supernatural ,christianity in the face  
of the battering rams of criticism and  
the projectiles of science4  ,but if he 
be a wary reader1 he will discover that 
the argument for supernaturalism only   
amounts to this--and it is put in the   
mouth of ,john1 who had in his youth    
been contemporary with ,christ--namely1 
that miracles had been performed when   
only by means of them faith was         
possible1 though miracles were probably 
not what those who believed in them     
thought they were4 ,here is the gist of 
his defence of the supernatural3      ,i
 say1 that as a babe1 you feed awhile1  
,becomes a boy and fit to feed himself1 
,so1 minds at first must be spoon-fed   
with truth3   ,when they can eat1       
babes'-nurture is withdrawn4   ,i fed   

the babe whether it would or no3   ,i   
bid the boy or feed himself or starve4  
,i cried once1 ',that ye may believe in 
,christ1   ,behold this blind man shall 
receive his sight6'   ,i cry now1       
',urgest thou1 for ,i am shrewd   ,and  
smile at stories how ,john's word could 
cure--   ,repeat that miracle and take  
my faith8'   ,i say1 that miracle was   
duly wrought   ,when save for it no     
faith was possible4   ,whether a change 
were wrought in the shows o' the world1 
,whether the change came from our minds 
which see   ,of shows o' the world so   
much as and no more   ,than ,god wills  
for his purpose1--7what do ,i   ,see    
now1 suppose you1 there where you see   
rock   ,round us87--,i know not2 such   
was the effect1   ,so faith grew1 making
 void more miracles1   ,because too much
 they would compel1 not help4   ,i say1 
the acknowledgment of ,god in ,christ   
,accepted by thy reason1 solves for thee
   ,all questions in the earth and out  
of it1   ,and has so far advanced thee  

to be wise4   ,wouldst thou improve this
 to re-prove the proved8   ,in life's   
mere minute1 with power to use the      
proof1   ,leave knowledge and revert to 
how it sprung8   ,thou hast it2 use it  
and forthwith1 or die6  ,the important  
truth as seen by ,john's dying eyes is  
that faith in a beautiful ideal has been
 born in the human soul4 ,whether the   
accounts of the exact means by which    
this faith arose were literally true is 
of little importance1 the faith itself  
is no less ,god-given1 as another       
passage will make clear3    ,man1       
therefore1 thus conditioned1 must expect
   ,he could not1 what he knows now1    
know at first2   ,what he considers that
 he knows to-day1   ,come but to-morrow1
 he will find misknown2   ,getting      
increase of knowledge1 since he learns  
,because he lives1 which is to be a man1
   ,set to instruct himself by his past 
self2   ,first1 like the brute1 obliged 
by facts to learn1   ,next1 as man may1 
obliged by his own mind1   ,bent1 habit1

 nature1 knowledge turned to law4       
,god's gift was that man should conceive
 of truth   ,and yearn to gain it1      
catching at mistake   ,as midway help   
till he reach fact indeed4  ,the defence
 of ,christianity in this poem reminds  
one very strongly of the theology of    
,schleiermacher1 a resume of which the  
poet might have found in ,strauss's     
,life of ,jesus4 ,although              
,schleiermacher accepted and even went  
beyond the negative criticism of the    
rationalists against the doctrines of   
the ,church1 he sought to retain the    
essential aspects of positive           
,christianity4 ,he starts out from the  
consciousness of the ,christian1 from   
that internal experience resulting to   
the individual from his connection with 
the ,christian community1 and he thus   
obtains a material which1 as its basis  
of feeling1 is more flexible and to     
which it is easier to give dialectically
 a form that satisfies science4  ,again1
 ,if we owe to him ,jesus the continual 

strengthening of the consciousness of   
,god within us1 this consciousness must 
have existed in him in absolute         
strength1 so that it or ,god in the form
 of the consciousness was the only      
operative force within him4 ,in other   
words1 in ,jesus was the supreme        
manifestation of ,god in human          
consciousness4 ,this truth1 first       
grasped by means which seemed           
miraculous1 is finally recognized in    
man's developing consciousness as a     
consummation brought about by natural   
means4 ,john's reasoning in the poem can
 lead to no other conclusion than this4 
,schleiermacher's theology has1 of      
course1 been objected to on the ground  
that if this incarnation of ,god was    
possible in one man1 there is no reason 
why it should not frequently be         
possible4 ,this is the orthodox         
objection1 and it is voiced in the      
comment added by ,one at the end of the 
poem showing the weakness of ,john's    
argument from the strictly orthodox     

point of view4  ,with regard to the     
miracles being natural events           
supernaturally interpreted--that is an  
explanation familiar to the biblical    
critic1 and one which the psychologist  
of to-day is ready to support with      
numberless proofs and analyses4 ,how    
much this poem owes to hints derived    
from ,strauss's book is further         
illustrated by the ,glossa of           
,theotypas1 which is borrowed from      
,origen1 whose theory is referred to by 
,strauss in his ,introduction as        
follows3 ,origen attributes a threefold 
meaning to the ,scriptures1             
corresponding with his distribution of  
the human being into three parts1 the   
liberal sense answering to the body1 the
 moral to the soul1 and the mystical to 
the spirit4  ,on the whole1 the poem    
appears to be influenced more by the    
actual contents of ,strauss's book than 
to be deliberately directed against his 
thought1 for ,john's own reasoning when 
his feelings are in abeyance might be   

deduced from more than one passage in   
this work wherein are passed in review  
the conclusions of divers critics of the
 naturalist and rationalist schools of  
thought4  ,the poem ,an ,epistle        
purports to give a nearly contemporary  
opinion by an ,arab physician upon the  
miracle of the raising of ,lazarus4 ,we 
have here1 on the one hand1 the ,arab's 
natural explanation of the miracle as an
 epileptic trance prolonged some three  
days1 and ,lazarus's interpretation of  
his cure as a supernatural event4       
,though absolutely skeptical1 the ,arab 
cannot but be impressed with the beliefs
 of ,lazarus1 because of their          
revelation of ,god as a ,god of ,love4  
,thus ,browning brings out the power of 
the truth in the underlying ideas of    
,christianity1 whatever skepticism may  
be felt as to the letter of it4  ,the   
effect of the trance upon the nature of 
,lazarus is paralleled to-day by        
accounts1 given by various persons1 of  
their sensations when they have sunk    

into unconsciousness nigh unto death4 ,i
 remember reading of a case in which a  
man described his feeling of entire     
indifference as to the relations of     
life1 his joy in a sense of freedom and 
ineffable beauty toward which he seemed 
to be flying through space1 and his     
disinclination to be resuscitated1 a    
process which his spirit was watching   
from its heights with fear lest his     
friends should bring him back to earth4 
,this higher sort of consciousness seems
 to have evolved in some people to-day  
without the intervention of such an     
experience as that of ,lazarus or one   
such as that of the above subject of the
 ,society for ,psychical ,research4  ,in
 describing ,lazarus to have reached    
such an outlook upon life1 ,browning    
again ranges himself with the most      
advanced psychological thought of the   
century4 ,hear ,william ,james3 ,the    
existence of mystical states absolutely 
overthrows the pretension of            
non-mystical states to be the sole and  

ultimate dictators of what we may       
believe4 ,as a rule1 mystical states    
merely add a supersensuous meaning to   
the ordinary outward data of            
consciousness4 ,they are excitements    
like the emotions of love or ambition1  
gifts to our spirit by means of which   
facts already objectively before us fall
 into a new expressiveness and make a   
new connection with our active life4    
,they do not contradict these facts as  
such1 or deny anything that our senses  
have immediately seized4 ,it is the     
rationalistic critic rather who plays   
the part of denier in the controversy1  
and his denials have no strength1 for   
there never can be a state of facts to  
which new meaning may not truthfully be 
added1 provided the mind ascend to a    
more enveloping point of view4 ,it must 
always remain an open question whether  
mystical states may not possibly be such
 superior points of view1 windows       
through which the mind looks out upon a 
more extensive and inclusive world4 ,the

 difference of the views seen from the  
different mystical windows need not     
prevent us from entertaining this       
supposition4 ,the wider world would in  
that case prove to have a mixed         
constitution like that of this world1   
that is all4 ,it would have its         
celestial and its infernal regions1 its 
tempting and its saving moments1 its    
valid experiences and its counterfeit   
ones1 just as our world has them2 but it
 would be a wider world all the same4   
,we should have to use its experiences  
by selecting and subordinating and      
substituting just as is our custom in   
this ordinary naturalistic world2 we    
should be liable to error just as we are
 now2 yet the counting in of that wider 
world of meanings1 and the serious      
dealing with it1 might1 in spite of all 
the perplexity1 be indispensable stages 
in our approach to the final fulness of 
the truth4  ,the vision of ,lazarus     
belongs to the beatific realm1 and the  
naturalistic ,arab has a longing for    

similar strange vision1 though he calls 
it a madman's1 for--    ,so1 the        
,all-,great1 were the ,all-,loving too--
   ,so1 through the thunder comes a     
human voice   ,saying1 ',o heart ,i     
made1 a heart beats here6   ,face1 my   
hands fashioned1 see it in myself6      
,thou hast no power nor mayst conceive  
of mine1   ,but love ,i gave thee1 with 
myself to love1   ,and thou must love me
 who have died for thee4'  ,a survey of 
,browning's contributions to the        
theological differences of the          
mid-century would not be complete       
without some reference to ,caliban and  
,childe ,roland4 ,in the former1 the    
absurdities of anthropomorphism1 of the 
,god conceived in the likeness of man1  
are presented with dramatic and ironical
 force1 but1 at the same time1 is shown 
the aspiration to something beyond1     
which has carried dogma through all the 
centuries1 forward to ever purer and    
more spiritual conceptions of the       
absolute4 ,in the second1 though it be a

 purely romantic ballad1 there seems to 
be symbolized the scientific            
knight-errant of the century1 who1 with 
belief and faith completely annihilated 
by the science which allows for no realm
 of knowledge beyond its own            
experimental reach1 yet considers life  
worth living4 ,despite the complex      
interpretations which have issued from  
the oracular tripods of ,browning       
,societies1 one cannot read the last    
lines of this poem--    ,dauntless the  
slug-horn to my lips ,i set1   ,and     
blew1 ',childe ,roland to the dark      
,tower came'--  without thinking of the 
splendid courage in the face of         
disillusionment of such men of the      
century as ,huxley1 ,tyndall or         
,clifford4  ,when we ask1 where is      
,browning in all this diversity of      
theological opinion8 we can only answer 
that beyond an ever-present undercurrent
 of religious aspiration there is no    
possibility of pinning the poet to any  
given dogmas4 ,everywhere we feel the   

dramatic artist4 ,in ,paracelsus the    
philosophy of life was that of the      
artist whose adoration finds its        
completion in beauty and joy2 now the   
poet himself is the artist experiencing 
as ,aprile did1 this beauty and joy in a
 boundless sympathy with many forms of  
mystical religious ecstasy4 ,every one  
of these poems presents a conflict      
between the doubts born of some phase of
 theological controversy and the        
exaltation of moments or periods of     
ecstatic vision1 and though nowhere is  
dogmatic truth asserted with            
positiveness1 everywhere we feel a      
mystic sympathy with the moving power of
 religious aspiration1 a sympathy which 
belongs to a form of consciousness      
perhaps more inclusive than the         
religious--namely1 a poetic             
consciousness1 able at once to          
sympathize with the content and to      
present the forms of mystic vision      
belonging to various phases of human    
consciousness4     ,,ii  ,,the          

,,century',s ,,end3 ,,promise ,,of      
,,peace   ,passing onward from this     
mid-century phase of ,browning's        
interest in what ,i have called the     
battle of the mind and the spirit1 we   
find him in his later poems taking up   
the subject in its broader aspects1 more
 as he treated it in ,paracelsus1 yet   
with a marked difference in temper4 ,god
 is no longer conceived of merely as a  
divine creator1 joying in the wonder and
 beauty of his creations4 ,the ideal of 
the artist has been modified by the     
observation of the thinker and the      
feeling induced by human rather than by 
artistic emotion4 ,life's experiences   
have shown to the more humanly conscious
 ,browning that the problem of evil is  
not one to be so easily dismissed4 ,the 
scientist may point out that evil is but
 lack of development1 and the lover and 
artist may exult when he sees the       
wonderful processes of nature and mind  
carrying forward development until he   
can picture a time when the evil shall  

become null and void1 but the human1    
feeling being sees the misery and the   
unloveliness of evil4 ,it does not      
satisfy him to know that it is lack of  
development or the outcome of lack of   
development1 nor yet that it will grow  
less as time goes on he ponders the     
problem1 why is evil permitted1 how is  
it to be harmonized with the existence  
of a universe planned upon a scheme     
which he believes to be the outcome of a
 source all-powerful and all-loving6    
,about this problem and its corollary1  
the conception of the infinite1         
,browning's latter-day thought revolves 
as it did in his middle years about the 
basis of religious belief4  ,it is one  
of the strange freaks of criticism that 
many admirers of ,browning's earlier    
work have failed to see the importance  
of his later poems1 especially          
,ferishtah's ,fancies1 and ,the         
,parleyings1 not only as expressions of 
the poet's own spiritual growth1 but as 
showing his mental grasp of the problems

 which the advance of nineteenth-century
 scientific thought brought to the fore 
in the last days of the century4  ,the  
date at which various critics have      
declared that ,browning ceased to write 
poetry might be considered an index of  
the time when that critic's powers      
became atrophied4 ,no less a person than
 ,edmund ,gosse is of the opinion that  
since #ahfh the poet's books were       
chiefly valuable as keeping alive       
popular interest in him1 and as leading 
fresh generations of readers to what he 
had already published4 ,fortunately it  
has long been admitted that ,homer      
sometimes nods1 though not with such    
awful effect as was said to attend the  
nods of ,jove4 ,hence1 in spite of ,mr4 
,gosse's undoubted eminence as a critic1
 we may dare to assume that in this     
particular instance he fell into the    
ancient and distinguished trick of      
nodding4  ,if ,mr4 ,gosse were right1 it
 would practically put on a par with a  
mere advertising scheme many poems which

 have now become household favorites4   
,take1 for example1 ,herve ,riel4 ,think
 of the blue-eyed ,breton hero whom all 
the world has learned to love through   
,browning1 tolerated simply as an index 
finger to ,the ,pied ,piper of ,hamelin4
 ,take1 too1 such poems1 as ,donald4    
,this man's dastardly sportsmanship is  
so vividly portrayed that it has the    
power to arouse strong emotion in strong
 men1 who have been known literally to  
break down in the middle of it through  
excess of feeling2 ,ivan ,ivanovitch1 in
 which is embodied such fear and horror 
that weak hearts cannot stand the strain
 of hearing it read2 the story of the   
dog ,tray1 who rescued a drowning doll  
with the same promptitude as he did a   
drowning child--at the relation of whose
 noble deeds the eyes of little children
 grow eager with excitement and         
sympathy4 ,and where is there in any    
poet's work a more vivid bit of tragedy 
than ,a ,forgiveness8  ,and would not an
 unfillable gap be left in the ranks of 

our friends of the imaginative world if 
,balaustion were blotted out8--the      
exquisite lyric girl1 brave1 tender and 
with a mind in which wisdom and wit are 
fair play fellows4  ,as ,carlyle might  
say1 ,verily1 verily1 ,mr4 ,gosse1 thou 
hast out-,homered ,homer1 and thy nod   
hath taken upon itself very much the    
semblance of a snore4  ,these and many  
others which might be mentioned since   
the date when ,mr4 ,gosse autocratically
 put up the bars to the poet's genius   
are now universally accepted4 ,there are
 others1 however1 such as ,the ,red     
,cotton ,night-cap ,country1 ,the ,inn  
,album1 ,aristophanes' ,apology1 ,fifine
 at the ,fair1 which are liable at any  
time to attacks from atrophied critics1 
and among these are the groups of poems 
which are to form the center of our     
present discussion4  ,without           
particularizing either critics or       
criticism it may be said that criticism 
of these poems divides itself into the  
usual three branches--one which objects 

to their philosophy1 one which objects  
to their art1 one which finds them      
difficult of comprehension at all4 ,this
 last criticism may easily be disposed  
of by admitting it is in part true4 ,the
 mind whose highest reaches of poetic   
inspiration are ministered unto by such 
simple and easily understandable lyrics 
as ,twinkle1 twinkle1 little star1 might
 not at once grasp the significance of  
the ,parleying with ,george ,bubb       
,dodington4 ,indeed1 it may be surmised 
that some minds might sing upon the     
starry heights with ,hegel and fathom   
the equivalence of being and non-being1 
and yet be led into a slough of despond 
by this same cantankerous ,george4  ,but
 a poetical slough of despond may be    
transfigured in the twinkling of an     
eye--after a proper amount of study and 
hard thinking--into an elevated plateau 
with prospects upon every side1 grand or
 terrible or smiling4  ,are we never to 
feel spurred to any poetical pleasure   
more vigorous than dilly-dallying with  

,keats while we feast our eyes upon the 
wideness of the seas8 or lazily floating
 in a lotus land with ,tennyson1        
perhaps1 among the meadows of the       
,musketaquid1 in canoes with silken     
cushions8 ,beauty and peace are the     
reward of such poetical pleasures4 ,they
 fall upon the spirit like the sweet    
sound that breathes upon a bank of      
violets1 stealing and giving odor1 but  
shall we never return from the land     
where it is always afternoon8 ,is it    
only in such a land as this that we     
realize the true power of emotion8      
,rather does it conduce to the slumber  
of emotion1 for progress is the law of  
feeling as it is the law of life1 and   
many times we feel--yes1 feel--with     
tremendous rushes of enthusiasm like    
climbing ,matterhorns with great iron   
nails in our shoes1 with historical and 
archaeological and philosophical        
,alpen-stocks in our hands1 and when we 
reach the summit what unsuspected       
beauties become ours6  ,then let us hear

 no more of the critic who wishes       
,browning had ceased to write in #ahfh  
or at any other date4 ,it may be said of
 him1 not as of ,whitman1 he who reads  
my book touches a man1 but he who reads 
my poems from start to finish grasps the
 life and thought of a century4  ,there 
will be no exaggeration in claiming that
 these two series of poems form the     
keystone to ,browning's whole work4     
,they are like a final synthesis of the 
problems of existence which he has      
previously portrayed and analyzed from  
myriad points of view in his dramatic   
presentation of character and his       
dramatic interpretations of spiritual   
moods4  ,in ,pauline1 before the poet's 
personality became more or less merged  
in that of his characters1 we obtain a  
direct glimpse of the poet's own        
artistic temperament1 and may literally 
acquaint ourselves with those qualities 
which were to be a large influence in   
moulding his work4  ,as described by    
himself1 the poet of ,pauline was       

,made up of an intensest life1   ,of a  
most clear idea of consciousness   ,of  
self1 distinct from all its qualities1  
,from all affections1 passions1         
feelings1 powers2   ,and thus far it    
exists1 if tracked1 in all3   ,but      
linked in me to self-supremacy1         
,existing as a center to all things1    
,most potent to create and rule and call
   ,upon all things to minister to it4  
,this sense of an over-consciousness is 
the mark of an objective poet--one who  
sympathizes with all the emotions and   
aspirations of humanity--interprets     
their actions through the light of this 
sympathy1 and at the same time keeps his
 own individuality distinct4  ,the poet 
of this poem discovers that he can no   
longer lose himself with enthusiasm in  
any phase of life2 but what does that   
mean to a soul constituted as his8 ,it  
means that the way has been cleared for 
the birth of that greater1 broader love 
of the fully developed artist soul      
which1 while entering into sympathy with

 all phases of life1 finds its true     
complement only in an ideal of absolute 
,love4  ,this picture of the artist     
aspiring toward the absolute by means of
 his large human sympathy may be        
supplemented by the theory of man's     
relation to the universe involved in    
,paracelsus as we have seen4  ,from this
 point in his work1 ,browning1 like the 
,hindu ,brahma1 becomes manifest not as 
himself1 but in his creations4 ,the poet
 whose portrait is painted for us in    
,pauline is the same poet who           
sympathetically presents a whole world  
of human experiences to us1 and the     
philosopher whose portrait is drawn in  
,paracelsus is the same who interprets  
these human experiences in the light of 
the great life theories therein         
presented4  ,but as the creations of    
,brahma return into himself1 so the     
human experiences ,browning has entered 
into artistic sympathy with return to   
enrich his completed view of the        
problems of life1 when1 like his own    

,rabbi ,ben ,ezra1 he reaches the last  
of life for which the first was planned 
in these ,fancies and ,parleyings4      
,though these two groups of poems       
undoubtedly express the poet's own      
mature conclusions1 they yet preserve   
the dramatic form4 ,several things are  
gained in this way3 ,first1 the poems   
are saved from didacticism1 for the poet
 expresses his opinions as an           
individual1 and not in his own person as
 a seer1 trying to implant his theories 
in the minds of disciples4 ,second1     
variety is given and the mind stimulated
 by having opposite points of view      
presented1 while the thought is infused 
with a certain amount of emotional force
 through the heat of argument4  ,it has 
frequently been objected1 not only of   
these poems1 but upon general grounds1  
that philosophical and ethical problems 
are not fit subjects for treatment in   
poetry4 ,there is one point which the   
critic of aesthetics seems in danger of 
never realizing--namely1 that the law of

 evolution is differentiation1 in art as
 well as in cosmic1 organic1 and social 
life4 ,it is just as prejudiced and     
unforeseeing in these days to limit     
poetry to this or that kind of a        
subject1 or to say that nothing is      
dramatic which does not deal with       
immediate action1 as it would have been 
for ,homer to declare that no poem would
 ever be worthy the name that did not   
contain a catalogue of ships4  ,these   
facts exist6 ,we have dramas dealing    
merely with action1 dramas in which     
character development is of prime       
importance2 dramas wherein action and   
character are entirely synchronous2 and 
those in which the action means more    
than appears upon the surface1 like     
,hauptmann's ,sunken ,bell1 or ,ibsen's 
,master ,builder2 then why not dramas of
 thought and dramas of mood when the    
brain and heart become the stage of     
action instead of an actual stage4      
,surely such an extension of the        
possibilities of dramatic art is a      

development quite natural to the        
intellectual ferment of the nineteenth  
century4 ,as the man in ,half ,rome     
says1 ,facts are facts and lie not1 and 
the question1 ',how came that purse the 
poke o' you8' admits of no reply4  ,by  
using the dramatic form1 the poet has   
furthermore been enabled to give one a  
deep sense of the characteristics       
peculiar to the century4 ,the latter    
half of ,victorian ,england in its      
thought phases lives just as surely in  
these poems as ,renaissance ,italy in   
its art phases in ,fra ,lippo ,lippi1   
,andrea del ,sarto1 and the rest2 and   
this is true though the first series is 
cast in the form of ,persian fables and 
the second in the form of ,parleyings   
with worthies of past centuries4  ,it   
may be worth while for the benefit of   
the reader not thoroughly familiar with 
these later poems to pass quickly in    
review the problems in them upon which  
,browning bends his poet's insight4     
,nothing bears upon the grounds of moral

 action more disastrously than blind    
fatalism1 and while there have been many
 evil forms of this doctrine in the past
 there has probably been none worse than
 the modern form1 because it seems to   
have sanction in the scientific         
doctrines of the conservation of energy1
 the persistence of heredity1 and the   
survival of the fittest4 ,even the wise 
and the thoughtful with wills atrophied 
by scientific phases of fatalism allow  
themselves to drift upon what they call 
the laws of development1 possessing     
evidently no realizing sense that the   
will of man1 whether it be in the last  
analysis absolutely free or not1 is a   
prime factor in the working of these    
laws4 ,such people will hesitate1       
therefore1 to throw in their voices upon
 either side in the solution of great   
national problems1 because1 things being
 bound to follow the laws of            
development1 what matters a single      
voice6 ,such arguments were frequently  
heard among the wise in our own country 

during the ,cuban and ,philippine       
campaigns4 ,upon this attitude of mind  
the poet gives his opinion in the first 
of ,ferishtah's ,fancies1 ,the ,eagle4  
,it is a strong plea for the exercise of
 those human impulses that lead to      
action4 ,the will to serve the world is 
the true force from ,god4 ,every man1   
though he be the last link in a chain of
 causes over which he had no control1   
can1 at least1 have a determining       
influence upon the direction in which   
the next link shall be forged4          
,ferishtah appears upon the scene1      
himself1 a fatalist1 leaving himself    
wholly in ,god's hands1 until he is     
taught by the dream ,god sent him that  
man's part is to act as he saw the eagle
 act1 succoring the helpless1 not to    
play the part of the helpless birdlings4
  ,another phase of the same thought is 
brought out in ,a ,camel ,driver1 where 
the discussion turns upon punishment4   
,the point is1 if1 as ,ferishtah        
declares1 the sinner is not to be       

punished eternally1 then why should man 
trouble himself to punish him8          
,universalist doctrines are here put    
into the mouth of ,ferishtah1 and not a 
few modern philanthropists would agree  
with ,ferishtah's questioners that      
punishment for sins 7the manifestations 
of inherited tendencies for which the   
sinners are not responsible7 is no      
longer admissible4 ,ferishtah's answer  
amounts to this4 ,that no matter what   
causes for beneficent ends may be       
visible to the ,divine mind in the      
allowance of the existence of sin1 nor  
yet the fact that ,divine love demands  
that punishment shall not be eternal2   
man must regard sin simply from the     
human point of view as absolute evil1   
and must will to work for its           
annihilation4 ,it follows then that the 
punishing of a sinner is the means by   
which he may be taught to overcome the  
sin4 ,there is the added thought1 also1 
that the suffering of the conscience    
over the subtler sins which go          

unpunished is all the hell one needs4   
,another doctrine upon which the        
nineteenth-century belief in progress as
 the law of life has set its seal is    
that of the pursuit of happiness1 or the
 striving for the greatest good of the  
whole number in which oneself is not to 
be excluded4 ,with this doctrine        
,browning shows himself in full sympathy
 in ,two ,camels1 wherein ,ferishtah    
contends that only through the          
development of individual happiness and 
the experiencing of many forms of       
joyousness can one help others to       
happiness and joyousness1 while in ,plot
 ,culture the enjoyment of human emotion
 as a means of developing the soul is   
emphasized4  ,the relation of good and  
evil in their broader aspects occupy the
 poet's attention in others of this     
group4 ,nineteenth-century thought      
brought about a readjustment of these   
relations4 ,good and evil as absolutely 
definable entities gave place to the    
doctrine that good and evil are relative

 terms1 a phrase which we sometimes     
forget must be understood in two ways3  
first1 that good and evil are relative  
to the state of society in which they   
exist4 ,what may be good according to   
the ethics of a ,fejee ,islander would  
not hold in the civilized society of    
to-day4 ,this is the evil of lack of    
development which in the long run       
becomes less4 ,on the other hand1 there 
is the evil of suffering and pain which 
it is more difficult to reconcile with  
the idea of omnipotent power4 ,in       
,mihrab ,shah1 ,browning gives a        
solution of this problem in consonance  
with the idea that were it not for evil 
we should not have learned how to       
appreciate the good1 to work for it1    
and1 in doing so1 bring about progress4 
,to his pupil1 worried over this        
problem1 ,ferishtah points out that evil
 in the form of bodily suffering has    
given rise to the beautiful sentiments  
of pity and sympathy4 ,having proved in 
this way that good really grows out of  

evil1 there is still the query1 shall   
evil be encouraged in order that good   
may be evolved8 ,no6 ,ferishtah         
declares1 man bound by man's conditions 
is obliged to estimate as fair or foul  
right1 wrong1 good1 evil1 what man's    
faculty adjudges as such1 therefore the 
man will do all he can to relieve the   
suffering or poor ,mihrab ,shah with a  
fig plaster4  ,the final answers1 then1 
which ,browning gives to the ethical    
problems which grew out of the          
acceptance of modern scientific         
doctrines are1 in brief1 that man shall 
use that will-power of which he feels   
himself possessed--the power really     
distinguishing him from the brute       
creation--in working against whatever   
appears to him to be evil2 while that   
good for which he shall work is the     
greatest happiness of all4  ,in the     
remaining poems of the group we have the
 poet's mature word upon the            
philosophical doctrine of the relativity
 of knowledge1 a doctrine which received

 the most elaborate demonstration from  
,herbert ,spencer in many directions4   
,it is insisted upon in ,cherries1 ,the 
,sun1 in ,a ,bean ,stripe also ,apple   
,eating1 and especially in that         
remarkable poem1 ,a ,pillar at          
,sebzevar4 ,that knowledge fails is the 
burden of these poems4 ,knowledge the   
golden is but lacquered ignorance1 as   
gain to be mistrusted4 ,curiously       
enough1 this contention of ,browning's  
has been the cause of most of the       
criticisms against him as a thinker1 yet
 the deepest thinkers of to-day as well 
as many in the past have held the       
opinion in some form or another that the
 intellect was unable to solve the      
mysterious problems of the universe4    
,even the metaphysicians who build their
 unstable air castles on a priori ideas 
declare these ideas cannot be matters of
 mere intellectual perception1 but must 
be intuitions of the higher reason4     
,browning1 however1 does not rest in the
 mere assertion that the intellect      

fails4 ,from this truth1 so             
disconcerting to many1 he draws immense 
comfort4 ,though intellectual knowledge 
be mistrusted as gain1 it is not to be  
mistrusted as means to gain1 for through
 its very failure it becomes a promise  
of greater things4  ,friend1 quoth      
,ferishtah in ,a ,pillar of ,sebzevar1  
,as gain--mistrust it6 ,nor as means to 
gain3   ,lacquer we learn by3 cast in   
firing-pot1   ,we learn--when what      
seemed ore assayed proves dross         
,surelier true gold's worth1 guess how  
purity   ,i' the lode were precious     
could one light on ore   ,clarified up  
to test of crucible4   ,the prize is in 
the process3 knowledge means            
,ever-renewed assurance by defeat       
,that victory is somehow still to reach4
  ,for men with minds of the type of    
,spencer's this negative assurance of   
the ,infinite is sufficient1 but human  
beings as a rule will not rest satisfied
 with such cold abstractions4 ,though   
,job said thousands of years ago1 ,who  

by searching can find out ,god1 mankind 
still continues to search4 ,they long to
 know something of the nature of the    
divine as well as to be assured of its  
existence4 ,in this very act of         
searching ,browning declares the divine 
becomes most directly manifest4  ,from  
the earliest times of which we have any 
record man has been aspiring toward     
,god4 ,many times has he thought he had 
found him1 but with enlarged perceptions
 he discovered later that what he had   
found was only ,god's image built up out
 of his own human experiences4  ,this   
search of man for the divine is         
described with great power and          
originality in the ,fancy called ,the   
,sun1 under the symbol of the man who   
seeks the prime ,giver that he may give 
thanks where it is due for a palatable  
fig4 ,this search for ,god1 ,browning   
calls love1 meaning by that the moving1 
aspiring force of the whole universe in 
its multifarious manifestations1 from   
the love that goes forth in thanks for  

benefits received1 through the          
aspiration of the artist toward beauty1 
of the lover toward human sympathy1 even
 of the scientist toward knowledge1 to  
the lover of humanity like ,ferishtah1  
who declares1 ,i know nothing save that 
love ,i can1 boundlessly1 endlessly4    
,the poet argues from this that if      
mankind has with ever-increasing fervor 
aspired toward a ,god of ,love1 and has 
ever developed toward broader           
conceptions of human love1 it is only   
reasonable to infer that in his nature  
,god has some attribute which           
corresponds to human love1 though it    
transcend our most exalted imagining of 
it4  ,at the end of the century a book  
was written in ,america in which an     
argument similar to this was used to    
prove the existence of ,god4 ,this book 
was ,through ,nature to ,god1 by ,john  
,fiske1 whose earlier work1 ,cosmic     
,philosophy1 did much to familiarize the
 ,american reading public with the      
evolutionary philosophy of ,spencer4    

,fiske claimed that his theory was      
entirely original1 yet no one familiar  
with the thought of ,browning could fail
 to see the similarity of their points  
of view4 ,fiske based his proof upon    
analogies drawn from the evolution of   
organic life in following out the law of
 the adjustment of inner to outer       
relations4 ,for example1 since the eye  
has through aeons of time gradually     
adjusted itself into harmony with light1
 why should not man's search for ,god be
 the gradual adjustment of the soul into
 harmony with the infinite spirit8 ,this
 adjustment1 as ,browning expresses it1 
is that of human love to divine love4   
,illustration3 ,,herbert ,,spencer      
,other modern thinkers1 notably         
,schleiermacher in ,germany and         
,shaftsbury in ,england1 have placed the
 basis of religious truth in feeling4   
,the idea is thus not a new one4 ,yet in
 ,browning's treatment of it the        
conception has taken on new life1 partly
 because of the intensity of conviction 

with which it is expounded in these     
later poems1 and partly because of its  
having been so closely knit into the    
scientific thought of the century4      
,optimistically the thought is finally  
rounded out in ,a ,bean ,stripe also    
,apple ,eating1 in which ,ferishtah     
argues that life in spite of the evil in
 it seems to him on the whole good4 ,he 
cannot believe that evil is not meant to
 serve a good purpose since he is so    
sure that ,god is infinite in love4     
,from all this it will be seen that     
,browning accepts with ,spencerians the 
negative proof of ,god growing out of   
the failure of intellect to grasp the   
realities underlying all phenomena1 but 
adds to it the positive proof based upon
 emotion4 ,the true basis of belief is  
the intuition of ,god that comes from   
the direct revelation of feeling in the 
human heart1 which has been at once the 
motive force of the search for ,god and 
the basis of a conception of the nature 
of ,god4  ,it was a stroke of genius on 

the part of the poet to present such    
problems in ,persian guise1 for ,persia 
stands in ,zoroastrianism for the       
dualism which ,ferishtah with his       
progressive spirit decries in his       
recognition of the part evil plays in   
the development of good1 and through    
,mahometanism for the ,fatalism         
,ferishtah learned to cast from him4    
,the ,persian atmosphere is preserved   
throughout not only by the introduction 
constantly of ,persian allusions        
traceable to the great ,persian epic1   
,the ,shah ,nameh1 but by the telling of
 fables in the ,persian manner to point 
the morals intended4  ,with the         
exception of the first ,fancy1 derived  
from a fable of ,bidpai's1 we have the  
poet's own word that all the others are 
inventions of his own4 ,these clever    
stories make the poems lively reading in
 spite of their ethical content4        
,ferishtah is drawn with strong strokes4
 ,wise and clever he stands before us1  
reminding us at times of                

,socrates--never at a loss for an answer
 no matter what bothersome questions his
 pupils may propound4  ,if we see the   
thoughtful and brilliant ,browning in   
the ,fancies proper1 we perhaps see even
 more clearly the emotional and         
passionate ,browning in the lyrics which
 add variety and an unwonted charm to   
the whole4 ,this feature is also        
borrowed from ,persian form1 an         
interesting example of which has been   
given to ,english readers in ,edwin     
,arnold's ,gulistan or ,rose ,garden of 
the poet ,sa'di4 ,indeed ,browning      
evidently derived the hint for his      
humorous prologue in which he likens the
 poems to follow to an ,italian dish    
made of ortolans on toast with a bitter 
sage leaf1 symbolizing sense1 sight1 and
 song from ,sa'di's preface to the ,rose
 ,garden1 wherein he says1 ,yet will men
 of light and learning1 from whom the   
true countenance of a discourse is not  
concealed1 be well aware that herein the
 pearls of good counsel which heal are  

threaded on strings of right sense2 that
 the bitter physic of admonition is     
constantly mingled with the honey of    
good humor1 so that the spirits of      
listeners grow not sad1 and that they   
remain not exempt from blessings of     
acceptance4  ,a further interest        
attaches to these lyrics because they   
form a series of emotional phases in the
 soul-life of two lovers whom we are    
probably justified in regarding as ,mr4 
and ,mrs4 ,browning4 ,one naturally     
thinks of them as companion pictures to 
,mrs4 ,browning's ,sonnets from the     
,portuguese4 ,in these the sunrise of a 
great love is portrayed with intense and
 exalted passion1 while the lyrics in   
,ferishtah's ,fancies reflect the       
subsequent development of such a love1  
through the awakening of whole new      
realms of feeling1 wherein love for     
humanity is enlarged criticism from the 
one beloved welcome2 all the little     
trials of life dissolved in the new     
light2 and divine love realized with a  

force never before possible4  ,do we not
 see a living portrait of the two poets 
in the lyric ,so the head aches and the 
limbs are faint8 ,many a hint may be    
found in the ,browning letters to prove 
that ,mrs4 ,browning with just such a   
frail body possessed a fire of spirit   
that carried her constantly toward      
attainment1 while he1 with all the vigor
 of splendid health1 could with truth   
have frequently said1 ,in the soul of me
 sits sluggishness4 ,these exquisite    
lyrics1 which1 whether they conform to  
,elizabethan models or not1 are as fine 
as anything ever done in this form1 are 
crowned by the epilogue in which we hear
 the stricken husband crying out to her 
whom twenty years earlier he had called 
his lyric love1 in a voice doubting1 yet
 triumphing in the thought that his     
lifelong optimism is the light radiating
 from the halo which her human love had 
irised round his head4  ,no more        
emphatic way than the interspersion of  
these emotional lyrics could have been  

chosen to bring home the poet's         
conviction of the value of emotion in   
finding a positive basis for religious  
belief4  ,in the ,parleyings the        
discussions turn principally upon       
artistic problems and their relation to 
modern thought4 ,four out of the seven  
were inspired by artist1 poet or        
musician4 ,the forgotten worthies whom  
,browning rescued from oblivion make    
their appeal to him upon various grounds
 that connect them with the present4    
,bernard de ,mandeville evidently caught
 ,browning's fancy1 because in his      
satirical poem1 ,the ,grumbling ,hive1  
he forestalled1 by a defence of the     
,duke of ,marlborough's war policy1 the 
doctrine of the relativity of good and  
evil4 ,this subject1 though so fully    
treated in the ,fancies1 still continued
 to fascinate ,browning1 who seemed to  
feel the need of thinking his way       
through all its implications4 ,fresh    
interest is added in this case because  
the objector in the argument was the    

poet's contemporary ,carlyle1 whose     
well-known pessimism in regard to the   
existence of evil is graphically        
presented4  ,browning clenches his side 
of the argument with an original and    
daring variation upon the ,prometheus   
myth led up to by one of the most       
magnificent passages in the whole range 
of his poetry1 and probably the finest  
example anywhere in literature of a     
description of nature as interpreted by 
the laws of cosmic evolution4 ,a        
comparison of this passage with the one 
in ,paracelsus brings out very clearly  
the exact measure of the advance in the 
poet's thought during the fifty years   
between which they were written--#ahce  
and #ahhg4 ,while in the ,paracelsus    
passage it is the thought of the joy in 
the creator's soul for his creations1   
and the participation of mankind in this
 joy of progression while pleasure      
climbs its heights forever and forever1 
which occupies the poet's mind1 in the  
later passage1 there is no attempt at a 

definite conception of the divine       
nature4 ,force represented in the       
sunlight is described as developing life
 upon the earth4 ,the thrill of this    
life-giving power is felt by all things1
 and is unquestioningly accepted and    
delighted in4                           
,everywhere   ,did earth acknowledge    
,sun's embrace sublime   ,thrilling her 
to the heart of things3 since there     
,no ore ran liquid1 no spar branched    
anew1   ,no arrowy crystal gleamed1 but 
straightway grew   ,glad through the    
inrush--glad nor more nor less   ,than1 
'neath his gaze1 forest and wilderness1 
,hill1 dale1 land1 sea1 the whole vast  
stretch and spread1   ,the universal    
world of creatures bred   ,by ,sun's    
munificence1 alike gave praise4  ,man   
alone questions4 ,his mind reaches out  
for knowledge of the cause2 he would    
know its nature4 ,man's mind will not   
give any definite answer to this        
question4 ,but ,prometheus offered an   
artifice whereby man's mind is          

satisfied4 ,he drew sun's rays into a   
focus plain and true4 ,the very sun in  
little3 made fire burn and henceforth do
 man service4 ,denuded of its scientific
 and mystical symbolism1 ,browning thus 
makes the ,prometheus myth teach his    
favorite doctrine1 namely1 that the     
image of love formed in the human heart 
by means of the burning glass supplied  
by sense and feeling is a symbol of     
infinite love4  ,daniel ,bartoli1 a     
,jesuit of the seventeenth century who  
is dyed and doubly dyed in superstition1
 is set up by ,browning in the next poem
 simply to be knocked down again upon   
the ground that all the legendary saints
 he worshipped could not compare with a 
real woman the poet knows4 ,the romantic
 story of the lady is told in           
,browning's most fascinating narrative  
style1 so rapid and direct that it has  
all the force of a dramatic sketch4 ,the
 heroine's claim upon the poet's        
admiration consists in her recognition  
of the sacredness of love1 which she    

will not dishonor for worldly           
considerations1 and finding her         
betrothed incapable of attaining her    
height of nobleness1 she leaves him     
free4  ,this story bears upon the poet's
 philosophy as it reflects his attitude 
toward human love1 which he considers so
 clearly a revelation that any treatment
 of it not absolutely noble and true to 
the highest ideals is a sin against     
heaven itself4  ,george ,bubb ,dodington
 is the black sheep of these later      
poems4 ,he gives the poet an opportunity
 to let loose all his subtlety and      
sarcasm1 while the reader may exercise  
his wits in discovering that the poet   
assumes to agree with ,dodington in his 
doubtful doctrine of serving the state  
with an eye always upon his own private 
welfare1 and pretends to criticise him  
only for his method of attaining his    
ends4 ,his method is to disclaim that he
 works for any other good than that of  
the ,state--a proposition so            
preposterous in his case that nobody    

would believe it4 ,the poet then        
presents what purports to be the correct
 method of successful                   
statesmanship--namely1 to pose as a     
superior being endowed with the divine  
right to rule1 treating everybody as his
 puppet1 and entirely scornful of any   
criticisms against himself4 ,if he will 
adopt this attitude he may change his   
tactics every year and the people1      
instead of suspecting his sincerity1    
will think that he has wise reasons     
beyond their insight for his changes4   
,the poem is a powerful1 intensely      
cynical argument against the            
imperialistic temper and in favor of    
liberal government4 ,this means for the 
individual not only the right but the   
power to judge for himself1 instead of  
being obliged to depend1 because of his 
own inefficiency1 upon the leadership of
 the over-man1 whose intentions are     
unfortunately too seldom to be trusted4 
,the poet called from the shades by     
,browning1 ,christopher ,smart1 is      

celebrated in the world of criticism for
 having only once in his life written a 
great poem4 ,the eulogies upon the      
beauties of ,the ,song of ,david might  
not be echoed by all lay readers of     
poetry2 nor is it of any moment whether 
,browning actually agreed with the      
conclusions of the critics1 since the   
episode is used merely as a text for    
discussing the problem of beauty versus 
truth in art4 ,should the poet's        
province be simply to record his vision 
of the beauty and the strength of nature
 and the universe--visions which come to
 him in moments of inspiration such as  
that which came once to ,christopher    
,smart8 ,browning answers the question  
characteristically with his feet upon   
the earth4 ,the visions of poets should 
not be considered as ends in themselves1
 but as material to be used for greater 
ends4  ,the poet should find his        
inspiration in the human heart1 and     
climb to heaven by its means1 not       
investigate the heavens first4          

,diligently must he study mankind1 and  
teach as man may through his knowledge4 
,in ,francis ,furini the subject is the 
nude in art4 ,the keynote is struck by  
the poet's declaring he will never      
believe the tale told by ,baldinicci    
that ,furini ordered all his pictures in
 which there were nude figures burned4  
,he expresses his indignation at the    
tale vigorously at some length1 showing 
plainly his own sympathies4  ,the       
passage in the poem bearing more        
especially upon the present discussion  
is the lecture by ,furini imagined by   
the poet to have been delivered before a
 ,london audience4 ,it is a long and    
recondite speech in which the scientific
 and the intuitional methods of arriving
 at truth are compared4 ,while the      
scientific method is acknowledged to be 
of value1 the intuitional method is     
claimed as by far the more important4   
,a philippic against ,greek art and its 
imitation is delivered by the poet in   
the ,parleying with ,gerard de          

,lairesse1 whom he makes the scapegoat  
of his strictures1 on the score of a    
book ,lairesse wrote in which was       
described a walk through a ,dutch       
landscape when every feature was        
transmogrified by classic imaginings4   
,to this good soul1 an old sepulcher    
struck by lightning became the tomb of  
,phaeton1 and an old cartwheel half     
buried in the sand near by1 the ,chariot
 of the ,sun4  ,in a spirit of bravado  
,browning proceeds to show what he      
himself could make of a walk provided he
 condescended to illuminate it by       
classic metaphor and symbol1 and a      
remarkable passage is the result4 ,it   
occupies from the eighth to the twelfth 
stanza4 ,it is meant to be in derision  
of a grandiloquent1 classically         
embroidered style but so splendid is the
 language1 so haunting the pictures1 the
 symbolism so profound that it is as if 
a ,god were showing some poor weakling  
mortal how not to do it--and through his
 omniscience must perforce create       

something wondrously beautiful4 ,the    
double feeling produced in reading this 
passage only adds to its interest4      
,after thus classicizing in a manner    
that might make ,euripides1 himself1    
turn green with envy1 he nonchalantly   
remarks3  ,enough1 stop further fooling1
 and to show how a modern poet greets a 
landscape he flings in the perfectly    
simple and irresistible little lyric3   
,dance1 yellows1 and whites and reds4   
,the poet's strictures upon classicism  
are entirely consonant with his         
philosophy1 placing as he does the      
paramount importance on living          
realities1 ,do and nowise dream1 he     
exclaims3    ,earth's young significance
 is all to learn2   ,the dead ,greek    
love lies buried in its urn   ,where who
 seeks fire finds ashes4  ,the          
,parleying with ,charles ,avison is more
 a poem of moods than any of the others4
 ,the poet's profound appreciation of   
music is reflected in his claiming it as
 the highest artistic expression        

possible to man4 ,sadness comes to him1 
however1 at the thought of the          
ephemeralness of its forms1 a fact that 
is borne in on him because of the       
inadequateness of ,avison's old march   
styled grand4 ,he finally emerges       
triumphantly from this mood of sadness  
through the realization that music is   
the most perfect symbol of the evolution
 of spirit1 of which the central truth--
    ,the inmost care where truth abides 
in fulness--  as ,paracelsus expresses  
it1 remains always permanent1 while the 
form is ever changing1 but though ever  
changing it is of absolute value to the 
time when the spirit found expression in
 it4 ,furthermore1 in any form once     
possessing beauty1 by throwing one's    
self into its historical atmosphere the 
beauty may be regained4  ,the poem has1 
of course1 a still larger significance  
in relation to all forms of truth and   
beauty of which every age has had its   
living1 immortal examples1 the broken   
arcs which finally will make the perfect

 round1 each arc perfect in itself1 and 
thus the poet's final paean is joyous1  
,never dream that what once lived shall 
ever die4  ,the prologue of this series 
of poems prefigures the thought in a    
striking dialogue between ,apollo and   
the ,fates wherein the ,fates symbolize 
the natural forces of life1 behind which
 is ,zeus or divine power2 ,apollo's    
light symbolizes the glamour which hope 
and aspiration throw over the events of 
human existence1 without actually giving
 any assurance of its worth1 and the    
wine of ,bacchus symbolizes feeling1 by 
means of which a perception of the      
absolute is gained4 ,man's reason1      
guided by the divine1 accepts this      
revelation through feeling not as actual
 knowledge of the absolute which        
transcends all intellectual attempts to 
grasp it1 but as a promise sufficiently 
assuring to take him through the ills   
and uncertainties of life with faith in 
the ultimate triumph of beauty and good4
  ,the epilogue1 a dialogue between     

,john ,fust and his friends1 brings home
 the thought once more in another form1 
emphasizing the fact that there can be  
no new realm of actual1 palpable        
knowledge opened up to man beyond that  
which his intellect is able to perceive4
 ,once having gained this knowledge of  
the failure of intellectual knowledge to
 solve what ,whitman calls the          
strangling problems of life1 man's part 
is to follow onward through ignorance4  
,dare and deserve6   ,as still to its   
asymptote speedeth the curve1   ,so     
approximates ,man--,thee1 who reachable 
not1     ,hast formed him to yearningly 
,follow thy whole   ,sole and single    
omniscience6  ,it will be seen from this
 review of the salient points enlarged  
upon by ,browning in these last groups  
of poems that he has deliberately set   
himself to harmonize the intellectual   
and the intuitional aspects of human    
consciousness4 ,he has sought to join   
the hands of mind and spirit4 ,the      
artistic exuberance of ,paracelsus is   

supplemented by spiritual fervor4 ,to   
the young ,browning1 the beauty of      
immortal1 joyous life pursuing its      
heights forever was as a radiant vision1
 to the ,browning who had grappled with 
the strangling problems of the century  
this beauty was not so distinctly seen1 
but its reality was felt with all the   
depth of an intensely spiritual         
nature--a nature moreover so absolutely 
fearless1 that it could unflinchingly   
confront every giant of doubt1 or of    
disillusionment which science in its    
pristine egotism had conjured up1 saying
 ,keep to thine own province1 where thou
 art indeed powerful2 to the threshold  
of the eternal we may come through thy  
ministrations1 but the consciousness of 
divine things cometh through the still  
small voice of the heart4  ,thus1 while 
he accepted every law relating to       
phenomena which science has been able to
 formulate1 he realized the futility of 
resting in a primal1 wholly dehumanized 
energy1 that is1 something not greater  

but less than its own outcome1 humanity4
 ,he was incapable of any such absurdity
 as ,clifford's dictum that ,reason1    
intelligence and volition are properties
 of a complex which is made up of       
elements1 themselves not rational1 not  
intelligent1 not conscious4 ,since      
,clifford's time1 the marked differences
 between the processes of a psychic     
being like man1 and the processes of    
nature have been so fully recognized and
 so carefully defined by psychologists  
that ,browning's insistence upon making 
man the center whence truth radiates has
 had full confirmation4  ,theodore ,merz
 has summed up these psychological      
conclusions in regard to the            
characteristics peculiar to man as      
distinguished from all the rest of the  
universe in the following words3        
,there are two properties with which we 
are familiar through common     sense   
and ordinary reflection as belonging    
especially to the phenomena     of our  
inner self-conscious life1 and these    

properties seem to lie     quite beyond 
the sphere and the possibilities of the 
ordinary methods     of exact research4 
,as we ascend in the scale of human     
beings we become aware that they        
exhibit a special kind of unity which   
cannot be defined1 a unity     which1   
even when apparently lost in periods of 
unconsciousness1 is     able to         
reestablish itself by the wonderful and 
indefinable property     called         
'memory'--a center which can only be    
very imperfectly     localized--a       
together which is more than a mechanical
 sum2 in fact     we rise to the        
conception of individuality1 that which 
cannot be     divided and put together  
again out of its parts4      ,the second
 property is still more remarkable4 ,the
 world of the inner     processes which 
accompany the higher forms of nervous   
development in     human beings is      
capable of unlimited growth and it is   
capable of this     by a process of     
becoming external3 it becomes external1 

and1 as it     were1 perpetuates itself 
in language1 literature1 science and    
art1     legislation1 society1 and the  
like4 ,we have no analogue of this in   
physical nature1 where matter and energy
 are constant quantities and     where  
the growth and multiplication of living 
matter is merely a     conversion of    
existing matter and energy into special 
altered forms     without increase or   
decrease in quantity4 ,but the quantity 
of the     inner thing is continually on
 the increase2 in fact1 this increase is
     the only thing of interest in the  
whole world4  ,thus the modern          
psychologist and the poet who in the    
early days of the century said the soul 
was the only thing worth study join     
hands4  ,the passage already referred to
 in ,francis ,furini presents most      
explicitly the objective or intellectual
 method and the subjective or           
intuitional method of the search for    
truth4  ,furini is made to question--   
,evolutionists6   ,at truth ,i glimpse  

from depths1 you glance from heights1   
,our stations for discovery opposites1  
,how should ensue agreement6 ,i explain4
  ,he describes1 then1 how the search of
 the evolutionist for the absolute is   
outside of man4 ',tis the tip-top of    
things to which you strain4 ,arriving at
 the spasm which sets things going1 they
 are stopped1 and since having arrived  
at unconscious energy1 they can go no   
further1 they now drop down to a point  
where atoms somehow begin to think1     
feel1 and know themselves to be1 and the
 world's begun such as we recognize it4 
,this is a true presentation of the     
attitude of physicists and chemists     
to-day1 the latter especially holding   
that experiment proves that in the atoms
 themselves is an embryonic form of     
consciousness and will4 ,from these is  
finally evolved at last self-conscious  
man4 ,but after all this investigating  
on the part of the evolutionist what has
 been gained8 ,of power--that is1 power 
to create nature or life1 or even to    

understand it--man possesses no         
particle1 and of knowledge1 only just so
 much as to show that it ends in        
ignorance on every side4 ,this is the   
result of the objective search for      
truth4 ,but begin with man himself1 and 
there is a fact upon which he can take a
 sure stand1 his self-consciousness--a  
togetherness1 as ,merz says1 which      
cannot be explained mathematically by   
the adding up of atoms2 and furthermore 
an inborn certainty that whatever is    
felt to be within had its rise or cause 
without3 thus blend the conscious ,i1   
and all things perceived in one ,effect4
 ,through this subjective perception of 
an all-powerful cause a reflex light is 
thrown back upon all that the           
investigations of the intellect have    
accomplished4 ,the cause is no longer   
simply blind energy1 but must itself be 
possessed of gifts as great and still   
greater than those with which the soul  
of man is endowed4 ,the forces at work  
in nature thus become instinct with     

wonder and beauty1 the good and evil of 
life reveal themselves as a means used  
by absolute ,power and ,love for the    
perfecting of the soul which made to    
know on and ever must know    ,all to be
 known at any halting stage   ,of the   
soul's progress1 such as earth1 where   
wage   ,war1 just for soul's            
instruction1 pain with joy1   ,folly    
with wisdom1 all that works annoy       
,with all that quiets and contents4  ,to
 sum up--our investigations into        
,browning's thought show him to be a    
type primarily of the mystic4 ,mysticism
 in its most pronounced forms regards   
the emotions of the human mind as       
supreme4 ,the mystic1 instead of        
allowing the intellectual faculty to    
lead the way1 degrades it to an inferior
 position and makes it entirely         
subservient to the feelings4 ,in some   
moods ,browning seems almost to belong  
to this pronounced type2 for example1   
when he says in ,a ,pillar at ,sebzevar1
 ,say not that we know1 rather that we  

love1 therefore we know enough4         
,illustration3 ,,david ,,strauss  ,it   
must be remembered1 however1 that he is 
not in either class of the supernatural 
mystic1 one of which supposes truth to  
be gained by a fixed supernatural       
channel1 the other that it is gained by 
extraordinary supernatural means4 ,on   
the contrary1 truth comes to ,browning  
in pursuance of a regular law or fact of
 the inward sensibility1 which may be   
defined in his case as a mode of        
intuition4 ,his intuition of ,god1 as we
 have seen1 is based upon the feeling of
 love both in its human and its abstract
 aspects4  ,but this is not all4 ,upon  
the intellectual side ,browning accepted
 the conclusions of scientific          
investigation as far as phenomena were  
concerned1 and while he denied its worth
 in giving direct knowledge of the      
,absolute1 he recognized it as useful   
because of its very failure in          
strengthening the sense of the existence
 of a power transcending human          

conception4 ,what is our failure here   
but a triumph's evidence of the fulness 
of the days8 ,and1 furthermore1 with    
mystic love already in our hearts1 all  
knowledge that the scientist may bring  
us of the phenomena of nature and life  
only adds immeasurably to our wonder and
 awe of the power which has brought     
these things to pass1 thus with much    
more knowledge comes always much more   
love4  ,once more1 the poet's mysticism 
is tempered by a tinge of idealism4     
,there are several passages in his      
poems1 notably one already quoted from  
,furini1 which show him to have had a   
perception of ,god directly through his 
own consciousness by means of what the  
idealist calls the higher reason4 ,his  
perception1 for instance1 that whatever 
takes place within the consciousness had
 its rise without and that this external
 origin emanates from ,god is the       
idealist's way of arriving at the       
absolute4  ,thus we see that into       
,browning's religious conceptions enter 

the intuitions of the artistic          
consciousness as illustrated in         
,paracelsus where ,god is the divine    
artist joying in his creations1 the     
intuitions of the intellect which finds 
in the failure of knowledge to probe the
 secrets of the universe the assurance  
of a transcendent power beyond human    
ken1 the intuition of the higher reason 
which affirms ,god is1 and the          
intuitions of the heart which promise   
that ,god is love1 through whom is to   
come fulfilment of all human aspirations
 toward ,beauty1 ,truth1 and ,love in   
immortality4  ,if these are all points  
which have been emphasized1 now by one1 
now by another1 of the vast array of    
thinkers who have crowded the past      
century1 there is no one who to my      
knowledge has so completely harmonized  
the various thought tendencies of the   
age1 and certainly none who has clothed 
them in such a wealth of imaginative and
 emotional illustration4  ,in these last
 poems ,browning appears to borrow an   

apt term from ,whitman1 as the ,answerer
 of his age4 ,in them he has            
unquestioningly accepted the knowledge  
which science has brought1 and1         
recognizing its relative character1 has 
yet interpreted it in such a way as to  
make it subserve the highest ideals in  
ethics1 religion1 and art4 ,far from    
reflecting any degeneration in          
,browning's philosophy of life1 these   
poems place on a firmer basis than ever 
thoughts prominent in his poetry from   
the first1 while adding to these the    
profounder insight into life which      
life's experiences had brought him4     
,the subject matter and form are no less
 remarkable than their thought4 ,the    
variety in both is almost bewildering4  
,religion and fable1 romance and        
philosophy1 art and science all         
commingled in rich profusion2 everything
 in language--talk almost colloquial1   
dainty lyrics full of exquisite emotion1
 and grand passages which present in    
sweeping images now the processes of    

cosmic evolution1 now those of spiritual
 evolution1 until it seems as if we had 
indeed been conducted to some vast      
mountain height1 whence we can look     
forth upon the century's turbulent seas 
of thought1 into which flows many a     
current from the past1 while suspended  
above between the sea and sky1 like the 
crucifix in ,simons's wonderful symbolic
 picture of the ,middle ,ages1 is the   
mystical form of divine love and joy    
which ,browning has made symbolic of the
 nineteenth century4     ,,iii          
,,political ,,tendencies   ,in the      
political affairs of his own age and    
country ,browning as a poet shows little
 interest4 ,this may at first seem      
strange1 for that he was deeply         
sympathetic with past historical        
movements indicating a growth toward    
democratic ideals in government is      
abundantly proved by his choice and     
treatment of historical epochs in which 
the democratic tendencies were          
peculiarly evident4 ,why then did he not

 give us dramatic pictures of the       
,victorian era1 in which as perhaps in  
no other era of ,english history the    
yeast of political freedom has been     
steadily and quietly working8  ,there   
were probably several reasons for his   
failure to make himself felt as an      
influence in the political world of his 
time4 ,in the first place1 he was       
preeminently a dramatic poet1 and as    
such his interest was in the            
presentation and analysis of individual 
character as it might work itself out in
 a given historical environment4 ,to    
deal with contemporaries in this        
analytic manner would be a difficult and
 delicate matter1 and1 as we see1 in    
those instances where he did venture    
upon an analysis of ,english            
contemporaries1 as in the case of       
,wiseman 7,bishop ,blougram71 ,carlyle  
in ,bernard de ,mandeville and in       
,george ,bubb ,dodington1 the sketch of 
,lord ,beaconsfield1 he takes care to   
suppress every external circumstance    

which would lead to their               
identification1 and to dwell only upon  
their intellectual or psychic aspects4  
,a second reason is that the present is 
usually too near at hand to be used     
altogether effectively as dramatic      
material4 ,contemporary conditions of   
history seem to have an air of          
stateliness owing to the fact that every
 one is familiar with them1 not only    
through talk and experience but through 
newspapers and magazines1 while their   
larger1 universal meanings cannot be    
seen at too close a range4 ,if1 however1
 past historical episodes and their     
tendencies can be so presented as to    
illustrate the tendencies of the        
present1 then the needful artistic      
perspective is gained4 ,in this manner1 
with a few minor exceptions1 ,browning  
has revealed the direction in which his 
political sympathies lay4  ,when        
,browning was born1 the first           
,napoleonic episode was nearing its     
close4 ,absolutism and militarism had in

 its lust for power and bloodshed       
slaughtered itself for the time being1  
and once more there was opportunity for 
the people of ,england to strive for    
their own enfranchisement4  ,as a       
progressive ministry in ,england did not
 come into power until #ahcj1 the       
struggles of the people were rewarded   
with little success during many years   
after the ,battle of ,waterloo4 ,during 
the childhood and boyhood of ,browning  
the events which from time to time      
marked the determination of the         
downtrodden ,englishman to secure a     
larger measure of justice for himself   
were exciting enough to have made a     
strong impression upon the precocious   
mind of the incipient poet even in the  
seclusion of his father's library at    
,camberwell4  ,the artificial prosperity
 which had buoyed up the workman during 
the war with ,france suddenly collapsed 
with the advent of peace after the      
,battle of ,waterloo4 ,everything seemed
 to combine to make the affairs of the  

workingman desperate4 ,public business  
had been blunderingly administered1 and 
while a fatuous ,cabinet was            
congratulating the nation upon the      
flourishing state of the country1 trade 
was actually almost at a standstill1 and
 failures in business were the order of 
the day4 ,to make matters worse1 a wet  
summer and early frosts interfered with 
farming1 and the result was that        
laborers and workmen could not find     
employment4 ,a not unusual percentage of
 paupers in any given district was four 
fifths of the whole population4         
,thinking the farmers were to blame for 
the high price of bread1 these starving 
people wreaked their vengeance on them  
by burning farm buildings1 and          
machinery1 and even stacks of corn and  
hay4  ,illustration3 ,,cardinal         
,,wiseman  ,instead of giving sympathy  
to these men in their desperate         
condition1 a conservative government saw
 in them only rioters1 and took the most
 stringent measures against them4 ,they 

were tried by a special commission1 and 
thirty-four of them were condemned to   
death1 though it is recorded that only  
five of them were executed4 ,the miners 
of ,cornwall and ,wales1 the lace makers
 of ,nottingham1 and the iron workers of
 the ,black ,country1 next broke out and
 the smashing of machinery continued4   
,finally there was a meeting of the     
artisans of ,london1 ,westminster1 and  
,southwick in ,spa ,fields1             
,clerkenwall1 which had been called by  
,harry ,hunt1 a man of property and     
education1 who was known as a supporter 
of extreme measures1 and the leader of  
the ,radicals of that day4 ,they met for
 the legitimate purpose1 one would      
think1 of considering the propriety of  
petitioning the ,prince ,regent and     
,parliament to adopt means of relieving 
the existing distress4 ,one of the      
speakers1 however1 a poor doctor by the 
name of ,watson1 was of a more          
belligerent disposition4 ,he made an    
inflammatory speech which ended by his  

seizing a tri-colored flag and marching 
toward the city followed by the         
turbulent rabble4 ,on their way they    
seized the contents of a gunsmith's shop
 on ,snow ,hill1 murdered a man1 and    
finally were met opposite the ,mansion  
,house by the ,lord ,mayor1 who1        
assisted by a strong body of police1    
arrested some of the leaders and        
dispersed the rest4 ,the arrested       
persons were brought to trial and       
indicted for high treason by the        
,attorney ,general1 but the jury1       
evidently thinking the indictment had   
taken too exaggerated a form1 acquitted 
,watson1 and the others were dismissed4 
,the conservative ,parliament was1      
however1 so alarmed by these proceedings
 that1 instead of seeking some way of   
removing the cause of the difficulties1 
it thought only of making restrictions  
for the protection of the person of the 
,regent1 of the more effective          
prevention of seditious meetings and of 
surer punishment4 ,and what were some of

 these measures8 ,debating societies1   
lecture halls and reading rooms were    
shut up4 ,even lectures on medicine1    
surgery and chemistry were prohibited4  
,though there was a possibility of      
getting a license to lecture from the   
magistrate1 the law was interpreted in  
the narrowest spirit4  ,parliamentary   
reform began to be spoken of in #ahai1  
when a resolution pledging the ,house of
 ,commons to the consideration of the   
state of representation was rejected by 
a vote of one hundred and fifty-three to
 fifty-eight4 ,this decision stirred up 
the reform spirit1 and large meetings in
 favor of it were held4 ,the people     
attending these meetings received       
military drilling and marched to their  
meetings in orderly processions1 a fact 
naturally very disturbing to the        
government4 ,when a great meeting was   
arranged at ,manchester on the #afth of 
,august1 troops were accordingly sent to
 ,manchester4 ,the cavalry was ordered  
to charge the crowd1 and although they  

used the flat side of their swords1 the 
charge resulted in the killing of six   
persons and the wounding of some        
hundreds4 ,the clash did not end here1  
for to offset the ministerial approval  
of the action of the magistrates and    
their decision that the meeting was     
illegal1 the ,common ,council of ,london
 passed a resolution by a large majority
 declaring that the meeting was legal4  
,a number of ,whig noblemen also were on
 the side of the ,london ,council and   
made similar motions4 ,but the          
ministers1 unmoved by these signs of the
 times1 introduced bills in ,parliament 
for the repression of disorder and the  
further restraining of public liberty4  
,the bills1 it is true1 were strenuously
 opposed in both houses1 but the        
eloquence expended against them was all 
to no purpose1 the bills were passed1   
and reform for the time being was nipped
 in the bud4  ,although after this laws 
were gradually introduced by the        
ministers which tended very much to the 

betterment of conditions1 the fire of   
reform did not burst out again with full
 fury until the time of the ,revolution 
of ,july1 in ,france1 which it will be  
remembered was directed against the     
despotic ,king ,charles ,x1 and ended in
 his being deposed1 when his crown was  
given to his distant cousin ,louis      
,philippe4 ,the success of the ,french  
in their stand against despotism caused 
a general revolutionary stir in several 
,european countries1 while in ,england  
the spirit of revolution showed itself  
in incendiary fires from one end of the 
country to the other4  ,with ,parliament
 itself full of believers in reform1 the
 chief of the ,cabinet1 the ,duke of    
,wellington1 announced that the ,house  
of ,commons did not need reform and that
 he would resist all proposals for a    
change4 ,so great was the popular       
excitement at this announcement that the
 ,duke could not venture to go forth to 
dine at the ,guildhall for fear that he 
might be attacked4  ,such were the chief

 episodes in the forward advance of the 
people up to the time of the            
presentation of the ,reform ,bill in    
,parliament4 ,this important measure has
 been described as the greatest organic 
change in the ,british ,constitution    
that had taken place since the          
revolution of #afhh4 ,when this bill was
 finally passed it meant a transference 
of governmental control from the upper  
classes to the middle classes1 and was  
the inauguration of a policy which has  
constantly added to the prosperity and  
well-being of the ,english people4 ,the 
agitation upon this bill1 introduced in 
the ,house by ,lord ,john ,russell1     
under the ,premiership of ,earl ,grey1  
and a ministry favorable to reform1 was 
filling the attention of all ,englishmen
 to the exclusion of every other subject
 just at the time when ,browning was    
emerging into manhood1 #ahca and #ahcb1 
and though he has not commemorated in   
his poetry this great step in the       
political progress of his own century1  

his first play1 written in #ahcg1 takes 
up a period of ,english history in which
 a momentous struggle for liberty on the
 part of the people was in progress4    
,important as the ,reform ,bill was1 it 
furnished no such picturesque episodes  
for a dramatist as did the struggle of  
,pym and ,strafford under the despotic  
rule of ,king ,charles ,i4  ,in choosing
 this period for his play the poet found
 not only material which furnished to   
his hand a series of wonderfully        
dramatic situations1 but in the three   
men about whom the action moves is      
presented an individuality and a        
contrast in character full of those     
possibilities for analysis so attractive
 to ,browning's mind4  ,another point to
 be gained by taking this remote period 
of history was that his attitude could  
be supremely that of the philosopher of 
history4 ,he could portray with fairness
 whatever worth of character he found to
 admire in the leaders upon either side1
 at the same time that he could show    

which possessed the winning             
principle--the principle of progress4   
,in dealing with contemporary events a  
strong personal feeling is sure to gain 
the upper hand1 and to be non-partisan  
and therefore truly dramatic is a       
difficult1 if not an impossible1 task4  
,when we come to examine this play1 we  
find that the character which           
unquestionably interested the poet most 
was ,strafford's2 not because of his    
political principles but because of his 
devotion to his ,king4 ,human love and  
loyalty in whomever manifested was      
always of the supremest interest to     
,browning1 and1 working upon any hints  
furnished by history1 the poet has      
developed the character of ,strafford in
 the light of his personal friendship   
for the ,king--a feeling so powerful    
that no fickle change of mood on the    
part of the ,king could alter it4 ,upon 
this fact of his personal relations to  
the ,king ,strafford's actions in this  
great crisis have been interpreted and  

explained1 though not defended1 from the
 political point of view4  ,some        
wavering on the part of ,pym is also    
explained upon the ground of his        
friendship for and his belief in        
,strafford1 but mark the difference     
between the two men4 ,pym1 once sure    
that ,strafford is not on the side of   
progress1 crushes out all personal      
feeling4 ,he allows nothing to stand in 
the way of his political policy4 ,with  
unflinching purpose he proceeds against 
his former friend1 straight on to the   
impeachment for treason1 straight on1   
like an inexorable fate1 to the         
prevention of his rescue from execution4
 ,browning's dramatic imagination is    
responsible for this last climax in     
which he brings the two men face to     
face4 ,here1 in ,pym's strength of will 
to serve ,england at any cost1 mingled  
with the hope of meeting ,strafford     
purged of all his errors in a future    
life1 and in ,strafford's response1     
,when we meet1 ,pym1 ,i'd be set        

right--not now6 ,best die1 is           
foreshadowed the ultimate triumph of the
 parliamentary over the monarchical     
principles of government1 and the poet's
 own sympathy with the party of progress
 is made plain4  ,it is interesting in  
the present connection to inquire       
whether there are any parallels between 
the agitation connected with the reform 
legislation of #ahcb and the revolution 
at the time of ,charles ,i which might  
send ,browning's mind back to that      
period4 ,the special point about which  
the battle raged in #ahcb was the       
representation in ,parliament4 ,this was
 so irregular that it was absolutely    
unfair4 ,in many instances large        
districts or towns would have fewer     
representatives than smaller ones1 or   
perhaps none at all4 ,representation was
 more a matter of favoritism than of    
justice4 ,the votes in ,parliament were1
 therefore1 not at all a true measure of
 the attitude of the country4 ,it seems 
strange that so eminently sensible a    

reform should meet with such determined 
opposition4 ,as usual1 those in power   
feared loss of privilege4 ,the ,house of
 ,lords was the obstruction4 ,the bill  
was in fact a step logically following  
upon the determination of the people of 
the time of ,charles ,i that they would 
not submit to be levied upon for        
ship-money upon the sole authority of   
the ,king4 ,they demanded that          
,parliament1 which had not been         
assembled for ten years1 should meet and
 decide the question4 ,this question was
 not merely one of the war-tax or       
ship-money1 but of whether the ,king    
should have the power to levy taxes upon
 the people without consent of          
,parliament4  ,as every one knows1 when 
the ,king finally consented to the      
assembling of ,parliament1 in ,april1   
#ahdj1 he informed it that there would  
be no discussion of its demands until it
 had granted the war subsidies for which
 it had been asked4 ,the older ,vane    
added to the consternation of the       

assembly by announcing that the ,king   
would accept nothing less than the      
twelve subsidies which he had demanded  
in his message4 ,in the face of this    
ultimatum the committee broke up without
 coming to a conclusion1 postponing     
further consideration until the next    
day1 but before they had had time to    
consider the matter the next day the    
,king had decided to dissolve the       
,parliament4  ,the ,king was forced1    
however1 to reassemble ,parliament again
 in the autumn4 ,in this ,parliament the
 people's party gained control1 and many
 reforms were instituted4 ,led by such  
daring men as ,pym1 ,hampden1 ,cromwell1
 and the younger ,vane1 resolutions were
 passed censuring the levying of        
ship-money1 tonnage and poundage1       
monopolies1 innovations in religion--in 
fact1 all the grievances of the         
oppressed which had been ignored for a  
decade were brought to light and        
redressed by the ,house1 quite          
regardless of the ,king's attitude4     

,the chief of the abuses which it was   
bent upon remedying was the imposing of 
taxes upon the authority of the ,king   
and the persecution of the ,puritans4   
,but there was another grievance which  
received the attention of the ,long     
,parliament1 and which forms a close    
link with the reforms of #ahcb--namely1 
the attempt to improve the system of    
representation in ,parliament1 an       
attempt which was partially carried into
 effect by ,cromwell later4 ,under      
,charles ,,ii1 however1 things fell back
 into their old way and gradually went  
on from bad to worse until the tide     
changed1 and the people became finally  
aroused after two hundred years to the  
need of a radical change4 ,the blindness
 of the ,duke of ,wellington1 declaring 
no reform was needed1 is hardly less to 
be marveled at than that of ,king       
,charles declaring he would rule without
 ,parliament4 ,the ,king took the ground
 that the people had no right to        
representation in the government2 the   

,minister1 that only some of the people 
had a right4  ,the horrors of revolution
 followed upon the blindness of the one1
 with its reactionary aftermath1 while  
upon the other there was violence1 it is
 true1 and a revolution was feared1 but 
through the wise measures of the liberal
 ministers no subversion of the         
government occurred4 ,violence reached  
such a pitch1 however1 that the castle  
of ,nottingham in ,derby was burned1 the
 ,king's brother was dragged from his   
horse1 and ,lord ,londonderry roughly   
treated4 ,the mob at ,bristol was so    
infuriated that ,sir ,c4 ,wetherell1 the
 ,recorder of the city1 who had voted   
against the bill1 had to be escorted to 
the ,guildhall by a hundred mounted     
gentlemen4 ,two men having been         
arrested1 the mob attacked and destroyed
 the interior of the ,mansion ,house1   
set fire to the ,bishop's palace and to 
many other buildings4 ,there was not    
only an enormous loss of property1 but  
loss of life4  ,a quieter demonstration 

at ,birmingham carries us back1 as it   
might have carried ,browning1 to the    
great-hearted men of the ,long          
,parliament4 ,a meeting was called which
 was attended by one hundred and fifty  
thousand persons1 and resolutions were  
passed to the effect that if the ,reform
 ,bill were not passed they would refuse
 to pay taxes1 as ,hampden had refused  
to pay ship-money4  ,the final act in   
this momentous drama was initiated with 
the introduction by ,lord ,john ,russell
 of the third ,reform ,bill in          
,december1 #ahca4 ,again it was defeated
 in the ,house of ,lords1 whereupon some
 of the ,cabinet wished to ask the ,king
 to create a sufficient number of new   
peers to force the bill through the     
,house4 ,earl ,grey was not at all in   
favor of this1 but at last consented4   
,this course was not welcome to the     
,house of ,lords1 and the doubtful      
members in the ,house promised that if  
this suggestion were not carried into   
effect they would insure a sufficient   

majority in the ,house of ,lords to     
carry the bill4 ,this was done1 but     
before the ,lords went into committee a 
hostile motion postponing the           
disfranchisement clauses was carried4   
,then ,earl ,grey asked for the creation
 of new peers4 ,as it would require the 
creating of about fifty new peers1 the  
,king refused1 the ministry resigned and
 the ,duke of ,wellington came into     
power again4 ,but his power1 like that  
of ,strafford1 was broken4 ,he had      
reached the point of recognizing that   
some reform was needed1 but he could not
 persuade his colleagues of this4 ,in   
the meantime the ,house of ,commons     
passed a resolution of confidence in the
 ,grey administration4 ,such determined 
opposition being shown not only in      
,parliament but by the people in various
 ways1 ,wellington felt his only course 
was resignation4 ,william ,,iv had1 much
 to his chagrin1 to recall ,grey1 but he
 escaped the necessity of creating a    
large number of peers1 by asking the    

opposition in the ,house of ,lords to   
withdraw their resistance to the bill4  
,the ,duke of ,wellington and others    
thereupon absented themselves1 and      
finding further obstruction was useless1
 the ,lords at last passed the bill and 
it became law in ,june1 #ahcb4  ,this   
national crisis through which ,browning 
had lived could not fail to have made   
its impression on him4 ,it is certainly 
an indication of the depth of his       
interest in the growth of liberalism    
that his first ,english subject1 written
 only a few years subsequent to this    
momentous change in governmental        
methods1 should have dealt with a period
 whose analysis and interpretation in   
dramatic form gave him every opportunity
 for the expression of his sympathy with
 liberal ideals4 ,broad-minded in his   
interpretation of ,strafford's career1  
in love with his qualities of loyalty1  
and his capabilities of genuine         
affection for the vacillating ,charles1 
he made ,strafford the hero of his play1

 but it is ,pym whom1 in his play1 he   
has exalted as the nation's hero1 and   
into whose mouth he has put one of the  
greatest and most intensely pathetic    
speeches ever uttered by an ,englishman4
 ,it is when he confronts ,strafford at 
the last3    ,have ,i done well8 ,speak1
 ,england6 ,whose sole sake   ,i still  
have labored for1 with disregard   ,to  
my own heart1--for whom my youth was    
made   ,barren1 my manhood waste1 to    
offer up   ,her sacrifice--this         
friend--this ,wentworth here--   ,who   
walked in youth with me1 loved me1 it   
may be1   ,and whom1 for his forsaking  
,england's cause1   ,i hunted by all    
means 7trusting that she   ,would       
sanctify all means7 even to the block   
,which waits for him4 ,and saying this1 
,i feel   ,no bitterer pang than first  
,i felt1 the hour   ,i swore that       
,wentworth might leave us1 but ,i       
,would never leave him3 ,i do leave him 
now4   ,i render up my charge 7be       
witness1 ,god67   ,to ,england who      

imposed it4 ,i have done   ,her         
bidding--poorly1 wrongly1--it may be1   
,with ill effects--for ,i am weak1 a    
man3   ,still1 ,i have done my best1 my 
human best1   ,not faltering for a      
moment4 ,it is done4   ,and this said1  
if ,i say 444 yes1 ,i will say   ,i     
never loved but one man--,david not     
,more ,jonathan6 ,even thus ,i love him 
now3   ,and look for that chief portion 
in that world   ,where great hearts led 
astray are turned again1   7,soon it may
 be1 and1 certes1 will be soon3   ,my   
mission over1 ,i shall not live long7-- 
,ay1 here ,i know and talk--,i dare and 
must1   ,of ,england1 and her great     
reward1 as all   ,i look for there2 but 
in my inmost heart1   ,believe1 ,i think
 of stealing quite away   ,to walk once 
more with ,wentworth--my youth's friend 
,purged from all error1 gloriously      
renewed1   ,and ,eliot shall not blame  
us4 ,then indeed 444   ,this is no      
meeting1 ,wentworth6 ,tears increase    
,too hot4 ,a thin mist--is it           

blood8--enwraps   ,the face ,i loved    
once4 ,then1 the meeting be4  ,at the   
same time that ,browning was writing    
,strafford1 he was also engaged upon    
,sordello4 ,in that he has given        
expression to his democratic philosophy 
through his construction and            
interpretation of ,sordello's character 
as a champion of the people as well as a
 poet who ushered in the dawn of the    
,italian literary ,renaissance4 ,as he  
made ,paracelsus develop from a         
dependence upon knowledge as his sole   
guide in his philosophy of life into a  
perception of the place emotion must    
hold in any satisfactory theory of life1
 and put into his mouth a modern        
conception of evolution illuminated by  
his own artistic emotion1 so he makes   
,sordello develop from the              
individualistic type to the socialist   
type of man1 who is bent upon raising   
the masses of the people to higher      
conditions4 ,the ideal of liberal forms 
of government was even in ,sordello's   

time a growing one1 sifting into ,italy 
from ,greek precedents1 but ,browning's 
,sordello sees something beyond either  
political or ecclesiastical espousal of 
the people's cause--namely1 the espousal
 of the people's cause by the people    
themselves1 the arrival of the          
self-governing democracy1 an ideal much 
nearer attainment now than when         
,browning was writing3    ,two parties  
take the world up1 and allow   ,no      
third1 yet have one principle1 subsist  
,by the same injustice2 whoso shall     
enlist   ,with either1 ranks with man's 
inveterate foes4   ,so there is one less
 quarrel to compose   ,the ,guelf1 the  
,ghibelline may be to curse--   ,i have 
done nothing1 but both sides do worse   
,than nothing4 ,nay1 to me1 forgotten1  
reft   ,of insight1 lapped by trees and 
flowers1 was left   ,the notion of a    
service--ha8 ,what lured   ,me here1    
what mighty aim was ,i assured   ,must  
move ,taurello8 ,what if there remained 
,a cause1 intact1 distinct from these1  

ordained   ,for me its true discoverer8 
,the mood here portrayed was one which  
might have been fostered in ,browning in
 relation to his own time4 ,he doubtless
 felt that neither the progressive      
movements in the state nor those in     
religion really touched upon the true   
principles of freedom for the           
individual4 ,he might not have defined  
these principles to himself any more    
definitely than as a desire for the     
greatest happiness of the whole number4 
,and even of such an ideal as that he   
had his doubts because of the necessity 
of his mind to find a logical use for   
evil in the world4 ,this he could only  
do by supposing it a divine means for   
the development of the human soul in its
 sojourn in this life4 ,speaking in his 
own person in ,sordello1 he gives       
expression to this doubt in the         
following passage in the third book3    
,i ask youth and strength   ,and health 
for each of you1 not more--at length    
,grown wise1 who asked at home that the 

whole race   ,might add the spirit's to 
the body's grace1   ,and all be dizened 
out as chiefs and bards4      99        
99       99       99       99           
----,as good you sought   ,to spare me  
the ,piazza's slippery stone   ,or keep 
me to the unchoked canals alone1   ,as  
hinder ,life the evil with the good     
,which make up ,living rightly          
understood4  ,still1 though vague as to 
what the good for the whole people might
 be1 there was no vagueness in his mind 
as to the people's right to possess the 
power to bring about their own          
happiness4 ,yet given the right         
principles1 he would not have the       
attempt made to put them into practice  
all at once4  ,his final attitude toward
 the problem of the best methods for    
bettering human conditions in the poem  
is1 strictly speaking1 that of the      
opportunist working a step toward his   
ideal rather than that of the           
revolutionist who would gain it by one  
leap4 ,sordello should realize that     

,god has conceded two lights to a man-- 
,one1 of men's whole work1 man's first  
,step to the plan's completeness4       
,man's part is to take this first step1 
leaving the ultimate ideal to be worked 
out1 as time goes1 on by successive men4
 ,to reach at one bound the ideal would 
be to regard one's self as a god4 ,some 
such theory of action as this is the one
 which guides the ,fabian socialist     
working in ,england to-day4 ,nothing is 
to be done to subvert the present order 
of society1 but every opportunity is to 
be made the most of which will tend to  
the betterment of the conditions of the 
masses1 until by degrees the socialist  
regime will become possible4 ,sordello  
was too much of the idealist to seize   
the opportunity when it came to him of  
helping the people by means of the      
,ghibelline power suddenly conferred    
upon him1 and so he failed4  ,this      
opportunist doctrine is one especially  
congenial to the ,english temperament   
and certainly has its practical         

advantages1 if it is not so inspiring as
 the headlong idealism of a ,pym1 which 
just as surely has its disadvantages in 
the danger that the ideal will be ahead 
of humanity's power of seizing it and   
living it1 and will therefore run the   
risk of being overturned by a reaction  
to the low plane of the past2 especially
 does this danger become apparent when  
the way to the attainment of the ideal  
is paved with violence4  ,while         
,browning was writing ,sordello1 the    
preparation of which included a short   
trip to ,italy1 the ,chartist agitation 
was going on in ,england4 ,it may well1 
at that time1 have been considered to   
demand an ideal beyond possibility of   
attainment1 which was proved by its     
final utter annihilation4 ,the          
workingmen's association led by ,mr4    
,duncombe was responsible for a program 
in the form of a parliamentary petition 
which asked for six things4 ,these were3
 universal suffrage1 or the right of    
voting by every male of twenty-one years

 of age2 vote by ballot2 annual         
,parliaments2 abolition of the property 
qualification for members of            
,parliament2 members of ,parliament to  
be paid for their services2 equal       
electoral districts4  ,there were two   
sorts of ,chartists1 moral-force        
,chartists and physical-force           
,chartists1 the latter of whom did as   
much damage as possible in the          
agitation4  ,the combined forces were   
led by ,feargus ,o',connor1 an ,irish   
barrister1 who madly spent his force and
 energy for ten years in carrying       
forward the movement1 and1 at last1     
confronted by disagreement in the ranks 
of the ,chartists and the ,duke of      
,wellington and his troops1 gave it up  
in despair4 ,he was a martyr to the     
cause1 for he took its failure so much  
to heart that he ended his days in a    
lunatic asylum4  ,this final failure    
came many years after ,sordello was     
finished1 but the poet's conclusions in 
,sordello seem almost prophetic in the  

light of the passage in the poem already
 quoted1 in which the poet declares     
himself grown wiser than he was at home1
 where he had asked the utmost for all  
men1 and now realized that this cannot  
be attained in one leap4  ,agitation    
about the relations between ,england and
 ,ireland were also filling public      
attention at this time1 but most        
important of all the contemporary       
movements was the ,league for the       
,repeal of the ,corn ,laws4 ,the story  
of the growth and the peaceful methods  
by which it attained its growth is one  
of the most interesting in the annals of
 ,england's political development4 ,it  
meant the adoption of the great         
principle of free trade1 to which       
,england has since adhered4 ,for eight  
years the agitation in regard to it was 
continued1 during which great meetings  
were held1 thousands of pounds were     
subscribed to the cause1 and the names  
of ,sir ,richard ,cobden and ,john      
,bright became famous as leaders in the 

righteous cause of untaxed food for the 
people4 ,john ,bright's account of how  
he became interested in the movement and
 associated himself with ,cobden in the 
work1 told in a speech made at          
,rochdale1 gives a vivid picture of the 
human side of the problem which by the  
conservatives of the day was treated as 
a merely political issue3      ,in the  
year #ahda ,i was at ,leamington and    
spent several months there4     ,it was 
near the middle of ,september there fell
 upon me one of the     heaviest blows  
that can visit any man4 ,i found myself 
living there     with none living of my 
house but a motherless child4 ,mr4      
,cobden     called upon me the day after
 that event1 so terrible to me and so   
prostrating4 ,he said1 after some       
conversation1 ',don't allow this        
grief1 great as it is1 to weigh you down
 too much4 ,there are at this     moment
 in thousands of homes in this country  
wives and children who     are dying of 
hunger--of hunger made by the law4 ,if  

you come along with     me1 we will     
never rest till we have got rid of the  
,corn ,law4' ,we saw     the colossal   
injustice which cast its shadow over    
every part of the     nation1 and we    
thought we saw the true remedy and the  
relief1 and that     if we united our   
efforts1 as you know we did1 with the   
efforts of     hundreds and thousands of
 good men in various parts of the       
country1 we     should be able to bring 
that remedy home1 and to afford that    
relief to     the starving people of    
this country4  ,the movement thus       
inaugurated was1 as ,molesworth         
declares1 without parallel in the       
history of the world for the energy with
 which it was conducted1 the rapid      
advance it made1 and the speedy and     
complete success that crowned its       
efforts2 for the great change it wrought
 in public opinion and the consequent   
legislation of the country2 overcoming  
prejudice and passion1 dispelling       
ignorance and conquering powerful       

interests1 with no other weapons than   
those of reason and that eloquence which
 great truths and strong conviction     
inspire4  ,a signal victory for the     
,league was gained in #ahdc1 when the   
,london ,times1 which up to that time   
had regarded the ,league with suspicion 
and even alarm1 suddenly turned round   
and ranged itself with the advancing    
tide of progress by declaring1 ,the     
,league is a great fact4 ,it would be   
foolish1 nay1 rash1 to deny its         
importance4 ,it is a great fact that    
there should have been created in the   
homestead of our manufacturers          
7,manchester7 a confederacy devoted to  
the agitation of one political question1
 persevering at it year after year1     
shrinking from no trouble1 dismayed at  
no danger1 making light of every        
obstacle4 ,it demonstrates the hardy    
strength of purpose1 the indomitable    
will1 by which ,englishmen working      
together for a great object are armed   
and animated4  ,the final victory1      

however1 did not come until three years 
later1 when ,sir ,robert ,peel1 who     
became ,prime ,minister to defend the   
,corn ,laws1 announced that he had been 
completely convinced of their injustice1
 and that he was an absolute convert to 
the free-trade principle1 and that the  
introduction of the principle into all  
departments of our commercial           
legislation was1 according to his       
intention1 to be a mere question of time
 and convenience4 ,this was in ,january1
 #ahde1 and shortly after1 ,june1 #ahdf1
 the bill for the total repeal of the   
,corn ,laws passed the ,house4  ,how    
much longer it might have been before   
the opposition was carried is a question
 if it had not been for the failure of  
the grain crops and the widespread      
potato disease which plunged ,ireland   
into a state of famine1 and threatened  
the whole country with more or less of  
disaster4  ,even when this state of     
affairs became apparent in the summer of
 #ahde there was still much delay4 ,the 

,cabinet met and discussed and          
discussed2 still ,parliament was not    
assembled2 and then it was that the     
,mansion ,house ,relief ,committee of   
,dublin drew up resolutions stating that
 famine and pestilence were approaching 
throughout the land1 and impeaching the 
conduct of the ,ministry for not opening
 the ports or calling ,parliament       
together4  ,but still ,peel1 already won
 over1 could not take his ,cabinet with 
him2 he was forced to resign4 ,lord     
,john ,russell was called to form a     
ministry1 but failed1 when ,peel was    
recalled1 and the day was carried4      
,browning's brief but pertinent allusion
 to this struggle in ,the ,englishman in
 ,italy shows clearly how strongly his  
sympathies were with the ,league and how
 disgusted he was with the              
procrastination of ,parliament in taking
 a perfectly obvious step for the       
betterment of the people4    ,fortnu1 in
 my ,england at home1   ,men meet       
gravely to-day   ,and debate1 if        

abolishing ,corn laws   ,be righteous   
and wise   ,if 'twere proper1 ,scirocco 
should vanish   ,in black from the      
skies6  ,an occasional allusion or poem 
like this makes us aware from time to   
time of ,browning's constant sympathy   
with any movement which meant good to   
the masses4 ,even if he had not written 
near the end of his life ,why ,i am a   
,liberal1 there could be no doubt in any
 one's mind of his political ideals4 ,in
 ,the ,lost ,leader is perhaps his      
strongest utterance upon the subject4   
,the fact that it was called out by     
,wordsworth's lapse into conservatism   
after the horrors of the ,french        
,revolution had brought him and his sans
 culotte brethren1 ,southey and         
,coleridge1 to pause1 a fact very       
possibly freshened in ,browning's mind  
by ,wordsworth's receiving a pension in 
#ahdb and the poet-laureateship in      
#ahdc1 does not affect the force of the 
poem as a personal utterance on the side
 of democracy4 ,browning1 himself1      

considered the poem far too fierce as a 
portrayal of ,wordsworth's case4#b ,he  
evidently forgot ,wordsworth1 and       
thought only of a renegade liberal as he
 went on with the poem4 ,it was written 
the same year that there occurred the   
last attempt to postpone the passing of 
the ,anti-,corn ,law ,bill1 when the    
intensity of feeling on the part of all 
who believed in progress was at its     
height1 and the bare thought of a       
deserter from ,liberal ranks would be   
enough to exasperate any man who had the
 nation's welfare at heart4 ,that       
,browning's feeling at the time reached 
the point not only of exasperation but  
of utmost scorn for any one who was not 
on the liberal side is shown most       
forcibly in the bitter lines3    ,blot  
out his name1 then1 record one lost soul
 more1     ,one task more declined1 one 
more footpath untrod1   ,one more       
devil's triumph and sorrow for angels1  
,one more wrong to man1 one more insult 
to ,god6  ,browning speaks of having    

thought of ,wordsworth at an unlucky    
juncture4  ,whatever the exact episode  
which called forth the poem may have    
been1 we are safe in saying that at a   
time when ,disraeli was attacking ,sir  
,robert ,peel because of his honesty in 
avowing his conversion to free trade1   
and because of his bravery in coming out
 from his party1 in breaking up his     
cabinet and regardless of all costs in  
determining to carry the bill or resign1
 and finally carrying it in the face of 
the greatest odds--at such a time1 when 
a great conservative leader had shown   
himself capable of being won over to a  
great liberal principle2 the spectacle  
of a deserter from the cause1 and that  
deserter a member of one's own          
brotherhood of poets1 would be          
especially hard to bear4  ,one feels a  
little like asking why did not ,browning
 let his enthusiasm carry him for once  
into a contemporary expression of       
admiration for ,sir ,robert ,peel8      
,perhaps the tortuous windings of       

parliamentary proceedings obscured to a 
near view the true greatness of ,peel's 
action4  ,the year of this great change 
in ,england's policy was the year of    
,robert ,browning's marriage and his    
departure for ,italy1 where he lived for
 fifteen years4 ,during this time and   
for some years after his return to      
,england there is no sign that he was   
taking any interest in the political    
affairs of his country4 ,human character
 under romantic conditions in a social  
environment1 or the thought problems of 
the age1 as we have already seen1       
occupied his attention1 and for the     
subject matter of these he more often   
than not went far afield from his native
 country4  ,in ,prince                  
,hohenstiel-,schwangau is the poet's    
first deliberate portrayal of a person  
of contemporary prominence in the       
political world4 ,the alliance of       
,napoleon ,,iii with ,england brought   
his policy of government into strong    
contrast with that of the liberal       

leaders in ,english politics1 a contrast
 which had been emphasized through ,lord
 ,palmerston's sympathy with the coup   
d'etat4  ,the news of the manner in     
which ,louis ,napoleon had carried out  
his policy of smashing the ,french      
constitution caused horror and          
consternation in ,england1 and the      
,queen at once gave instructions that   
nothing should be done by her ambassador
 in ,paris which could be in any way    
construed as an interference in the     
internal affairs of ,france4 ,already1  
however1 ,lord ,palmerston had expressed
 to the ,french ,minister of ,foreign   
,affairs his entire approbation in the  
act of ,napoleon and his conviction that
 he could not have acted otherwise than 
as he had done4 ,when this was known1   
the ,prime ,minister1 ,lord ,john       
,russell1 wrote ,palmerston a letter1   
causing his resignation1 which was      
accepted very willingly by the ,queen4  
,the letter was as follows3      ,while 
,i concur in the foreign policy of which

 you have been the     adviser1 and much
 as ,i admire the energy and ability    
with which it has     been carried into 
effect1 ,i cannot but observe that      
misunderstandings     perpetually       
renewed1 violations of prudence and     
decorum too     frequently repeated1    
have marred the effects which ought to  
have     followed from a sound policy   
and able admirers4 ,i am1 therefore1    
most     reluctantly compelled to come  
to the conclusion that the conduct of   
foreign affairs can no longer be left in
 your hands with advantage to     the   
country4  ,when ,england's fears that   
,louis ,napoleon would emulate his      
illustrious predecessor and invade her  
shores were allayed1 her attitude was   
modified4 ,she forgot the horrors of the
 coup d'etat and formed an alliance with
 him1 and her hospitable island became  
his refuge in his downfall4  ,a         
prominent figure in ,european politics  
for many years1 ,louis ,napoleon had    
just that combination of greatness and  

mediocrity which would appeal to        
,browning's love of a human problem4    
,furthermore1 ,napoleon was brought very
 directly to the poet's notice through  
his ,italian campaign and ,mrs4         
,browning's interest in the political   
crisis in ,italy1 which found expression
 in her fine group of ,italian patriotic
 poems4  ,the question has been asked1  
,will the unbiased judgment of posterity
 allow to ,louis ,napoleon some         
extenuating circumstances1 or will it   
pronounce an unqualified condemnation   
upon the man who1 for the sake of       
consolidating his own power and         
strengthening his corrupt government1   
spilled the blood of no less than a     
hundred thousand ,frenchmen8  ,when all 
,europe was putting to itself some such 
question as this1 and answering it with 
varying degrees of leniency1 ,browning  
conceived the idea of making ,napoleon  
speak for himself1 and at the same time 
he added what purports to be the sort of
 criticism of him indulged in by a      

,thiers or a ,victor ,hugo4 ,the        
interest of the poem centers in         
,napoleon's own vindication of himself  
as portrayed by ,browning4 ,what        
,browning wrote of the poem in a letter 
to a friend in #ahgb explains fully his 
aim1 as well as showing by indirection1 
at least1 how much he was interested in 
political affairs at this time1 though  
so little of this interest crops out in 
his poetry3 ,i think in the main he     
meant to do what ,i say1 and but for    
weakness--grown more apparent in his    
last years than formerly--would have    
done what ,i say he did not4 ,i thought 
badly of him at the beginning of his    
career1 et pour cause2 better afterward1
 on the strength of the promises he made
 and gave indications of intending to   
redeem4 ,i think him very weak in the   
last miserable year4 ,at his worst ,i   
prefer him to ,thiers's best4 ,at       
another time he wrote3 ,i am glad you   
like what the editor of the ,edinburgh  
calls my eulogium on the ,second        

,empire1 which it is not1 any more than 
what another wiseacre affirms it to be1 
'a scandalous attack on the old constant
 friend of ,england4' ,it is just what  
,i imagine the man might1 if he pleased1
 say for himself4  ,browning depicts the
 man as perfectly conscious of his own  
limitations4 ,he recognizes that he is  
not the genius1 nor the creator of a new
 order of things1 but that his power    
lies in his faculty of taking an old    
ideal and improving upon it4 ,he        
contends that in following out his      
special gifts as a conservator he is    
doing just what ,god intended him to do1
 and as to his method of doing it that  
is his own affair4 ,god gives him the   
commission and leaves it to his human   
faculties to carry it out1 not inquiring
 what these are1 but simply asking at   
the end if the commission has been      
accomplished4  ,once admit these two    
things--namely1 that his nature1 though 
not of the highest1 is such as ,god gave
 him1 and his lack of responsibility in 

regard to any moral ideal1 so that he   
accomplishes the purpose of this        
nature--and a loophole is given for any 
inconsistencies he may choose to indulge
 in in bringing about that strengthening
 of an old ideal in which he believes4  
,the old ideal is1 of course1 the       
monarchical principle of government1    
administered1 however1 in such a manner 
that it will be for the good of society 
in all its complex manifestations of    
to-day4 ,his notion of society's good   
consists in a balancing of all its      
forces1 secured by the smoothing down of
 any extreme tendencies1 each having its
 orbit marked but no more1 so that none 
shall impede the other's path4    ,in   
this wide world--though each and all    
alike1   ,save for him fain would spread
 itself through space   ,and leave its  
fellow not an inch of way4  ,browning   
makes him indulge in a curiously        
sophisticated view of the relativity of 
good and evil in the course of his      
argument1 to the effect that since there

 is a further good conceivable beyond   
the utmost earth can realize1 therefore 
to change the agency--the evil whereby  
good is brought about1 try to make good 
do good as evil does--would be just as  
foolish as if a chemist wanting white   
and knowing that black ingredients were 
needed to make the dye insisted these   
should be white1 too4 ,a bad world is   
that which he experiences and approves4 
,a good world he does not want in which 
there would be no pity1 courage1 hope1  
fear1 sorrow1 joy--devotedness1 in      
short--which he believes form the       
ultimate allowed to man2 therefore it   
has been his policy not to do away with 
the evil in the society he is saving4   
,to mitigate1 not to cure1 has been his 
aim4  ,browning would1 himself1 answer  
the sophistry1 here1 by showing that    
evil though permitted by divine power   
was only a means of good through man's  
working against whatever he conceives to
 be evil with the whole strength of his 
being4 ,to deliberately follow the      

policy of conserving evil would be in   
the end to annihilate the good4 ,prince 
,hohenstiel-,schwangau could not see so 
far as this4  ,it is not astonishing    
that with such a policy as this his     
methods of carrying it out might seem   
somewhat dubious if not positively      
criminal4 ,his departure from his early 
idealism is excused for the reason that 
idealism is not practicable when the    
region of talk is left for the real     
action of life4 ,every step in his own  
aggrandizement is apologized for on the 
ground that what needed to be           
accomplished could only be done by a    
strong hand and that strong hand his    
own4 ,he was in fact an unprincipled    
utilitarian as ,browning presents him1  
who spoiled even what virtue resides in 
utilitarianism by letting his care for  
saving society be too much influenced by
 his desire for personal glory4 ,one    
ideal undertaking he permitted himself1 
the freeing of ,italy from the ,austrian
 yoke4 ,but he was not strong enough for

 any such high flight of idealism1 as   
the sequel proved4  ,browning does not  
bring out in the poem the ,emperor's    
real reasons for stopping short in the  
,italian campaign1 which certainly were 
sufficient from a practical standpoint1 
but as ,archibald ,forbes says in his   
,life of ,napoleon1 should have been    
thought of before he published his      
program of freedom to ,italy from the   
,alps to the ,adriatic4 ,even when he   
addressed the ,italians at ,milan1      
continues ,forbes1 the new light had not
 broken in upon him which revealed the  
strength of the quadrilateral1 the cost 
of expelling the ,austrians from        
,venetia1 and the conviction that       
further ,french successes would         
certainly bring mobilized ,germany into 
the field4 ,that new light seems to have
 flashed upon ,napoleon for the first   
time from the stern ,austrian ranks on  
the day of ,solferino4 ,it was then he  
realized that should he go forward he   
would be obliged to attack in front an  

enemy entrenched behind great           
fortresses1 and protected against any   
diversion on his flanks by the          
neutrality of the territories           
surrounding him4  ,mrs4 ,browning1 whose
 consternation and grief over           
,villafranca broke out in burning verse1
 yet made a defence of ,napoleon's      
action here which might have been worked
 into ,browning's poem with advantage4  
,she wrote to ,john ,foster that while  
,napoleon's intervention in ,italy      
overwhelmed her with joy it did not     
dazzle her into doubts as to the motive 
of it1 but satisfied a patient          
expectation and fulfilled a logical     
inference4 ,thus it did not present     
itself to my mind as a caprice of power1
 to be followed perhaps by an onslaught 
on ,belgium and an invasion of ,england4
 ,have we not watched for a year while  
every saddle of iniquity has been tried 
on the ,napoleonic back1 and nothing    
fitted8 ,wasn't he to crush ,piedmontese
 institutions like so many eggshells8   

,was he ever going away with his army1  
and hadn't he occupied houses in ,genoa 
with an intention of bombarding the     
city8 ,didn't he keep troops in the     
north after ,villafranca on purpose to  
come down on us with a grand duke or a  
,kingdom of ,etruria and ,plon-,plon to 
rule it8 ,and wouldn't he give back     
,bologna to the ,pope8444 ,were not     
,cipriani1 ,farini and other patriots   
his 'mere creatures' in treacherous     
correspondence with the ,tuileries      
'doing his dirty work'8 ,of such        
accusations as these the intelligent    
,english journals were full1 but she    
maintains that against ,the ,inane and  
,immense ,absurd from which they were   
born is to be set a nation saved4 ,she  
realized also how hard ,napoleon's      
position in ,france must be to maintain 
forty thousand priests with bishops of  
the color of ,monseigneur d',orleans and
 company1 having1 of course1 a certain  
hold on the agricultural population     
which forms so large a part of the basis

 of the imperial throne4 ,then add to   
that the parties who use this ,italian  
question as a weapon simply4  ,many of  
,napoleon's own statements have         
furnished ,browning with the arguments  
used in the apology4 ,after deliberately
 destroying the constitution1 for       
example1 and himself being the cause of 
the violence and bloodshed in ,paris1 he
 coolly addressed the people in the     
following strain1 in which we certainly 
recognize ,hohenstiel-,schwangau3       
,frenchmen6 the disturbances are        
appeased4 ,whatever may be the decision 
of the people1 society is saved4 ,the   
first part of my task is accomplished4  
,the appeal to the nation1 for the      
purpose of terminating the struggle of  
parties1 ,i knew would not cause any    
serious risk to the public tranquillity4
 ,why should the people have risen      
against me8 ,if ,i do not any longer    
possess your confidence--if your ideas  
are changed--there is no occasion to    
make precious blood flow2 it will be    

sufficient to place an adverse vote in  
the urn4 ,i shall always respect the    
decision of the people4  ,his cleverness
 in combining the idea of authority with
 that of the idea of obeying the will of
 the people is curiously illustrated in 
his speech at the close of his          
dictatorship1 during which it must be   
confessed that he had done excellently  
well for the country--so well1 indeed1  
that even the socialists were ready to  
cry ,vive l',empereur6      ,while      
watching me reestablish the institutions
 and reawaken the     memories of the   
,empire1 people have repeated again and 
again that ,i     wished to reconstitute
 the ,empire itself4 ,if this had been  
so the     transformation would have    
been accomplished long ago2 neither the 
means nor the opportunities would have  
been lacking4444 ,but ,i have           
remained content with that ,i had4      
,resolved now1 as heretofore1 to do     
all in my power for ,france and nothing 
for myself1 ,i would accept any         

modification of the present state of    
things only if forced by                
necessity4444 ,if parties remain quiet1 
nothing shall be changed4 ,but     if   
they endeavor to sap the foundations of 
my government2 if they deny     the     
legitimacy of the result of the popular 
vote2 if1 in short1 they     continually
 put the future of the country in       
jeopardy1 then1 but only     then1 it   
might be prudent to ask the people for a
 new title which     would irrevocably  
fix on my head the power with which they
 have     already clothed me4 ,but let  
us not anticipate difficulties2 let us  
preserve the ,republic4 ,under its      
banner ,i am anxious to inaugurate      
once more an epoch of reconciliation and
 pardon2 and ,i call on all     without 
distinction who will frankly cooperate  
with me for the public     good4  ,in   
contrast to such fair-sounding phrases  
,napoleon was capable of the most       
dishonorable tactics in order to gain   
his ends4 ,witness the episode of his   

tempting ,bismarck with offers of an    
alliance against ,austria at the same   
time that he was treating secretly with 
,francis ,joseph for the cession of     
,venetia in return for ,silesia4 ,and   
while negotiating secretly and          
separately with these two sworn enemies1
 he pretended to be so disinterested as 
to suggest the submission of their      
quarrel to a ,european congress4        
,browning has certainly presented a good
 portrait of the man as the history of  
his own utterances contrasted with the  
history of his actions proves4 ,in      
trying to bridge with this apology the  
discrepancies between the two he has1   
however1 attributed to ,louis ,napoleon 
a degree of self-consciousness beyond   
any ever evinced by him4 ,the principle 
of imperialism was a conviction with    
him4 ,that he desired to help the people
 of ,france and to a great extent       
succeeded1 is true2 that he combined    
with this desire the desire of power for
 himself is true2 that he used          

unscrupulous means to gain whatever end 
he desired when such were necessary is  
true2 but that he was conscious of his  
own despicable traits to the extent that
 the poet makes him conscious of them is
 most unlikely4 ,nor is it likely that  
he would defend himself upon any such   
subtle ground as that his character and 
temperament being the gift of ,god he   
was bound to follow out his nature in   
order that ,god's purposes might be     
accomplished4 ,it is rather an          
explanation of his life from the        
philosopher's or psychologist's         
standpoint than a self-conscious        
revelation4 ,it is none the less        
interesting on this account1 while the  
scene setting gives it a thoroughly     
human and dramatic touch4  ,whatever may
 be said of ,napoleon himself1 his rule 
was fraught with consequences of import 
for the whole of ,europe1 not because of
 what he was1 but because of what he was
 not4 ,he was an object lesson on the   
fallacy of trying to govern so that all 

parties will be pleased by              
autocratically keeping each one from    
fully expressing itself4 ,the result is 
that each grows more aware of the       
suppression than of the amount of       
freedom allowed to it1 and nobody is    
pleased4 ,when added to such a policy as
 this is the surmounting desire for     
power and the ,machiavellian            
determination to attain it by any means1
 fair or foul1 a principle of statecraft
 which by the middle of the century     
could not be practised in its most acute
 form without arousing the most severe  
criticism1 his power carried within it  
the seeds of destruction4  ,it has been 
said that never in the history of the   
world has one man undertaken a task more
 utterly beyond the power of mortal man 
than that which ,louis ,napoleon was    
pledged to carry through4 ,he professed 
to be at one and the same time the elect
 sovereign of the people1 a son of the  
revolution1 a champion of universal     
suffrage1 and an adversary of the       

demagogues4 ,in the first of these      
characters he was bound to justify his  
elevation by economic and social        
reforms1 in his second character he had 
to destroy the last trace of political  
liberty4 ,he had1 in fact1 assumed      
various utterly incompatible attitudes1 
and the day that the masses found       
themselves deceived in their            
expectations1 and the middle classes    
found their interests were betrayed1    
reaction was inevitable4  ,illustration3
 ,,william ,,ewart ,,gladstone  ,in     
spite of his heinous faults1 however1   
historians have grown more and more     
inclined to admit that ,napoleon filled 
for a time a necessary niche in the line
 of progress1 just that step which      
,browning makes him say the genius will 
recognize that he fills--namely1 to     
,carry the incompleteness on a stage1   
,make what was crooked straight1 and    
roughness smooth1   ,and weakness       
strong3 wherein if ,i succeed1   ,it    
will not prove the worst achievement1   

sure   ,in the eyes at least of one man1
 one ,i look   ,nowise to catch in      
critic company3   ,to-wit1 the man      
inspired1 the genius1 self   ,destined  
to come and change things thoroughly4   
,he1 at least1 finds his business       
simplified1   ,distinguishes the done   
from undone1 reads   ,plainly what meant
 and did not mean this time   ,we live  
in1 and ,i work on1 and transmit   ,to  
such successor3 he will operate   ,on   
good hard substance1 not mere shade and 
shine4  ,that is1 at a time when ,europe
 was seething with the idea of a new    
order1 in which the ideal of nationality
 was to take the place of such decaying 
ideas as the divine right of kings1     
balance of power1 and so on1 ,napoleon  
held on to these ideas just long enough 
to prevent a general disintegration of  
society4 ,he held in his hands the      
balance of power until the nations began
 to find themselves1 and in the case of 
,italy actually helped on the triumph of
 the new order4  ,it is interesting to  

note in this connection that one of the 
principal factors in the making of      
,gladstone into the stanch liberal which
 he became was the freeing of ,italy1 in
 which ,napoleon had so large a share4  
,gladstone himself wrote in #ahib of the
 events which occurred in the fifth     
decade3 ,of the various and important   
incidents which associated me almost    
unawares with foreign affairs 444 ,i    
will only say that they all contributed 
to forward the action of those home     
causes more continuous in their         
operation1 which1 without in any way    
effacing my old sense of reverence for  
the past1 determined for me my place in 
the present and my direction toward the 
future4 ,in #ahei ,gladstone dined with 
,cavour at ,turin1 when the latter had  
the opportunity of explaining his       
position and policy to the man whom he  
considered one of the sincerest and most
 important friends that ,italy had4 ,but
 as his biographer says1 ,gladstone was 
still far from the glorified democracy  

of the ,mazzinian propaganda1 and       
expressed his opinion that ,england     
should take the stand that she would be 
glad if ,italian unity proved feasible1 
but the conditions of it must be        
gradually matured by a course of        
improvement in the several states1 and  
by the political education of the       
people2 if it cannot be reached by these
 means1 it hardly will by any others2   
and certainly not by opinions which     
closely link ,italian reconstruction    
with ,european disorganization and      
general war4 ,yet he was as distressed  
as ,mrs4 ,browning at the peace of      
,villafranca1 about which he wrote3 ,i  
little thought to have lived to see the 
day when the conclusion of a peace      
should in my own mind cause disgust     
rather than impart relief4 ,by the end  
of the year he thought better of        
,napoleon and expressed himself again   
somewhat in the same strain as ,mrs4    
,browning1 to the effect that the       
,emperor had shown1 though partial and  

inconsistent1 indications of a genuine  
feeling for the ,italians--and far      
beyond this he has committed himself    
very considerably to the ,italian cause 
in the face of the world4 ,when in reply
 to all that1 we fling in his face the  
truce of ,villafranca1 he may reply--and
 the answer is not without force--that  
he stood single-handed in a cause when  
any moment ,europe might have stood     
combined against him4 ,we gave him      
verbal sympathy and encouragement1 or at
 least criticism2 no one else gave him  
anything at all4 ,no doubt he showed    
then that he had undertaken a work to   
which his powers were unequal2 but ,i do
 not think that1 when fairly judged1 he 
can be said to have given proof by that 
measure of insincerity or indifference4 
,gladstone's gradual and forceful       
emancipation into the ranks of the      
liberals may be followed in the         
fascinating pages of ,morley's ,life1   
who at the end declares that his        
performances in the sphere of active    

government were beyond comparison4      
,gladstone's own summary of his career  
gives a glimpse of what these           
performances were as well as an         
interpretation of the century and       
,england's future growth which indicate 
that had he had another twenty years in 
which to progress1 perhaps fewer1 he    
would beyond all doubt have become an   
out and out social democrat4      ,the  
public aspect of the period which closes
 for me with the fourteen     years 7so 
,i love to reckon them7 of my formal    
connection with     ,midlothian is too  
important to pass without a word4 ,i    
consider it as     beginning with the   
,reform ,act of ,lord ,grey's           
government4 ,that great     act was for 
,england1 improvement and extension3 for
 ,scotland it was     political birth1  
the beginning of a duty and a power1    
neither of which     had attached to the
 ,scottish nation in the preceding      
period4 ,i rejoice     to think how the 
solemnity of that duty has been         

recognized1 and how     that power has  
been used4 ,the threescore years offer  
as the pictures     of what the         
historian will recognize as a great     
legislative and     administrative      
period--perhaps1 on the whole1 the      
greatest in our     annals4 ,it has been
 predominantly a history of             
emancipation--that is1     of enabling  
man to do his work of emancipation1     
political1 economical1     social1      
moral1 intellectual4 ,not numerous      
merely1 but almost     numberless1 have 
been the causes brought to issue1 and in
 every one of     them ,i rejoice to    
think that1 so far as my knowledge goes1
 ,scotland     has done battle for the  
right4      ,another period has opened  
and is opening still--a period possibly 
of     yet greater moral dangers1       
certainly a great ordeal for those      
classes     which are now becoming      
largely conscious of power1 and never   
heretofore subject to its deteriorating 
influences4 ,these have been            

confined in their actions to the classes
 above them1 because they were     its  
sole possessors4 ,now is the time for   
the true friend of his     country to   
remind the masses that their present    
political elevation is     owing to no  
principles less broad and noble than    
these--the love of     liberty1 of      
liberty for all without distinction of  
class1 creed or     country1 and the    
resolute preference of the interests of 
the whole     to any interest1 be it    
what it may1 of a narrower scope4  ,mr4 
,gladstone entered ,parliament at       
twenty-three1 in #ahcb1 and a year later
 ,browning1 at twenty-one1 printed his  
first poem1 ,pauline4 ,the careers of   
the two men ran nearly parallel1 for    
,browning died in #ahhi1 on the day of  
the publication of his last volume of   
poems1 and ,gladstone's retirement from 
active life took place in #ahid1 shortly
 after the defeat of his second ,home   
,rule ,bill4 ,though there is nothing to
 show that these two men came into touch

 with each other during their life1 and 
while it is probable that ,browning     
would not have been in sympathy with    
many of the aspects of ,gladstone's     
mentality1 there is an undercurrent of  
similarity in their attitude of mind    
toward reform4 ,the passage in ,sordello
 already referred to1 written in #ahdj1 
might be regarded almost as a prophecy  
of the sort of leader ,gladstone became4
 ,i have said of that passage that it   
expressed the ideal of the opportunist1 
not that of the revolutionary4          
,opportunist ,mr4 ,gladstone was often  
called by captious critics1 but any     
unbiased reader following his career now
 as a whole will see1 as ,morley points 
out1 that whenever there was a chance of
 getting anything done it was generally 
found that he was the only man with     
courage and resolution enough to attempt
 it4  ,a distinction should be made     
between that sort of opportunism which  
waits upon the growth of conditions     
favorable to the taking of a short step 

in amelioration1 and what might be      
called militant opportunism1 which1 at  
all times1 seizes every opportunity to  
take a step in the direction of an      
evolving1 all-absorbing ideal4 ,is not  
this the opportunism of both a ,browning
 and a ,gladstone8 ,such a policy at    
least tacitly acknowledges that the law 
of evolution is the law that should be  
followed1 and that the mass of the      
people as well as the leader have their 
share in the unfolding of the coming    
ideal1 though their part in it may be   
less conscious than his and though they 
may need his leadership to make the     
steps by the way clear4  ,the other     
political leader of the ,victorian era  
with whom ,gladstone came most          
constantly into conflict was ,disraeli1 
of whom ,browning in ,george ,bubb      
,dodington has given a sketch in order  
to draw a contrast between the          
unsuccessful policy of a charlatan of   
the ,dodington type and that of one like
 ,disraeli4 ,the skeptical multitude of 

to-day cannot be taken in by            
declarations that the politician is     
working only for their good1 and if he  
frankly acknowledged that he is working 
also for his own good they would have   
none of him4 ,the nice point to be      
decided is how shall he work for his own
 good and yet gain control of the       
multitude4 ,dodington did not know the  
secret1 but according to ,browning      
,disraeli did1 and what is the secret8  
,it seems to be an attitude of absolute 
self-assurance1 a disregard of          
consistency1 a scorn of the people he is
 dealing with1 and a pose suggesting the
 play of supernatural forces in his     
life4  ,this is a true enough picture of
 the real ,disraeli1 who seems to have  
had a leaning toward a belief in        
spiritualism1 and who was notorious for 
his unblushing changes of opinion and   
for a style of oratory in which his     
points were made by clever invective and
 sarcasm hurled at his opponents instead
 of by any sound1 logical argument1 it  

being1 indeed one of his brilliant      
discoveries that wisdom ought to be     
concealed under folly1 and consistency  
under caprice4  ,many choice bits of    
history might be given in illustration  
of ,browning's portrayal of him2 for    
example1 speaking against reform1 he    
exclaims3 ,behold the late ,prime       
,minister and the ,reform ,ministry6    
,the spirited and snow-white steeds have
 gradually changed into an equal number 
of sullen and obstinate donkeys1 while  
,mr4 ,merryman1 who1 like the ,lord     
,chancellor1 was once the very life of  
the ring1 now lies his despairing length
 in the middle of the stage1 with his   
jokes exhausted and his bottle empty4   
,as a specimen of his quickness in      
retort may be cited an account of an    
episode which occurred at the time when 
he came out as the champion of the      
,taunton ,blues4 ,in the course of his  
speech he enunciated1 says an anonymous 
writer of the fifties1 one of those     
daring historical paradoxes which are so

 signally characteristic of the man3    
',twenty years ago' said the ,taunton   
,blue hero1 'tithes were paid in        
,ireland more regularly than now6'      
,even his supporters appeared astounded 
by this declaration4  ',how do you      
know8' shouted an elector4  ',i have    
read it1' replied ,mr4 ,disraeli4  ',oh1
 oh6' exclaimed the elector4  ',i know  
it1' retorted ,disraeli1 'because ,i    
have read1 and you' 7looking daggers at 
his questioner7 'have not4'  ,this was  
considered a very happy rejoinder by the
 friends of the candidate1 and was      
loudly cheered by the ,blues4  ',didn't 
you write a novel8' again asked the     
importunate elector1 not very much      
frightened even by ,mr4 ,disraeli's     
oratorical thunder and the sardonical   
expression on his face4  ',i have       
certainly written a novel1' ,mr4        
,disraeli replied2 'but ,i hope there is
 no disgrace in being connected with    
literature4'  ',you are a curiosity of  
literature1 you are1' said the humorous 

elector4  ',i hope1' said ,mr4          
,disraeli1 with great indignation1      
'there is no disgrace in having written 
that which has been read by hundreds of 
thousands of my fellow-countrymen1 and  
which has been translated into every    
,european language4 ,i trust that one   
who is an author by the gift of nature  
may be as good a man as one who is      
,master of the ,mint by the gift of     
,lord ,melbourne4' ,great applause then 
burst forth from the ,blues4 ,mr4       
,disraeli continued1 ',i am not1        
however1 the puppet of the ,duke of     
,buckingham1 as one newspaper has       
described me2 while a fellow laborer in 
the same vineyard designated me the next
 morning1 the ,marleybone ,radical4 ,if 
there is anything on which ,i figure    
myself it is my consistency4'  ',oh1    
oh6' exclaimed many hearers4  ',i am    
prepared to prove it1' said ,mr4        
,disraeli1 with menacing energy4 ',i am 
prepared to prove it1 and always shall  
be1 either in the ,house of ,commons or 

on the hustings1 considering the        
satisfactory manner in which ,i have    
been attacked1 but ,i do not think the  
attack will be repeated4'  ,it seems    
extraordinary that such tactics of bluff
 could take a man onward to the supreme 
place of ,prime ,minister4 ,possibly it 
was just as much owing to his power to  
amuse as to any of the causes brought   
out by ,browning4 ,is there anything the
 majority of mankind loves more than a  
laugh8  ,the conflicts of ,disraeli and 
,gladstone form one of the most         
remarkable episodes of                  
nineteenth-century politics4 ,one is    
tempted to draw a parallel between      
,napoleon ,,iii and ,disraeli1 whose    
tactics were much the same1 except that 
,disraeli was backed up by a much keener
 intellect4 ,possibly he held a part in 
,english politics similar to that held  
by ,napoleon in ,european politics--that
 is1 he conserved the influences of the 
past long enough to make the future more
 sure of itself4 ,browning1 however1    

evidently considered him nothing more   
than a successful charlatan4  ,when     
,browning wrote1 ,why ,i ,am a ,liberal1
 in #ahhe1 liberalism in ,english       
politics had reached its climax in the  
nineteenth century through the          
introduction by ,mr4 ,gladstone1 then   
,premier for the third time1 of his     
,home ,rule ,bill4 ,the injustices      
suffered by the ,irish people and the   
horrible atrocities resulting from these
 had had their effect upon ,mr4         
,gladstone and had taken him the last   
great step in his progress toward       
freedom4 ,the meeting at which this bill
 was introduced has been described as   
the greatest legislative assembly of    
modern times4 ,the ,house was full to   
overflowing1 and in a brilliant speech  
of nearly four hours the veteran leader 
held his audience breathless as he      
unfolded his plans for the betterment of
 ,irish conditions4 ,we are told that   
during the debates that followed there  
was a remarkable exhibition of          

feeling--the passions1 the enthusiasm1  
the fear1 and hope1 and fury and        
exultation1 sweeping1 now the surface1  
now stirring to its depths the great    
gathering4 ,the bill1 which included1   
besides the founding of an ,irish       
,parliament in ,dublin1 which would have
 the power to deal with all matters save
 the ,crown1 the ,army and ,navy1       
,foreign and ,colonial ,policy1 ,trade1 
,navigation1 ,currency1 ,imperial       
,taxation1 and the ,endowment of        
,churches1 also provided that ,ireland  
should annually contribute to the       
,english exchequer the sum of           
,l#c1bdc1jjj4  ,eloquence1 enthusiasm1  
exultation--all came to naught4 ,the    
bill did not even suit the liberals1 the
 bargain from a financial point of view 
being regarded as hard4 ,it was defeated
 in ,parliament and fared no better when
 an appeal was made to the country1 and 
,mr4 ,gladstone resigned4 ,in nine      
months1 however1 a general election     
returned him to office again1 and again 

he introduced a ,home ,rule ,bill1 and  
though it passed the ,commons1 it was   
overwhelmingly defeated in the ,house of
 ,lords4  ,it is pleasant to reflect    
that in this last act of a noble and    
brilliant career spent in the interests 
of the ever-growing ideals of democracy 
,gladstone had the sympathy of          
,browning1 shown by his emphatic        
expression of liberal sentiments at a   
momentous crisis1 when a speech on the  
liberal side even from the mouth of a   
poet counted for much4  ,as we have     
seen1 the reflections in ,browning's    
poetry of his interest in public affairs
 are comparatively few1 yet such        
glimpses as he has given prove him1     
beyond all doubt1 to have been a        
democrat in principle1 to have arrived1 
in fact1 at the beginning of his career 
at a point beyond that attained by      
,england's rulers at the end of the     
century4 ,this far-sighted vision of his
 may have been another reason to be     
added to those mentioned at the         

beginning of the chapter why his        
interest in the practical affairs of his
 country did not more often express     
itself4 ,the wrangling1 the             
inconsequentialness1 the eloquence      
expended upon mere personal interests   
which make up by far the larger         
proportion of all political agitation1  
are irritating to the last degree to a  
man of vision4 ,his part was that of the
 philosopher and artist--to watch and to
 record in the portrayal of his many    
characters the underlying principle of  
freedom1 which was the guiding star in  
all his work4     ,,iv  ,,social        
,,ideals   ,browning's social ideals    
revolve about a trinity of values3 the  
value of love1 the value of truth1 the  
value of evil4 ,his ethics are the      
natural outgrowth of his mysticism and  
his idealism1 with no touch of the      
utilitarianism which has been a         
distinctive mark of the fabric of       
,english society during the nineteenth  
century1 nor1 on the other hand1 of the 

hidebound conventionalism which has     
limited personal freedom in ways        
detrimental to just those aspects of    
social morality it was most anxious to  
preserve4  ,the fact of which ,browning 
seemed more conscious than of any other 
fact of his existence1 and which1 as we 
have seen1 was the very core of his     
mysticism1 was feeling4 ,things about   
which an ordinary man would feel no     
emotion at all start in his mind a train
 of thoughts1 ending only in the        
perception of divine love4 ,the eating  
of a palatable fig fills his heart with 
such gratefulness to the giver of the   
fig that immediately he fares forth upon
 the way which brings him into the      
presence of the ,prime ,giver from whom 
all gifts are received4 ,what ecstasy of
 feeling in the artist aspiring through 
his art to the higher regions of        
,absolute ,beauty in ,abt ,vogler of the
 poet who loves1 aspiring to the divine 
through his human love in the epilogue  
to ,ferishtah's ,fancies6 ,the          

perception of feeling was so intense    
that it became in him exalted and       
concentrated1 incapable of dissipating  
itself in ephemeral sentimentalities1   
and this it is which gives feeling to   
,browning its mystical quality1 and puts
 personal love upon the plane of a      
veritable revelation4  ,though reports  
have often floated about in regard to   
his attachments to other women after    
,mrs4 ,browning's death1 the fact       
remains that he did not marry again1    
that he wrote the lyrics in ,ferishtah's
 ,fancies1 and the sonnet to ,edward    
,fitzgerald just before his death1 and  
thirty years after his wife's death4    
,moreover1 in the epilogue to ,the ,two 
,poets of ,croisic he gives a hint of   
what might be his attitude toward any   
other women who may have come into his  
life1 in the application of the tale of 
the cricket chirping love in the place  
of the broken string of a poet's lyre-- 
,for as victory was nighest1     ,while 
,i sang and played1   ,with my lyre at  

lowest1 highest1     ,right alike--one  
string that made     ,love sound soft   
was snapt in twain1     ,never to be    
heard again1----    ,had not a kind     
cricket fluttered1     ,perched upon the
 place   ,vacant left1 and duly uttered1
     ',love1 ,love1 ,love1' when'er the 
bass     ,asked the treble to atone     
,for its somewhat sombre drone4  ,these 
rare qualities of constancy1 exaltation 
and aspiration1 in love sublimating it  
into a spiritual emotion1 which was     
evidently the distinctive mark of       
,browning's personality on the emotional
 side1 furnishes the keynote by which   
his presentation or solution of the     
social problems involved in the         
relations of men and women is always to 
be gauged4  ,he had been writing ten    
years when he essayed his first serious 
presentation of what we might to-day    
call a problem play on an ,english      
subject in ,a ,blot in the ',scutcheon4 
,in all of his long poems and in many of
 his short ones personal love had been  

portrayed under various                 
conditions--between friends or lovers1  
husband and wife1 or father and son1 and
 in every instance it is a dominating   
influence in the action1 as we have     
already seen it to be in ,strafford4    
,again1 in ,king ,victor and ,king      
,charles the action centers upon        
,charles's love for his father1 and is  
also moulded in many ways by ,polyxena's
 love for her husband1 ,charles4  ,but a
 perception of the possible heights to  
be obtained by the passion of romantic  
love only fully emerges in ,pippa       
,passes1 for example in ,ottima's vision
 of the reality of her own love1 despite
 her great sin as contrasted with that  
of ,sebald's1 and in ,jules's rising    
above the conventionally low when he    
discovers he has been duped1 and        
perceiving in ,phene a purity of soul   
which no earthly conditions had been    
able to sully1    ,who1 what is         
,lutwyche1 what ,natalia's friends1     
,what the whole world except our        

love--my own1   ,own ,phene8444   ,i do 
but break these paltry models up   ,to  
begin art afresh 444   ,some unsuspected
 isle in the far seas6   ,like a god    
going through the world there stands    
,one mountain for a moment in the dusk1 
,whole brotherhoods of cedars on its    
brow3   ,and you are ever by me while ,i
 gaze   --,are in my arms as now--as    
now--as now6   ,some unsuspected isle in
 the far seas6   ,some unsuspected isle 
in far-off seas6  ,again1 in ,the       
,return of the ,druses there is a       
complicated clash between the ideal of  
religious reverence for the incarnation 
of divinity in ,djabal and human love   
for him in the soul of ,anael1 resulting
 at the end in the destruction of the   
idea of ,djabal's supernatural divinity1
 and his reinstatement perceived by     
,anael as divine through the complete   
exaltation of his human love for ,anael4
  ,these examples1 however1 while they  
illustrate ,browning's attitude toward  
human love1 are far enough removed from 

nineteenth-century conditions in        
,england4 ,in ,pippa1 the social        
conditions of nineteenth-century ,italy 
are reflected2 in ,the ,druses1 the     
religious conditions of the ,druse      
nation in the fifteenth century4  ,in   
the ,blot in the ',scutcheon a situation
 is developed which comes home forcibly 
to the nineteenth-century ,englishman   
despite the fact that the scene is      
supposed to be laid in the eighteenth   
century4 ,the poet's treatment of the   
clash between the ideal1 cherished by an
 old and honored aristocratic family of 
its own immaculate purity1 and the      
spontaneous1 complete and exalted love  
of the two young people who in their    
ecstasy transcend conventions1          
illustrates1 as perhaps no other        
situation could1 his reverential        
attitude upon the subject of love4      
,gwendolen1 the older1 intuitional      
woman1 and ,mertoun1 the young lover1   
are the only people in the play to      
realize that purity may exist although  

the social enactments upon which it is  
supposed to depend have not been        
complied with4 ,tresham learns it only  
when he has wounded ,mertoun unto death2
 ,mildred never learns it4 ,the grip of 
conventional teaching has sunk so deeply
 into her nature that she feels her sin 
unpardonable and only to be atoned for  
by death4 ,mertoun1 as he dies1 gives   
expression to the essential purity and  
truth of his nature in these words3     
,die along with me1   ,dear ,mildred6   
'tis so easy1 and you'll 'scape   ,so   
much unkindness6 ,can ,i lie at rest1   
,with rude speech spoken to you1 ruder  
deeds   ,done to you8--heartless men    
shall have my heart   ,and ,i tied down 
with grave-clothes and the worm1        
,aware1 perhaps1 of every blow--,o      
,god6--   ,upon those lips--yet of no   
power to bear   ,the felon stripe by    
stripe6 ,die ,mildred6 ,leave   ,their  
honorable world to them6 ,for ,god      
,we're good enough1 though the world    
casts us out4  ,this is only one of many

 instances which go to show that        
,browning's conception of love might    
include1 on the one hand1 a complete    
freedom from the trammels imposed upon  
it by conventional codes of morality1   
but on the other1 was so real and       
permanent a sympathy between two souls1 
and so absolute a revelation of divine  
beauty1 that its morality far           
transcended that of the conventional    
codes1 which under the guise of lawful  
alliances permit and even encourage     
marriages based upon the most external  
of attractions1 or those entered into   
for merely social or commercial reasons4
 ,a sin against love seems in           
,browning's eyes to come the nearest of 
all human failings to the unpardonable  
sin4  ,it must not be supposed from what
 has been said that he had any          
anarchistic desire to do away with the  
solemnization of marriage1 but his eyes 
were wide open to the fact that there   
might be sin within the marriage bond1  
and just as surely that there might be  

love pure and true outside of it4       
,another illustration of ,browning's    
belief in the existence of a love such  
as ,shakespeare describes1 which looks  
on tempests and is never shaken1 is     
given in the ,inn ,album4 ,here1 again1 
the characters are all ,english1 and the
 story is based upon an actual          
occurrence4 ,such changes as ,browning  
has made in the story are with the      
intention of pitting against the        
villainy of an aristocratic seducer of  
the lowest type a bourgeois young man1  
who has been in love with the betrayed  
woman1 and who when he finds out that it
 was this man1 his friend1 who had stood
 between them1 does not swerve from his 
loyalty and truth to her1 and in the end
 avenges her by killing the aristocratic
 villain4 ,the young man is betrothed to
 a girl he cares nothing for1 the woman 
has married a man she cares nothing for4
 ,all is of no moment in the presence of
 a genuine loyal emotion which shows    
itself capable of a life of devotion    

with no thought of reward4  ,browning   
has nowhere translated into more noble  
action the love of a man than in the    
passage where the hero of the story     
gives himself unselfishly to the woman  
who has been so deeply wronged3         
,take heart of hers1   ,and give her    
hand of mine with no more heart   ,than 
now1 you see upon this brow ,i strike6  
,what atom of a heart do ,i retain      
,not all yours8 ,dear1 you know it6     
,easily   ,may she accord me pardon when
 ,i place   ,my brow beneath her foot1  
if foot so deign1   ,since uttermost    
indignity is spared--   ,mere marriage  
and no love6 ,and all this time   ,not  
one word to the purpose6 ,are you free8 
,only wait6 only let me serve--deserve  
,where you appoint and how you see the  
good6   ,i have the will--perhaps the   
power--at least   ,means that have power
 against the world4 ,fortune--   ,take  
my whole life for your experiment6   ,if
 you are bound--in marriage1 say--why1  
still1   ,still1 sure1 there's something

 for a friend to do1   ,outside8 ,a mere
 well-wisher1 understand6   ,i'll sit1  
my life long1 at your gate1 you know1   
,swing it wide open to let you and him  
,pass freely1--and you need not look1   
much less   ,fling me a ',thank         
you6--are you there1 old friend8'       
,don't say that even3 ,i should drop    
like shot6   ,so ,i feel now1 at least3 
some day1 who knows8   ,after no end of 
weeks and months and years   ,you might 
smile6 ',i believe you did your best6'  
,and that shall make my heart leap--leap
 such leap   ,as lands the feet in      
,heaven to wait you there6   ,ah1       
there's just one thing more6 ,how pale  
you look6   ,why8 ,are you angry8 ,if   
there's after all1   ,worst come to     
worst--if still there somehow be   ,the 
shame--,i said was no shame1--none1 ,i  
swear6--   ,in that case1 if my hand and
 what it holds1--   ,my name1--might be 
your safeguard now1--at once--   ,why1  
here's the hand--you have the heart4    
,the genuine lovers in ,browning's      

gallery will occur to every reader of   
,browning3 lovers who are not deterred  
by obstacles1 like ,norbert1 lovers like
 ,miranda1 devoted to a woman with a    
past2 like the lover in ,one ,way of    
,love1 who still can say1 ,those who win
 heaven1 blest are they4 ,sometimes     
there is a problem to be solved1        
sometimes not4 ,whenever there is a     
problem1 however1 it is solved by       
,browning on the side of sincerity and  
truth1 never on the side of convention4 
,take1 for example1 ,the ,statue and the
 ,bust1 which many have considered to   
uphold an immoral standard and of which 
its defenders declare that the moral    
point of the story lies not in the fact 
that the lady and the ,duke wished to   
elope with each other but that they     
never had strength enough of mind to do 
so4 ,considering what an entirely       
conventional and loveless marriage this 
of the lady and the ,duke evidently was 
we cannot suppose1 in the light of      
,browning's solution of similar         

situations1 that he would have thought  
it any great crime if the ,duke and the 
lady had eloped1 since there was so     
genuine an attraction between them4 ,but
 he does word his climax1 it must be    
confessed1 in a way to leave a loophole 
of doubt on the subject for those who do
 not like to be scandalized by their    
,browning3 ,let a man contend to the    
uttermost for his life's set prize1 be  
it what it will6  ,there is a saving    
grace to be extracted from the last     
line4    --,the sin ,i impute to each   
frustrate ghost   ,is--the unlit lamp   
and the ungirt loin1   ,though the end  
in sight was a vice1 ,i say4  ,in ,the  
,ring and the ,book1 the problem is     
similar to that in the ,inn ,album1     
except that the villain in the case is  
the lawful husband4 ,the lover1         
,caponsacchi1 under different conditions
 demanding that he shall not give the   
slightest expression to his love1 rises 
to a reverential height which even some 
of ,browning's readers seem to doubt as 

possible4 ,caponsacchi is1 however1 too 
much under the spell of ,catholic       
theology to see the mystical meaning of 
the love which he acknowledges in his   
own soul for ,pompilia4 ,in this poem it
 is ,pompilia who is given the divine   
vision4 ,if ,i may resay what ,i have   
said in another connection1#c there is  
no moral struggle in ,pompilia's short  
life such as that in ,caponsacchi's4    
,both were alike in the fact that up to 
a certain point in their lives their    
full consciousness was unawakened3 hers 
slept1 through innocence and ignorance2 
his1 in spite of knowledge1 through lack
 of aspiration4 ,she was rudely awakened
 by suffering2 he by the sudden         
revelation of a possible ideal4         
,therefore1 while for him1 conscious of 
his past failures1 a struggle begins3   
for her1 conscious of no failure in her 
duty1 which she had always followed     
according to her light1 there simply    
continues duty according to the new     
light4 ,neither archbishop nor friendly 

smiles and shakes of head could weaken  
her conviction that1 being estranged in 
soul from her husband1 her attitude     
toward him was inevitable4 ,no qualms of
 conscience troubled her as to her      
inalienable right to fly from him4 ,that
 she submitted as long as she did was   
only because no one could be found to   
aid her4 ,and how quick and certain her 
defence of ,caponsacchi1 threatened by  
,guido1 when he overtakes them at the   
,inn6 ,as she thinks over it calmly     
afterward1 she makes no apology1 but    
justifies her action as the voice of    
,god4    ,if ,i sinned so--never obey   
voice more4   ,o1 the ,just and         
,terrible1 who bids us ',bear4'         
,not--',stand by2 bear to see my angels 
bear6'  ,the gossip over her flight with
 ,caponsacchi does not trouble her as it
 does him4 ,he saved her in her great   
need2 the supposition that their motives
 for flight had any taint of impurity in
 them is too puerile to be given a      
thought1 yet with the same sublime      

certainty of the right1 characteristic  
of her1 she acknowledges1 at the end1   
her love for ,caponsacchi1 and looks for
 its fulfilment in the future when      
marriage shall be an interpenetration of
 souls that know themselves into one4   
,having attained so great a good she can
 wish none of the evil she has suffered 
undone4 ,she goes a step farther4 ,not  
only does she accept her own suffering  
for the sake of the final supreme good  
to herself1 but she feels assured that  
good will fall at last to those who     
worked the evil4  ,in her absolute      
certainty of her realization of an      
unexpressed love in a future existence1 
she is only equaled in ,browning's      
poetry by the speaker in ,beautiful     
,evelyn ,hope is dead4  ,that           
,browning's belief in the mystical      
quality of personal love never changed  
is shown by the fact that near the end  
of his life1 in the ,parleying with     
,daniel ,bartoli1 he treats a love      
romance based upon fact in a way to     

emphasize this same truth which so      
constantly appears in his earlier work4 
,the lady in this case1 who is of the   
people1 having been offered a bribe by  
the ,king which will mean the           
dishonoring of herself and her husband1 
and which if she does not accept will   
mean her complete separation from her   
husband1 instantly decides against the  
bribe4 ,she prefers love in spirit in a 
convent to the accepting of the ,king's 
promise that she will be made much of in
 court if she will sign a paper agreeing
 that her husband shall at once cede his
 dukedoms to the ,king4 ,she explains   
her attitude to the ,duke1 who hesitates
 in his decision1 whereupon she leaves  
and saves his honor for him1 but his    
inability to decide at once upon the    
higher ground of spiritual love reveals 
to her the inadequacy of his love as    
compared with her own and kills her love
 for him4 ,she later1 however1 marries a
 man who was only a boy of ten at the   
time of this episode1 and their life    

together was a dream of happiness4 ,but 
she dies and the devoted husband becomes
 a man of the world again4 ,the ,duke1  
however1 has a streak of genuineness in 
his nature after all4 ,although carried 
away by the charms of a bold1           
black-eyed1 tall creature1 a development
 in keeping with the nature of the ,duke
 in the true story1 ,browning is equal  
to the occasion1 and makes him declare  
that the real man in him is dead and is 
still faithful to the old love4 ,all she
 has is his ghost4 ,some day his soul   
will again be called into life by his   
ideal love4  ,the poet frequently       
expresses a doubt of man's power to be  
faithful to the letter in case of a     
wife's death4 ,any wife to any husband  
reveals that feeling as it comes to a   
woman4 ,the poet's answer to this doubt 
is invariably1 that where the love was  
true other attraction is a makeshift by 
which a desolate life is made tolerable1
 or1 as in ,fifine at the ,fair1 an     
ephemeral indulgence in pleasure which  

does not touch the reality of the       
spiritual love4  ,browning was well     
aware that the ordinary woman had a     
stronger sense of the eternal in love   
than the ordinary man4 ,in relation to  
the ,duke in the poem previously        
mentioned he remarks3    ,one leans to  
like the duke1 too2 up we'll patch      
,some sort of saintship for him--not to 
match   ,hers--but man's best and       
woman's worst amount   ,so nearly to the
 same thing1 that we count   ,in man a  
miracle of faithfulness   ,if1 while    
unfaithful somewhat1 he lay stress   ,on
 the main fact that love1 when love     
indeed1   ,is wholly solely love from   
first to last--   ,truth--all the rest a
 lie4  ,it may be said that all this is 
the romantic love about which the poets 
have always sung1 and has as much       
existence in real life as the ideal of  
disinterested helpfulness to lovelorn   
damsels sung about in the days of       
chivalry4 ,true1 others have sung of the
 exaltation and the immortality of love1

 and few have been those who have found 
it1 but nowhere has the distinctively   
human side been touched with such       
reverence as in ,browning4 ,it is not   
,beatrice translated into a divine      
personage to be adored by a worshipping 
devotee1 but a wholly human woman who   
loves and is loved1 who touches divinity
 in ,browning's mind4 ,human love is    
then not an impossible ideal of which he
 writes in poetic language existing only
 in the realm of fancy2 it is a living  
religion1 bringing those who love nearer
 to ,god through the exaltation of their
 feeling than any other revelation of   
the human soul4 ,other states of        
consciousness reveal to humanity the    
existence of the absolute1 but this     
gives a premonition of what divine love 
may have in store for the aspiring soul4
  ,in holding to such an ideal of love  
as this ,browning has ranged himself    
entirely apart from the main tendencies 
of thought of the century1 on the       
relations of men and women1 which have1 

on the one hand1 been wholly            
conventional1 marriage being a contract 
under the law binding for life except in
 cases of definite breaches of conduct1 
and under the ,church of affection which
 is binding only for life2 and have1 on 
the other hand1 gone extreme lengths in 
the advocacy of entire freedom in the   
relations of the sexes4 ,the first      
degrades love by making it too much a   
matter of law1 the second by making it  
an ephemeral passion from which almost  
everything truly beautiful in the       
relationship of two human beings is1 of 
necessity1 eliminated4  ,to either of   
these extreme factions ,browning's      
attitude is equally incomprehensible4   
,the first cries out against his        
liberalness1 the second1 declaring that 
human emotion should be untrammeled by  
either ,church1 law or ,god1 would find 
him a pernicious influence against      
freedom2 there are1 however1 many shades
 of opinion between the two extremes    
which would feel sympathy with his      

ideals in one or more directions4  ,the 
chief difficulty in the acceptance of   
the ideal for most people is that they  
have not yet developed to the plane     
where feeling comes to them with the    
intensity1 the concentration1 the depth 
or the constancy that brings with it the
 sense of revelation4 ,for many people  
law or the ,church is absolutely        
necessary to preserve such feeling as   
they are capable of from dissipating    
itself in shallow sentimentalism2 while 
one or the other will always be         
necessary in some form because love has 
its social as well as its personal      
aspect4  ,yet the law and the ,church   
should both allow sufficient freedom for
 the breaking of relations from which   
all sincerity has departed1 even though 
humanity as a whole has not yet and     
probably will not for many ages arrive  
at ,browning's conception of human love4
  ,truth to one's own highest vision in 
love being a cardinal principle with    
,browning1 it follows that truth to     

one's nature in any direction is        
desirable4 ,he even carries this        
doctrine of truth to the individual     
nature so far as to base upon it an     
apology for the most unmitigated villain
 he has portrayed1 ,guido1 and to put   
this apology into the mouth of the      
person he had most deeply wronged1      
,pompilia4 ,with exquisite vision she1  
even1 can say3    ,but where will ,god  
be absent6 ,in his face   ,is light1 but
 in his shadow healing too3   ,let      
,guido touch the shadow and be healed6  
,and as my presence was unfortunate1--  
,my earthly good1 temptation and a      
snare1--   ,nothing about me but drew   
somehow down   ,his hate upon           
me1--somewhat so excused   ,therefore1  
since hate was thus the truth of him1-- 
,may my evanishment for evermore   ,help
 further to relieve the heart that cast 
,such object of its natural loathing    
forth6   ,so he was made2 he nowise made
 himself3   ,i could not love him1 but  
his mother did4  ,it is this notion that

 every nature must express its own truth
 which underlies a poem like ,fifine at 
the ,fair4 ,through expressing the truth
 of itself1 and so grasping at half     
truths1 even at the false1 it finally   
reaches a higher truth4 ,a nature like  
,guido's was not born with a faculty for
 development4 ,he simply had to live out
 his own hate4 ,the man in ,fifine had  
the power of perceiving an ideal1 but   
not the power of living up to it without
 experimentation upon lower planes of   
living1 probably the most common type of
 man to-day4 ,there are others like     
,norbert or ,mertoun1 in whom the ideal 
truth is the real truth of their natures
 and for whom life means the constant   
expansion of this ideal truth within    
them4 ,in many of the varying types of  
men and women portrayed by ,browning    
there is the recognition of the         
possibility of psychic development      
either by means of experience or by     
sudden intuitions1 and if1 as in the    
case of ,guido1 there is no development 

in this life1 there is hope in a future 
existence in a universe ruled by a ,god 
of love4  ,in his views upon human      
character and its possibilities of      
development ,browning is1 of course1 in 
touch with the scientific views on the  
subject which filled the air in all     
later nineteenth-century thought1       
changing the orthodox ideal of a static 
humanity born in sin and only to be     
saved by belief in certain dogmas to    
that of a humanity born to develop2     
changing the notion that sin was a      
terrible and absolutely defined entity1 
against which every soul had ceaselessly
 to war1 into the notion that sin is a  
relative evil1 consequent upon lack of  
development1 which1 as the human soul   
advances on its path1 led by its inborn 
consciousness of the divine to be       
attained1 will gradually disappear4     
,but the evil which results from this   
lack of development in individuals to   
other individuals1 and to society at    
large1 brings a problem which as we have

 already seen in the first chapter is   
not so easy of solution4 ,yet ,browning 
solves it1 for is it not through the    
combat with this evil that the soul is  
given its real opportunity for          
development8 ,pain and suffering give   
rise to the thirst for happiness and    
joy1 and through the arousing of        
sympathy and pity1 the desire that      
others shall have happiness and joy1    
therefore to be despairing and          
pessimistic about evil or to wish for   
its immediate annihilation would really 
be suicidal to the best interests of the
 human race2 nay1 he even goes farther  
than this1 as is hinted in one of his   
last poems1 ,rephan1 and imagines that  
any other state than one of flux between
 good and evil would be monotonous3     
,startle me up1 by an ,infinite         
,discovered above and below me--height  
,and depth alike to attract my flight1  
,repel my descent3 by hate taught love4 
,oh1 gain were indeed to see above      
,supremacy ever--to move1 remove1       

,not reach--aspire yet never attain     
,to the object aimed at6 ,scarce in     
vain1--   ,as each stage ,i left nor    
touched again4    ,to suffer1 did pangs 
bring the loved one bliss1   ,wring     
knowledge from ignorance3--just for     
this--   ,to add one drop to a          
love--abyss6    ,enough3 for you doubt1 
you hope1 ,o men1   ,you fear1 you      
agonize1 die3 what then8   ,is an end to
 your life's work out of ken8    ,have  
you no assurance that1 earth at end1    
,wrong will prove right8 ,who made shall
 mend   ,in the higher sphere to which  
yearnings tend8  ,in his attitude toward
 the existence of evil ,browning takes  
issue with ,carlyle1 as already noted in
 the second chapter4 ,carlyle1 as       
,browning represents him1 cannot        
reconcile the existence of evil with    
beneficent and omniscient power4 ,he    
makes the opponent1 who is an echo of   
,carlyle in the argument in ,bernard de 
,mandeville1 exclaim3                   
,where's   ,knowledge1 where power and  

will in evidence   ',tis ,man's-play    
merely6 ,craft foils rectitude1         
,malignity defeats beneficence1   ,and  
grant1 at very last of all1 the feud    
',twixt good and evil ends1 strange     
thoughts intrude   ,though good be      
garnered safely and good's foe          
,bundled for burning4 ,thoughts steal   
even so--   ,why grant tares leave to   
thus o'ertop1 o'ertower   ,their        
field-mate1 boast the stalk and flaunt  
the flower1   ,triumph one sunny minute8
  ,no attempt must be made to show      
,god's reason for allowing evil4 ,any   
such attempt will fail4 ,this passage   
comes as near as any in ,browning to a  
plunge into the larger social questions 
which during the nineteenth century have
 come more and more to the front1 and is
 an index of just where the poet stood  
in relation to the social movements of  
the century's end4 ,his gaze was so     
centered upon the individual and the    
power of the individual to work out his 
own salvation and the need of evil in   

the process that his philosophical      
attitude toward evil quite overtops the 
militant interest in overcoming it4     
,carlyle1 on the other hand1 saw the    
immense evil of the social conditions in
 ,england1 and raged and stormed against
 them1 but could see no light by which  
evil could be turned into good4 ,he     
little realized that his own storming at
 the ineptitude1 the imbecility1 the    
fool-ness of society1 and his own       
despair over the1 to him1 unaccountable 
evils of existence1 were in themselves a
 positive good growing out of the evil4 
,though he was not to suggest practical 
means for leading the masses out of     
bondage1 he was to call attention in    
trumpet tones to the fact that the      
bondage existed4 ,by so doing he was    
taking a first step or rather drawing   
aside the curtain and revealing the dire
 necessity that steps should be taken   
and taken soon4 ,while ,carlyle was     
militantly shouting against evil to some
 purpose which would later mean militant

 action against it1 ,browning was       
settling in his own mind just what      
relation evil should hold to good in the
 scheme of the universe1 and writing a  
poem to tell why he was a liberal4 ,in  
fine1 ,carlyle was opening the way      
toward the socialism of the latter part 
of the century1 while ,browning was     
still found in the camp of what the     
socialist of to-day calls the           
middle-class individualist4             
,liberalism1 which had taken on social  
conditions to the point through         
legislation where every man was free to 
be a property holder if he could manage 
to become one1 and to amass wealth1 left
 out of consideration the fact that he  
never could be free as long as he had to
 compete with every other man in the    
state to get these things4 ,hence the   
movement of the working classes to gain 
freedom by substituting for a           
competitive form of society a           
cooperative form4 ,great names in       
literature and art have helped toward   

the on-coming of this movement4 ,carlyle
 had railed at the millions of the      
,english nation1 mostly fools2 ,ruskin  
had bemoaned the enthronement of        
ugliness as the result of the industrial
 conditions2 ,matthew ,arnold had       
proposed a panacea for the ills of the  
social condition in the bringing about  
of social equality through culture1 and1
 best of all1 ,william ,morris had not  
only talked but acted4  ,illustration3  
,,william ,,morris  ,to any student of  
social movements to-day1 whether he has 
been drawn into the swirl of socialistic
 propaganda or whether he is still      
comfortably sitting in his parlor       
feeling an intellectual sympathy but no 
emotional call to leave his parlor and  
be up and doing1 ,morris appears as the 
most interesting figure of the century4 
,the pioneers in the nineteenth-century 
movement toward socialism in ,england1  
unless we except the social enthusiasm  
of a ,shelley or a ,blake1 were ,owen   
and ,maurice4 ,owen was that remarkable 

anomaly1 a self-made man who had gained 
his wealth because of the new industrial
 order inaugurated by the invention of  
machinery1 who yet could look at the    
circumstances so fortuitous for him in  
an impersonal manner1 and realize that  
what had put a silver spoon into his own
 mouth was taking away even pewter      
spoons from other men's mouths4         
,although he was really in love with the
 new order of machine production1 he    
realized what many to-day fail to see1  
that machine production organized for   
the benefit of private persons would    
most assuredly mean the poverty and the 
degradation of the workers4 ,he did not 
stop here1 however1 but spent his vast  
fortune in trying to make the conditions
 of the workingmen better4 ,in the      
estimation of socialists to-day his work
 was of a very high order1 not mere     
utopianism4 ,it bore no similarity to   
the romantic dreams of poets who saw    
visions of a perfect society regardless 
of the fact that a perfect society      

cannot suddenly blossom from conditions 
of appalling misery and degradation4    
,owen was a practical business man4 ,he 
knew all the ins and outs of the        
industrial regime1 and consequently he  
had a practical program1 not a dream1   
which he wished to see carried out4     
,accounts of the conditions of the      
workers at that time are heartrending4  
,everywhere the same tale of abject     
poverty1 ignorance1 and oppression in   
field and factory1 long hours of labor  
and dear food4 ,to bring help to these  
downtrodden people was the burning      
desire of ,robert ,owen and his         
followers4 ,his efforts were not        
rewarded by that success which they     
deserved1 his failure being a necessary 
concomitant of the fact that even a     
practical program for betterment cannot 
suddenly take effect owing to the       
inevitable inertia of any               
long-established conditions4 ,in showing
 the causes which kept him from the full
 accomplishment of his ideals1 in spite 

of his genuine practicalness1 ,brougham 
,villiers1 the recent historian of the  
socialist movement in ,england1 says he 
attempted too much to influence the     
workers from without1 trying1 of course 
vainly1 to induce the governing classes 
to interest themselves in the work of   
social reform4 ,yet it is difficult to  
see what else he could have done at the 
time4 ,we have already shown how utterly
 disorganized the working classes were1 
how incapable1 indeed1 of any           
organization4 ,they were also destitute 
of political power1 and miserably       
underpaid4 ,what could they do to help  
themselves8 ,help1 if it was to come at 
all1 must come from the only people who 
then had the power1 if they only had the
 will1 to accord it1 and to them1 at    
first1 ,robert ,owen appealed4 ,later1  
he turned to the people1 and for them   
indeed his work was not utterly wasted1 
though generations were to pass before  
the full effect of it could be seen4    
,however abortive his attempts to gain  

political sympathy for his socialist    
program1 and in spite of the fact that  
socialist agitation came to a standstill
 in ,england with the defeat of the     
somewhat chaotic socialism of the       
,chartists1 it cannot be doubted that   
his efforts influenced the political    
reformers who were to take up one       
injustice after another and fight for   
its melioration until the working       
classes were at least brought to a plane
 where they could begin to organize and 
develop toward the still higher plane   
where they could themselves take their  
own salvation in hand4  ,another man who
 did much to bring the workingman's     
cause into prominence was ,maurice1 who 
emphasized the ,christian aspect of the 
movement4 ,he was an excellent          
supplement to ,owen1 whose liberal views
 on religion militated in some quarters 
against an acceptance of his humane     
views in regard to workingmen4          
,notwithstanding the personal strength  
of these two men they failed not only in

 the practical attainment of their      
object1 but their ideas on socialism did
 not even wedge itself into the thought 
consciousness of the ,englishmen4  ,the 
men who did more than any one else to   
awaken the sleeping ,english            
consciousness were ,carlyle1 ,ruskin1   
,arnold and ,morris4 ,of these ,morris  
held a position midway between the      
old-fashioned dreamer of dreams and the 
new-fashioned hustling political        
socialist1 who now sends his            
representatives to ,parliament and has  
his say in the national affairs of the  
country4  ,being a poet1 he could1 of   
course1 dream dreams1 and one of these1 
,the ,dream of ,john ,ball1 puts the    
case of the toilers in a form at once so
 convincing and so full of divine pity  
that it does not seem possible it could 
be read even by the most hardened of    
trust magnates without making him see   
how unjust has been the distribution of 
this world's goods through the making of
 one man do the work of many3 ,in days  

to come one man shall do the work of a  
hundred men--yea1 of a thousand or more3
 and this is the shift of mastership    
that shall make many masters and many   
rich men4 ,this is a riddle which ,john 
,ball cannot grasp at once1 and when it 
is explained to him he is still more    
mystified at the result4  ,thou hast    
seen the weaver at his loom3 think how  
it should be if he sit no longer before 
the web and cast the shuttle and draw   
home the sley1 but if the shed open of  
itself1 speed through it as swift as the
 eye can follow1 and the sley come home 
of itself1 and the weaver standing by   
444 looking to half a dozen looms and   
bidding them what to do4 ,and as with   
the weaver so with the potter1 and the  
smith1 and every worker in metals1 and  
all other crafts1 that it shall be for  
them looking on and tending1 as with the
 man that sitteth in the cart while the 
horse draws4 ,yea1 at last so shall it  
be even with those who are mere         
husbandmen2 and no longer shall the     

reaper fare afield in the morning with  
his hook over his shoulder1 and smite   
and bind and smite again till the sun is
 down and the moon is up2 but he shall  
draw a thing made by men into the field 
with one or two horses1 and shall say   
the word and the horses shall go up and 
down1 and the thing shall reap and      
gather and bind1 and do the work of many
 men4 ,imagine all this in thy mind if  
thou canst1 at least as ye may imagine a
 tale of enchantment told by a minstrel1
 and then tell me what shouldst thou    
deem that the life of men would be      
amidst all this1 men such as these of   
the township here1 or the men of the    
,canterbury guilds4  ,and ,john ,ball's 
conclusion is that things in that day to
 come will be not as they are but as    
they ought to be4 ,with irresistible    
logic he declares3  ,i say that if men  
still abide men as ,i have known them1  
and unless these folk of ,england change
 as the land changeth--and forsooth of  
the men1 for good and for evil1 ,i can  

think no other than ,i think now1 or    
behold them other than ,i have known    
them and loved them--,i say if the men  
be still men1 what will happen except   
that there should be all plenty in the  
land1 and not one poor man therein 444  
for there would then be such abundance  
of good things1 that1 as greedy as the  
lords might be1 there would be enough to
 satisfy their greed and yet leave good 
living for all who labored with their   
hands2 so that these should labor for   
less than now1 and they would have time 
to learn knowledge1 and he goes on1 take
 part in the making of laws4  ,but      
,morris was not the man to dream1       
merely4 ,though he did not trouble      
himself about the doctrinaire side of   
socialism1 he preached it constantly    
from the human side and from the        
artistic side4 ,while some socialist    
writers make us feel that socialism     
might possibly only be ,gradgrind in    
another guise1 he makes us feel that    
peace and plenty and loveliness would   

attend upon the sons and daughters of   
socialism4 ,as one of his many admirers 
says of him3 ,he was an out-and-out     
,communist because of the essential     
sanity of a mind incapable of the desire
 to monopolize anything he could not    
use4  ,the authoritarianism of the      
,marxian socialists was distasteful to  
him1 for1 to quote from the same        
admirer1 his conception of socialism was
 that of a free society1 based on the   
simple rights of all to use the earth   
and anything in it1 and the consequent  
abolition of all competition for the    
means of life4 ,his attitude of mind on 
these points led him to break away from 
the ,social ,democratic ,federation1    
which1 with its political program1 was  
distasteful to ,morris's more purely    
social feeling1 and found the ,socialist
 ,league4 ,this emphasized more         
particularly the artistic side of       
socialism4 ,morris and his followers    
were bent upon making life a beautiful  
thing as well as a comfortable thing4   

,according to all accounts1 the ,league 
was not as great a force in the         
development of socialist ideals as was  
,morris himself1 who inspired such men  
as ,burne-,jones and ,walter ,crane with
 a sympathy in the new ideals1 as well  
as multitudes of lesser men in the      
crowds that gathered to listen to him in
 ,waltham ,green or in some other like  
open place of a ,sunday4  ,morris's     
chief contribution to the growth of the 
cause was perhaps his own business      
plant1 into which he put as many of his 
ideals for the betterment of the        
workingmen's conditions as he was able  
to do under existing conditions4 ,who   
has not gloated over his exquisite      
editions of ,chaucer and the like--books
 in which even the punctuation marks are
 a delight to the eye1 and the          
illustrations as far beyond ordinary    
illustrations as the punctuation marks  
are beyond ordinary periods4 ,if        
anything could add to the richness of   
the interior it is the contrasting      

simplicity of the white vellum bindings1
 and1 again1 if there is another        
possible touch of grace--a gilding of   
the lily--what could better fulfil that 
purpose than the outer boxing covered   
with a ,morris cotton print6 ,the       
critical may object that these ,morris  
editions are so expensive that none but 
millionaire bibliophiles can have many  
of them4 ,how many of us have even seen 
them except in such collections6 ,and   
how many of his workmen are able to     
share in this product of their labor to 
any greater extent than the product of  
labor is usually shared in by its       
producers1 may be asked4  ,though we are
 obliged to answer that the workmen     
probably do not have the ,morris books  
in their own libraries1 they yet have   
the joy of making these beautiful books 
under conditions of happy               
workmanship--that is1 they are skilled  
craftsmen1 who have been trained in an  
apprenticeship1 who are asked to work   
only eight hours a day1 who receive     

higher wages than other workmen and1    
above all1 who have the stimulation of  
the presence of ,morris1 himself1       
working among them4  ,morris's          
enthusiasm for a more universally happy 
and beautiful society combined with the 
object lesson of his own methods in     
conducting a business upon genuinely    
artistic principles has done an         
incalculable amount in spreading the    
gospel of socialism4 ,still there was   
too much of the laissez faire atmosphere
 about his attitude for it to bring     
about any marked degree of progress4    
,the opinion of ,mr4 ,william ,clarke   
who had many conversations with ,morris 
on the subject reveals that1 after all1 
there was too much of the poet about him
 for him to be a really practical force 
in the movement4 ,he writes3  ,it is not
 easy to understand how ,morris proposes
 to bring about the condition of things 
he looks forward to4 ,no parliamentary  
or municipal methods1 no reliance upon  
lawmaking machinery1 an abhorrence of   

everything that smacks of 'politics'3 it
 all seems very impracticable to the    
average man1 and certainly suggests the 
poet rather than the man of affairs4    
,what ,morris thinks will really happen 
is1 ,i should say1 judging from numerous
 conversations ,i have had with him1    
something like this3 ,existing society  
is1 he thinks1 gradually1 but with      
increasing momentum1 disintegrating     
through its own rottenness4 ,the        
capitalist system of production is      
breaking down fast and is compelled to  
exploit new regions in ,africa and other
 parts1 where he thinks its term will be
 short4 ,economically1 socially1        
morally1 politically1 religiously1      
civilization is becoming bankrupt4      
,meanwhile it is for the socialist to   
take advantage of this disintegration by
 spreading discontent1 by preaching     
economic truths1 and by any kind of     
demonstration which may harass the      
authorities and develop among the people
 an esprit de corps4 ,by these means the

 people will1 in some way or other1 be  
ready to take up the industry of the    
world when the capitalist class is no   
longer able to direct or control it4    
,morris believes less in a violent      
revolution than he did and thinks that  
workmen's associations and labor unions 
form a kind of means between brute force
 on the one hand and a parliamentary    
policy on the other4 ,he does not1      
however1 share the sanguine views of    
,john ,burns as to the wonders to be    
accomplished by the 'new' trades        
unionism4  ,the practical               
ineffectiveness of the ,morris socialism
 in spite of its having taken some steps
 in the direction of vital activity was 
overcome by the next socialist body     
which came into prominence--the ,fabian 
,society1 in which ,bernard ,shaw has   
been so conspicuous a figure4  ,as      
already mentioned1 the ,fabians are not 
a fighting body1 but a solidly          
educational body4 ,to them is due the   
bringing of socialism into the realm of 

political economy1 and in so doing they 
have striven to harmonize it with       
,english practical political methods4   
,besides this1 they have done a vast    
amount of work in educating public      
opinion1 not with the view to           
immediately converting the ,english     
nation to a belief in the changing of   
the present order into one wholly       
socialistic1 but with a view to         
introducing socialistic treatment of the
 individual problems which arise in     
contemporary politics4  ,illustration3  
,,john ,,burns  ,their campaign of      
education was conducted so well that its
 effects were soon visible1 not only in 
the modification of public opinion1 but 
upon the workingmen themselves4 ,the    
method was simple enough3 ,if any       
public1 especially any social1 question 
came to the front1 the ,fabian method   
was to make a careful independent study 
of the matter1 and present to the       
public1 in a penny pamphlet1 a          
thoughtful statement of the case and    

some common sense1 and incidentally     
socialistic1 suggestions for a solution4
 ,fabian ideas were thus introduced into
 the consciousness of the awakening     
trades unionists4  ,it has been objected
 that the gain was much more for the    
trades unionists than for the ,fabians4 
,their one-time eager pupils have1 it is
 said1 progressed beyond their masters1 
as a review of recent socialistic       
tendencies would divulge had we the time
 to follow them in this place4 ,however 
that may be1 the great fact remains that
 the ,fabians have done more than any   
other branch of socialists to bridge    
over the distance between what the      
,english writers call the middle-class  
idealist and the proletarian1 with the  
result that the proletarian has begun to
 think for himself and to translate     
middle-class idealism into proletarian  
realism4  ,socialism1 from being the    
watch word of the enthusiastic          
revolutionary1 began to be discussed in 
every intelligent household and in every

 debating society4 ,this enormous growth
 in public sentiment occurred during the
 session of the ,unionist ,parliament1  
#ahhf-ib4 ,when this ,parliament opened 
there was hardly any socialist          
literature1 and when it closed everybody
 was reading ,bellamy and the ,fabian   
,essays1 and ,sir ,william ,harcourt had
 made his memorable remark3 ,we are all 
socialists now4  ,the gesticulating and 
bemoaning idealists1 the ,carlyles and  
the ,ruskins1 the revolutionary but     
laissez faire prophets like ,morris1 who
 believed in a complete change but not  
in using any of the means at hand to    
bring about that change1 had given place
 to men like ,keir ,hardie and ,john    
,burns1 who had sprung into leadership  
from the ranks of the workingmen        
themselves1 and who were to be later    
their representatives in ,parliament    
when the ,independent ,labor ,party came
 into existence4 ,all this had been done
 by that group of progressive men1      
long-headed enough to see that the ideal

 of a better and more beautiful social  
life could not be gained except by a    
long and toilsome process of education  
and of action which would consciously   
follow the principles of growth         
discovered by scientists to obtain in   
all unconscious cosmic and physical     
development1 the very principle which as
 we have seen1 ,browning declared should
 have guided his hero ,sordello long    
before the ,fabian socialists came into 
existence--namely1 the principle of     
evolution4 ,that their methods should   
have peacefully brought about the       
conditions where it was possible to form
 an ,independent ,labor ,party1 which   
would have the power to speak and act   
for itself instead of working as the    
,fabians themselves do through the      
parties already in power1 shouts aloud  
for the wisdom of their policy4 ,and is 
there not still plenty of work for them 
to do in the still further educating of 
all parties toward the flowering of     
genuine democracy1 when the dreams of   

the dreamer shall have become           
actualities1 because true and not       
spurious ways of making them actual     
shall have been worked out by           
experience8  ,this remarkable growth in 
social ideals was taking place during   
the ninth decade of the century and the 
last decade of ,browning's life4 ,is    
there any indication in his later work  
that he was conscious of it8 ,there is  
certainly no direct evidence in his work
 that he progressed any farther in the  
development of democratic ideals than we
 find in the liberalism of such a       
parliamentary leader as ,mr4 ,gladstone1
 while in that poem in which he         
considers more especially than in any   
other the subject of better conditions  
for the people1 ,sordello1 he distinctly
 expresses a mood of doubt as to the    
advisability of making conditions too   
easy for the human being1 who needs the 
hardships and ills of life to bring his 
soul to perfection1 a far more important
 thing in ,browning's eyes than to live 

comfortably and beautifully4 ,all he    
wishes for the human being is the fine  
chance to make the most of himself      
spiritually4 ,the socialist would say   
that he could not secure the chance to  
do this except in a society where the   
murderous principle of competition      
should give way to that of cooperation4 
,with this ,browning might agree4       
,indeed1 may this not have been the very
 principle ,sordello had in mind as     
something revealed to him which neither 
,guelf nor ,ghibelline could see1 or was
 this only the more obvious principle of
 republican as opposed to monarchical   
principle and still falling under an    
individualistic conception of society8  
,while his work is instinct with        
sympathy for all classes and conditions 
of men1 ,browning does not feel the ills
 of life with the intensity of a        
,carlyle1 nor its ugliness with the     
grief of a ,ruskin1 nor yet its lack of 
culture with the priggishness of an     
,arnold1 nor would he stand in open     

spaces and preach discontent to the     
masses like ,morris4 ,why8 ,because he  
from the first was made wise to see a   
good in evil1 a hope in ill-success1 to 
be proud of men's fallacies1 their half 
reasons1 their faint aspirings1 upward  
tending all though weak1 the lesson     
learned after weary experiences of life 
by ,paracelsus4 ,his thought was        
centered upon the worth of every human  
being to himself and for ,god4 ,earth is
 after all only a place to grow in and  
prepare one's self for lives to come1   
and failure here1 so long as the fight  
has been bravely fought1 is to be       
regarded with anything but regret1 for  
it is through the failure that the      
vision of the future is made more sure4 
,what he finds true1 as we saw1 in the  
religious or philosophical world1 he    
finds true in the moral world4 ,lack in 
human knowledge points the way to ,god2 
lack in human success points the way to 
immortality4  ,the meaning of this life 
in relation to a future life being so   

much more important than this life in   
itself1 and man's individual development
 being so much more important than his  
social development1 ,browning naturally 
would not turn his attention upon those 
practical1 social or governmental means 
by which even the chance for individual 
development must be secured4 ,he is too 
much occupied with the larger questions4
 ,he is not even a middle-class         
idealist1 dreaming dreams of future     
earthly bliss2 he is the prophet of     
future existences4  ,does his practical 
influence upon the social development of
 the century amount to nothing then8    
,not at all4 ,he started out on his     
voyage through the century toward the   
democratic ideal in the good ship       
,individualism--the banner ship indeed4 
,what he has emphasized upon this voyage
 is first the paramount worth of each   
and every human being1 whether good or  
bad4 ,second1 the possibility in every  
human being of conceiving an ideal1     
toward which by the exertion of his will

 power he should aspire1 battling       
steadfastly against every obstruction   
that life throws in his course4 ,third1 
that even those who are incapable of    
formulating an ideal must be regarded as
 living out the truth of their natures  
and must therefore be treated with      
compassion4 ,fourth1 that the highest   
function of the human soul is love1     
which expresses itself in many ways1 but
 attains its full flowering only in the 
love of man and woman on a plane of     
spiritual exaltation1 and that through  
this power of human love some glimpse of
 the divine is caught2 therefore to this
 function of the soul it is of the      
utmost importance that human beings     
should be loyal and true1 even if that  
loyalty and truth conflict with         
conventional ways of looking at life4   
,sailing in this good ship he also      
expresses his sympathy indirectly in his
 dramas and directly upon several       
occasions with the ideals of political  
freedom which during the century have   

been making progress toward democracy in
 the ,english ,parliament through the   
legislation of the liberals1 whose laws 
have brought a greater and greater      
measure of freedom to the middle classes
 and some measure of freedom to the     
working classes4  ,but it seems as if   
when nearing the end of the century     
,browning landed from his ship upon some
 high island and straining his eyes     
toward the horizon of the dawn of       
another life did not fully realize that 
there was another good ship1 ,socialism1
 struggling to reach the ideal of       
democracy1 and now become the banner    
ship whose work is to sail out into the 
unknown1 turbulent seas of the future1  
finding the path to another high island 
in order that the way may be made clear 
for the ship ,individualism to continue 
her course to another stage in the      
voyage toward a perfect democracy4 ,and 
as the new ship1 ,socialism1 passes on  
its way it will do well to heed the     
vision of the poet seer1 straining his  

eyes toward the dawn of other lives in  
other spheres1 lest in the struggle and 
strain to bring about a more comfortable
 and beautiful life upon earth1 the     
important truth be slighted that        
humanity has a higher destiny to fulfil 
than can be realized in the most        
,utopian dreams of an earthly democracy4
 ,this truth is in fact not only        
forgotten but is absolutely denied by   
many of the latter-day social reformers4
  ,to sum up1 ,i think one is justified 
in concluding that as a sympathizer with
 the liberal political tendencies of the
 nineteenth century ,browning is of his 
age4 ,in his quiescence upon the        
proletarian movement of the latter part 
of the nineteenth century he seems to   
have been left behind by his age4 ,in   
his insistence upon the worth of the    
individual to himself and to ,god he is 
both of his age and beyond it4 ,as has  
been said of philosophy1 ,it cannot give
 us bread but it can give us ,god1 soul 
and immortality1 so we may say of       

,browning1 that though he did not raise 
up his voice in the cry of the          
proletarian for bread1 he has insisted  
upon the truths of ,god1 the soul and   
immortality4     ,v  ,,art ,,shibboleths
   ,in the foregoing chapters the       
relations of the poet to the            
philosophical1 religious1 political1 and
 social movements of the nineteenth     
century have been pointed out4 ,in this 
and the next chapter some account of his
 relation to the artistic and literary  
ideals of the century will be attempted4
  ,browning's relation to the art of the
 century is1 of course1 twofold1 dealing
 as it must with his own conceptions and
 criticisms of art as well as with the  
position of his own art in the poetic   
development of the century4  ,in order  
to understand more fully his own        
contribution to the developing literary 
standards of the century it may be well 
first to consider the fundamental       
principles of art laid down by him in   
various poems wherein he has            

deliberately dealt with the subject4    
,the poem in which he has most clearly  
formulated the general principles       
underlying the growth of art is the     
,parleying with ,charles ,avison4       
,though music is the special art under  
consideration1 the rules of growth      
obtaining in that are equally applicable
 to other arts4 ,they are found to be1  
as we should expect in ,browning1 a     
combination of the ideas of evolution   
and conservation4 ,though the standards 
of art change and develop1 because as   
man's soul evolves1 more complex forms  
are needed to express his deeper        
experiences1 his wider vision1 yet in   
each stage of the development there is  
an element of permanent beauty which by 
the aid of the historical sense man may 
continue to enjoy4 ,that element of     
permanence exists when genuine feeling  
and aspiration find expression in forms 
of art4 ,the element of change grows out
 of the fact that both the thought      
expressed and the form in which it is   

expressed are partial manifestations of 
the beauty or truth toward which feeling
 aspires2 hence the need of fresh       
attempts to reach the infinite4 ,the    
permanence of feeling1 expressing itself
 in ever new forms1 is brought out      
finely in this passage3                 
,truths escape   ,time's insufficient   
garniture3 they fade1   ,they           
fall--those sheathings now grown sere1  
whose aid   ,was infinite to truth they 
wrapped1 saved fine     ,and free       
through march frost3 ,may dews          
crystalline     ,nourish truth          
merely1--does ,june boast the fruit     
,as--not new vesture merely but1 to     
boot1   ,novel creation8 ,soon shall    
fade and fall   ,myth after myth--the   
husk-like lies ,i call   ,new truth's   
,corolla-safeguard4  ,in another passage
 is shown how the permanence of feeling 
conserves even the form1 if we will     
bring ourselves into touch with it3     
,never dream   ,that what once lived    
shall ever die6 ,they seem   ,dead--do  

they8 lapsed things lost in limbo8      
,bring   ,our life to kindle theirs1 and
 straight each king   ,starts1 you shall
 see1 stands up4  ,this kindling of an  
old form with our own life is more      
difficult in the case of music than it  
is in painting or poetry1 for in these  
we have a concrete form to deal with--a 
form which reflects the thought with    
much more definiteness than music is    
able to do4 ,the strength and weakness1 
at once1 of music is that it gives      
expression to subtler regions of thought
 and feeling than the other arts1 at the
 same time that the form is more        
evanescent1 because fashioned out of    
elements infinitely less related to     
nature than those of other art forms4   
,in his poems on music1 the poet always 
emphasizes these aspects of music4 ,its 
supremacy as a means of giving          
expression to the subtlest regions of   
feeling is dwelt upon in ,abt ,vogler   
and ,fifine at the ,fair4 ,the ,abbe1   
from the standpoint of the creator of   

music1 feels so strongly from the inside
 its power for expressing infinite      
aspiration that in his ecstasy he       
exclaims3 ,the rest may reason and      
welcome4 ',tis we musicians know4 ,upon 
the evanescence of the form peculiar    
emphasis is also laid in this poem1     
through the fact that the music is      
improvised4 ,yet even this fact does not
 mean the entire annihilation of the    
form4 ,in the tenth stanza of the poem  
the idea of the permanence of the art   
form as well as of the feeling is       
expanded into a symbol of the           
immortality of all good3    ,all we have
 willed or hoped or dreamed of good     
shall exist2     ,not its semblance1 but
 itself2 no beauty1 nor good1 nor power 
,whose voice has gone forth1 but each   
survives for the melodist     ,when     
eternity confirms the conception of an  
hour1   ,the high that proved too high1 
the heroic for earth too hard1     ,the 
passion that left the ground to lose    
itself in the sky1   ,are music sent up 

to ,god by the lover and the bard2      
,enough that he heard it once3 we shall 
hear it by-and-by4  ,the sophistical    
arguer in ,fifine feels this same power 
of music to express thoughts not to be  
made palpable in any other manner4      
,words struggle with the weight   ,so   
feebly of the ,false1 thick element     
between   ,our soul1 the ,true1 and     
,truth6 which1 but that intervene       
,false shows of things1 were reached as 
easily by thought   ,reducible to word1 
and now by yearnings wrought   ,up with 
thy fine free force1 oh ,music1 that    
canst thrill1   ,electrically win a     
passage through the lid   ,of earthly   
sepulchre1 our words may push against1  
,hardly transpierce as thou4  ,and      
again1 in another passage1 he gives to  
music the power of conserving a mood of 
feeling1 which in this case is not an   
exalted one1 since it is one that chimes
 in with his own rather questionable    
feeling for ,fifine1 the fiz-gig4 ,it is
 found in ,schumann's ,carnival3        

,thought hankers after speech1 while no 
speech may evince   ,feeling like       
music1--mine1 o'er-burthened with each  
gift   ,from every visitant1 at last    
resolved to shift   ,its burthen to the 
back of some musician dead   ,and gone1 
who feeling once what ,i feel now1      
instead   ,of words1 sought sounds1 and 
saved forever1 in the same1   ,truth    
that escapes prose1--nay1 puts poetry to
 shame4   ,i read the note1 ,i strike   
the ,key1 ,i bid record   ,the          
instrument--thanks greet the veritable  
word6   ,and not in vain ,i urge3 ',o   
dead and gone away1   ,assist who       
struggles yet1 thy strength becomes my  
stay1   ,thy record serve as well to    
register--,i felt   ,and knew thus much 
of truth6 ,with me1 must knowledge melt 
,into surmise and doubt and disbelief   
unless   ,thy music reassure--,i gave no
 idle guess1   ,but gained a certitude  
,i yet may hardly keep6   ,what care8   
since round is piled a monumental heap  
,of music that conserves the assurance1 

thou as well   ,was certain of the same6
 thou1 master of the spell1   ,mad'st   
moonbeams marble1 didst record what     
other men   ,feel only to forget6'  ,the
 man in the case is merely an           
appreciator1 not a creator1 yet he      
experiences with equal force music's    
power as a recorder of feeling4 ,he     
notes also that the feeling must appear 
from time to time in a new dress1       
the stuff that's made   ,to furnish man 
with thought and feeling is purveyed    
,substantially the same from age to age1
 with change   ,of the outside only for 
successive feasters4  ,in this case1 the
 old tunes have actually been worked    
over by the more modern composer whose  
form has not yet sufficiently gone by to
 fail of an immediate appeal to this    
person with feelings kindled by similar 
experiences4 ,what the speaker in the   
poem perceives is not merely the fact of
 the feelings experienced but the power 
of the music to take him off upon a long
 train of more or less philosophical    

reasoning born of that very element of  
change4 ,in this power of suggestiveness
 lies music's greater range of spiritual
 force even when the feeling expressed  
is not of the deepest4  ,if we look at  
his poems on painting1 the same         
principles of art are insisted upon     
except that more emphasis is laid upon  
the positive value of the incompleteness
 of the form4 ,in so far as painting or 
sculpture reaches a perfect unity of    
thought and form it loses its power of  
suggesting an infinite beauty beyond any
 that our earth-born race may express4  
,this in ,browning's opinion is the     
limitation of ,greek art4 ,it touches   
perfection or completion in expression  
and in so doing limits its range to the 
brief passion of a day4 ,the effect of  
such art is to arouse a sort of despair1
 for it so far transcends merely human  
beauty that there seems nothing left to 
accomplish3    ,so1 testing your        
weakness by their strength1     ,your   
meagre charms by their rounded beauty   

,measured by ,art in your breadth and   
length1     ,you learned--to submit is a
 mortal's duty4  ,when such a deadlock  
as this is reached through the          
stultifying effect of an art expression 
which seems to have embodied all there  
is of passion and physical beauty1 the  
one way out is to turn away from the    
abject contemplation of such art and go 
back again to humanity itself1 in whose 
widening nature may be discovered the   
promise of an eternity of progression4  
,therefore1 ,to cries of ,greek art and 
what more wish you8 the poet would have 
it that the early painters replied3     
,to become now self-acquainters1        
,and paint man1 whatever the issue6     
,make new hopes shine through the flesh 
they fray1     ,new fears aggrandize the
 rags and tatters3   ,to bring the      
invisible full into play6     ,let the  
visible go to the dogs--what matters8   
,the revolution in art started by these 
early worthies had more of spiritual    
promise in it than the past             

perfection--,the first of the new1 in   
our race's story1 beats the last of the 
old4  ,his emphasis here upon the return
 to humanity in order to gain a new     
source of inspiration in art is further 
illustrated in his attitude toward the  
two painters which he portrays so       
splendidly3 ,fra ,lippo ,lippi1 the     
realist1 whose ,madonnas looked like    
real women1 and who has scandalized some
 critics on this account1 and ,andrea   
del ,sarto1 the faultless painter1 who  
exclaims in despair as he gazes upon a  
picture by ,raphael1 in which he sees a 
fault to pardon in the drawing's line1  
an error that he could alter for the    
better1 ,but all the play1 the insight  
and the stretch1 beyond him4  ,the      
importance of basing art upon the study 
of the human body is later insisted upon
 in ,francis ,furini1 not as an end in  
itself1 but as the dwelling place of the
 soul4 ,let my pictures prove ,i know1  
says ,furini1    ,somewhat of what this 
fleshly frame of ours   ,or is or should

 be1 how the soul empowers   ,the body  
to reveal its every mood   ,of love and 
hate1 pour forth its plenitude   ,of    
passion4  ,the evolutionary ideal       
appears again in his utterances upon    
poetry1 though when speaking of poetry  
it is the value of the subject matter   
and its intimate relation to the form   
upon which he dwells4  ,the little poem 
,popularity shows as clearly as any the 
importance which he attaches to a new   
departure in poetic expression1 besides 
giving vent to his scorn of the         
multitude which sees nothing in the work
 of the innovator but which is ready at 
a later date to laud his imitators4 ,any
 minor poet1 for that matter1 any ,nokes
 or ,stokes who merely prints blue      
according to the poetic conventions of  
the past1 possessing not a suspicion of 
the true inspiration which goes to the  
making of a poet of the new order1 is   
more acceptable to an unseeing public   
than him with power to fish the murex up
 that contains the precious drop of     

royal blue4  ,more than one significant 
hint may be gleaned from his verse in   
regard to his opinion upon the formal   
side of the poet's art4 ,in             
,transcendentalism he has his fling at  
the didactic poet who pleases to speak  
naked thoughts instead of draping them  
in sights and sounds1 for song is the   
art of the poet4 ,some stout mage like  
him of ,halberstadt has his admiration1 
who with a                  ',look you6'
 vents a brace of rhymes1   ,and in     
there breaks the sudden rose herself1   
,over us1 under1 round us every side1   
,nay1 in and out the tables and the     
chairs   ,and musty volumes1 ,boehme's  
book and all1--   ,buries us with a     
glory young once more1   ,pouring heaven
 into this shut house of life4  ,he was 
equally averse to an ornate classical   
embellishment of a latter day subject or
 to a looking at nature through         
mythopoeic ,greek eyes4 ,this is driven 
home in the splendid fooling in ,gerard 
de ,lairesse where the poet himself     

indulges by way of a joke in some       
high-flown classical imagery in derision
 of the style of ,lairesse and hints    
covertly probably at the                
nineteenth-century masters of classical 
resuscitation1 in subject matter and    
allusion1 ,swinburne and ,morris4       
,reacting to soberer mood1 he reiterates
 his belief in the utter deadness of    
,greek ideals of art1 speaking with a   
strength of conviction so profound as to
 make one feel that here at least       
,browning suffered from a decided       
limitation1 all the more strange1 too1  
when one considers his own masterly     
treatment of ,greek subjects4 ,to the   
poets whose poetic creed is             
,dream afresh old godlike shapes1       
,recapture ancient fable that escapes1  
,push back reality1 repeople earth      
,with vanished falseness1 recognize no  
worth   ,in fact new-born unless 'tis   
rendered back   ,pallid by fancy1 as the
 western rack   ,of fading cloud        
bequeaths the lake some gleam   ,of its 

gone glory6  he would reply1            
,let things be--not seem1   ,i counsel  
rather1--do1 and nowise dream6          
,earth's young significance is all to   
learn2   ,the dead ,greek lore lies     
buried in the urn   ,where who seeks    
fire finds ashes4 ,ghost1 forsooth6     
,what was the best ,greece babbled of as
 truth8   ,a shade1 a wretched          
nothing1--sad1 thin1 drear1      99     
99       99       99       99           
,sad school   ,was ,hades6              
,gladly1--might the dead but slink   ,to
 life back1--to the dregs once more     
would drink   ,each interloper1 drain   
the humblest cup   ,fate mixes for      
humanity4  ,the rush onward to the      
supreme is uppermost in the poet's mind 
in this poem4 ,though he does indulge in
 the refrain that there shall never be  
one lost good echoing the thought in    
,charles ,avison1 the climax of his mood
 is in the contemplation of the         
evolutionary force of the soul which    
must leave ,greek art behind and find   

new avenues of beauty3                  
,the ,past indeed   ,is past1 gives way 
before ,life's best and last   ,the     
all-including ,future6 ,what were life  
,did soul stand still therein1 forego   
her strife   ,through the ambiguous     
,present to the goal   ,of some         
all-reconciling ,future8 ,soul1         
,nothing has been which shall not       
bettered be   ,hereafter1--leave the    
root1 by law's decree   ,whence springs 
the ultimate and perfect tree6   ,busy  
thee with unearthing root8 ,nay1 climb--
   ,quit trunk1 branch1 leaf and        
flower--reach1 rest sublime   ,where    
fruitage ripens in the blaze of day4    
,when it comes to the subject matter of 
poetry1 ,browning constantly insists    
that it should be the study of the human
 soul4 ,a definite statement as to the  
range of subjects under this general    
material of poetry is put forth very    
early in his poetical career in         
,paracelsus and it is all-inclusive4 ,it
 is the passage where ,aprile describes 

how universal he wished to make his     
sympathy as a poet4 ,no one is to be    
left out of his all-embracing democracy4
  ,such1 then1 are his general          
principles in regard to poetic          
development and subject matter4 ,these  
do not touch upon the question so often 
discussed of the relative value of the  
subjective as against the objective     
poet4 ,this point the poet considers in 
,sordello1 where he throws in his weight
 on the side of the objective poet4 ,in 
the passage in the third book the poet1 
speaking in person1 gives illustrations 
of three sorts of poetic composition3   
the dramatic1 the descriptive and the   
meditative2 the first belongs to the    
objective1 the second1 not distinctively
 to either1 and the third to the        
subjective manner of writing4 ,the      
dramatic method is the most forceful1   
for it imparts the gift of seeing to    
others1 while the descriptive and       
meditative merely tell what they saw1   
or1 worse still1 talk about it4         

,further indications of his allegiance  
to the dramatic form of poetry as the   
supreme one are found in his poems      
inspired by ,shakespeare1 ,house and    
,shop1 but we must turn to a pregnant   
bit of his prose in order to find his   
exact feeling upon the relations of the 
subjective and objective poet1 together 
with a clear conception of what he meant
 by a dramatic poet1 which was something
 more than ,shakespeare's holding the   
mirror up to nature4 ,in his view the   
dramatic poet must have the vision of   
the seer as well as the penetration of a
 psychologist4 ,he must hold the mirror 
up not only to nature1 regarded as      
phenomena1 but to the human soul1 and he
 must perceive the relation of that     
human soul to the universal4 ,he must in
 fact plunge beneath the surface of     
actions and events and bring forth to   
the light the psychic and cosmic causes 
of these things4 ,the passage referred  
to in the ,introduction to the ,shelley 
,letters points out how in the evolution

 of poetry there will be the play and   
interplay of the subjective and the     
objective faculties upon each other1    
with the probable result of the arising 
of poets who will combine the two sorts 
of faculty4 ,while ,browning's own      
sympathy with the dramatic poet is as   
fully evident here as in the passage in 
,sordello1 he realizes1 as perhaps he   
did not at that time1 when he was       
himself breaking away from ,shelley's   
influence1 the value of the subjective  
method in carrying on the process of    
poetic evolution3      ,it would be idle
 to inquire1 of these two kinds of      
poetic faculty in     operation1 which  
is the higher or even rarer endowment4  
,if the     subjective might seem to be 
the ultimate requirement of every age1  
the objective1 in the strictest state1  
must still retain its original          
value4 ,for it is with this word1 as    
starting-point and basis alike1     that
 we shall always have to concern        
ourselves3 the world is not to be       

learned and thrown aside1 but reverted  
to and relearned4 ,the spiritual        
comprehension may be infinitely         
subtilized1 but the raw material it     
operates upon must remain4 ,there may be
 no end of the poets who     communicate
 to us what they see in an object with  
reference to their     own              
individuality2 what it was before they  
saw it1 in reference to the             
aggregate human mind1 will be as        
desirable to know as ever4 ,nor is      
there any reason why these two modes of 
poetic faculty may not issue            
hereafter from the same poet in         
successive perfect works1 examples of   
which1 according to what are now        
considered the exigencies of art1 we    
have hitherto possessed in distinct     
individuals only4 ,a mere running     in
 of the one faculty upon the other is1  
of course1 the ordinary                 
circumstance4 ,far more rarely it       
happens that either is found so         
decidedly prominent and superior as to  

be pronounced comparatively     pure3   
while of the perfect shield1 with the   
gold and the silver side     set up for 
all comers to challenge1 there has yet  
been no instance4 ,a     tribe of       
successors 7,homerides71 working more or
 less in the same     spirit1 dwell on  
his discoveries and reinforce his       
doctrine2 till1 at     unawares1 the    
world is found to be subsisting wholly  
on the shadow of     a reality1 on      
sentiments diluted from passions1 on the
 tradition of a     fact1 the convention
 of a moral1 the straw of last year's   
harvest4     ,then is the imperative    
call for the appearance of another sort 
of     poet1 who shall at once replace  
this intellectual rumination of food    
swallowed long ago1 by a supply of the  
fresh and living swathe2     getting at 
new substance by breaking up the assumed
 wholes into parts     of independent   
and unclassed value1 careless of the    
unknown laws for     recombining them   
7it will be the business of yet another 

poet to     suggest those hereafter71   
prodigal of objects for men's outer and 
not     inner sight2 shaping for their  
uses a new and different creation from  
the last1 which it displaces by the     
right of life over death1--to     endure
 until1 in the inevitable process1 its  
very sufficiency to     itself shall    
require1 at length1 an exposition of its
 affinity to     something higher--when 
the positive yet conflicting facts shall
 again     precipitate themselves under 
a harmonizing law1 and one more degree  
will be apparent for a poet to climb in 
that mighty ladder1 of which1           
however cloud-involved and undefined may
 glimmer the topmost step1 the     world
 dares no longer doubt that its         
gradations ascend4  ,if we measure      
,browning's own work by the poetic      
standards which he has himself set up in
 the course of that work1 it is quite   
evident that he has on the whole lived  
up to them4 ,he has shown himself to be 
an illustration of the evolutionary     

principles in which he believes by      
breaking away from all previous         
standards of taste in poetry4 ,the      
history of poetry in ,england has shown 
this to be a distinctive characteristic 
of all the greatest ,english poets4     
,from ,shakespeare down they have one   
and all run afoul of the critics whose  
special province seems to be to set up  
literary shibboleths which every genius 
is bent upon disregarding4 ,when        
,spenser was inventing his stanza1 verse
 critics were abject in their worship of
 hexameters1 and their hatred of bald   
rhymes4 ,though these sticklers for     
classical forms could see clearly enough
 that ,spenser was possessed of genius1 
they yet lamented the blindness of one1 
who might have written hexameters1      
perversely exclaiming ,why a ,god's name
 may not we as else the ,greeks have the
 kingdom of our own language1 and       
measure our accents by the sound1       
reserving quantity to the verse8 ,when  
,milton appears and finds blank verse   

the medium best suited to his subject1  
he comes up against the rhyming         
standards of his day and is forced to   
submit to the indignity of having his   
,paradise ,lost tagged with rhymes1 as  
he expresses it1 by ,dryden1 who        
graciously devoted his powers of rhyme  
to an improved version of the poem4     
,milton was actually obliged to defend  
himself in his preface to ,paradise     
,lost for using blank verse1 as         
,browning defends himself in the        
,epilogue to ,pacchiarotto and ,how ,we 
,worked in ,distemper for writing strong
 verse instead of the sweet verse the   
critics demand of him4  ,by the time the
 nineteenth century dawns the critics   
are safely intrenched in the editorial  
den1 from which1 shielded by any sort of
 shibboleth they can get hold of1 they  
may hurl forth their projectiles upon   
the unoffending head of the genius1 who1
 with no chance of firing back in the   
open arena of the magazine1 must either 
suffer in silence or take refuge in     

sarcastic slurs upon his critics in his 
poetry1 for here lies the only chance of
 getting even without waiting for the   
whirligig of time to bring the public   
round to a recognition of the fact that 
he is the one who has in very truth1    
fished the murex up4  ,the caliber of   
man who could speak of ,the ,ode to     
,immortality as a most illegible and    
unintelligible poem1 or who wonders that
 any man in his senses could put his    
name to such a rhapsody as ,endymion1 or
 who dismissed ,prometheus ,unbound with
 the remark that it was a melange of    
nonsense1 cockneyism1 poverty and       
pedantry1 would hardly be expected to   
welcome ,sordello with effusion4 ,even  
very intelligent people cracked unseemly
 jokes upon the appearance of ,sordello1
 and what wonder1 for ,browning's       
,british instinct for freedom carried   
him in this poem to the most extreme    
lengths4 ,in ,pauline he had allied     
himself with things familiar to the     
,english reader of poetry4 ,many of the 

allusions are classical and introduced  
with a rich musicalness that ,shelley   
himself might have envied4 ,the         
reminiscences of ,shelley would also    
come within the intellectual acreage of 
most of the cultured people of the time4
 ,and even in ,paracelsus1 despite the  
unfamiliarity of the subject1 there was 
music and imagery such as to link the   
art with the admired poetic art of the  
day1 but in ,sordello all bounds are    
broken4  ,no one but a delver in the    
byways of literature could1 at that     
time1 have been expected to know        
anything about ,sordello2 no one but a  
historian could have been expected to   
know about the complicated struggles of 
the ,guelfs and the ,ghibellines2 no one
 but a philosopher about the tendencies1
 both political and literary1           
manifesting themselves in the direction 
of the awakening of democratic ideals in
 these pre-,dantean days2 no one but a  
psychologist about the tortuous windings
 of ,sordello's mind4  ,only by special 

searching into all these regions of     
knowledge can one to-day gain a complete
 grasp of the situation4 ,he must       
patiently tread all the paths that      
,browning trod before he can enter into 
sympathy with the poet4 ,then he will   
crack no more jokes1 but he will marvel 
at the mind which could wield all this  
knowledge with such consummate          
familiarity2 he will grow ecstatic over 
the splendors of the poem1 and will     
regret its redundancy not of diction so 
much but of detail and its amazing lack 
of organic unity4  ,no one but a fanatic
 could claim that ,sordello is a success
 as an organic work of art4 ,while the  
poet had a mastery of knowledge1 thought
 and feeling1 he did not have sufficient
 mastery of his own form to weld these  
together into a harmonious and          
convincing whole1 such mastery as he1   
for example1 shows in ,the ,ring and the
 ,book1 though even in that there is    
some survival of the old redundancy4    
,one feels when considering ,sordello as

 a whole as if gazing upon a picture in 
which the perspective and the high      
lights and the shadows are not well     
related to each other4 ,as great an     
abundance of detail is expended upon the
 less important as upon the more        
important fact1 and while the details   
may be interesting enough in themselves1
 they dislodge more important affairs   
from the center of consciousness4 ,it   
is1 not to be too flippant1 something   
like ,alice's game of croquet in        
,through the ,looking ,glass4 ,when the 
hedgehog ball is nicely rolled up ready 
to be struck1 the flamingo mallet walks 
off somewhere else4  ,there1 then1 in   
,sordello is perhaps the most remarkable
 departure from the accepted in poetic  
art that an ,englishman has ever        
attempted4 ,in its elements of failure1 
however1 it gave a triumph's evidence1  
to use the poet's own phrase1 of the    
fulness of the days4 ,in this poem he   
had thrown down the gauntlet4 ,his      
subject matter was not to be like that  

of any other poet1 nor was his form to  
be like that of any other poet4 ,he     
discarded the flowing music of ,pauline 
and of ,paracelsus4 ,his allusions were 
no longer to be classic1 but to be      
directly related to whatever subject he 
had in hand2 his style was also to be   
forth-right and related to his subject1 
strong1 idiomatic1 rugged1 even jolting 
if need be1 or noble1 sweeping along in 
large rhythms or couched in rare forms  
of symbolism1 but1 whatever it was to   
be1 always different from what had been4
  ,all he required at the time when     
,sordello appeared was to find that form
 in which he could so unify his powers  
that his poems would gain the organic   
completeness necessary to a work of art4
 ,no matter what new regions an artist  
may push into he must discover the law  
of being of this new region4 ,unless he 
does1 his art will not convince1 but the
 moment he does1 all that was not       
convincing falls into its right place4  
,he becomes the master of his art1 and  

relates the new elements in such a way  
that their rightness and their beauty1  
if not immediately recognized1 are sure 
sooner or later to be recognized by the 
evolving appreciator1 who is the        
necessary complement1 by the way1 of the
 evolving artist4 ,before ,sordello     
,browning had tried three other forms2  
the subjective narrative in ,pauline1   
the dramatic poem in ,paracelsus1 a     
regular drama in ,strafford1 which      
however runs partly parallel with       
,sordello in composition4 ,he had also  
done two or three short dramatic        
monologues4  ,he evidently hoped that   
the regular drama would prove to be the 
form most congenial to him1 for he kept 
on persistently in that form for nearly 
ten years1 wrote much magnificent poetry
 in it and at times attained a grandeur 
of dramatic utterance hardly surpassed  
except in the master of all dramatists1 
,shakespeare4 ,but while he has attained
 a very genuine success in this form1 it
 is not the success of the popular      

acting drama4 ,his dramas are to-day    
probably being left farther and farther 
aside every moment in the present       
exaggerated demands for characters in   
action1 or perhaps it might be nearer   
the truth to say clothes horses in      
action4 ,besides1 the drama of action in
 character1 which is the type of drama  
introduced into ,english literature by  
,browning1 has reached a more perfect   
development in other hands4 ,ibsen's    
dramas are preeminently dramas of action
 in character1 but the action moves with
 such rapidity that the audience is     
almost cheated into thinking they are   
the old thing over again--that is1      
dramas of characters in action4         
,browning's characters in his dramas are
 presented with a completeness of       
psychological analysis which makes them 
of paramount interest to those few who  
can and like to listen to people holding
 forth to any length on the stage1 and  
with superb actors1 who can give every  
subtlest change of mood1 a ,browning    

drama furnishes an opportunity for the  
utmost intensity of pleasure4 ,still1   
one cannot help but feel that the       
impressionistic psychology of ,ibsen    
reaches a pinnacle of dramatic art not  
attained by ,browning in his plays1     
delightful in character portrayal as    
they are1 and not upon any account to   
have been missed from dramatic          
literature4  ,in the dramatic monologue 
,browning found just that form which    
would focus his forces1 bringing them   
into the sort of relationship needed to 
reveal the true law of being for his new
 region of poetic art4  ,if we inquire  
just why this form was the true medium  
for the most perfect expression of his  
genius1 ,i think we may answer that in  
it1 as he has developed it1 is given an 
opportunity for the legitimate exercise 
of his mental subtlety4 ,through the    
voice of one speaker he can portray not 
only the speaker but one or more other  
characters1 and at the same time show   
the scene setting1 and all without any  

direct description4 ,on the other hand1 
his tendency to redundancy1 so marked   
when he is making a character reveal    
only his own personality1 is held in    
check by the necessity of using just    
those words and turns of expression and 
dwelling upon just those details which  
will make each character stand out      
distinctly1 and at the same time bring  
the scene before the reader4  ,the      
people in his dramatic monologues live  
before us by means of a psychology as   
impressionistic as that of ,ibsen's in  
his plays4 ,the effect is the same as   
that in a really great impressionistic  
painting4 ,nature is revealed far more  
distinctly--the thing of lights and     
shadows1 space and movement--than in    
pictures bent upon endless details of   
form4 ,my ,last ,duchess is one among   
many fine examples of his method in     
monologue4 ,in that short poem we are   
made to see what manner of man is the   
duke1 what manner of woman the duchess4 
,we see what has been the duke's past1  

what is to be his future1 also the      
present scene1 as the duke stands in the
 hall of his palace talking to an       
ambassador from the count who has come  
to arrange a marriage with the duke for 
the count's daughter4 ,besides all this 
a glimpse of the ambassador's attitude  
of mind is given4 ,this is done by an   
absolutely telling choice of words and  
by an organic relationing of the        
different elements4 ,the law of his     
genius asserts itself4  ,browning's own 
ideal of the poet who makes others see  
was not completely realized until he had
 perfected a form which would lend      
itself most perfectly to the manner of  
thing which he desired to make others   
see--namely1 the human soul in all its  
possible manifestations of feeling and  
mood1 good1 bad1 and indifferent1 from  
the uninspired organist who struggles   
with a mountainous fugue to the inspired
 improvisor whose soul ascends to ,god  
on the wings of his music1 from the     
unknown sensitive painter who cannot    

bear to have his pictures the subject of
 criticism or commerce to the jolly     
life-loving ,fra ,lippo1 from the       
jealous1 vindictive woman of ,the       
,laboratory to the vision-seeing        
,pompilia1 from ,ned ,bratts to ,bishop 
,blougram1 and so on--so many and       
wonderful that custom cannot state their
 infinite variety4  ,consistent1 so far1
 with his own theories we find the work 
of ,browning to be4 ,he also follows his
 ideal in the discarding of classical   
allusion and illustration4 ,part of his 
dictum that the form should express the 
thought is shown in his habitual fitting
 of his allusions to the subject he is  
treating4 ,by this means he produces his
 atmosphere and brings the scene clearly
 before us2 witness his constant        
references to ,molinos and his influence
 in ,the ,ring and the ,book1 an        
influence which was making itself felt  
in all classes of society at the time   
when the actual tragedy portrayed in the
 poem occurred4 ,this habit1 of course1 

brings into his poetry a far wider range
 of allusions unfamiliar to his         
contemporaries than is to be found in   
other ,victorian poets1 and makes it    
necessary that these should be looked up
 before an adequate enjoyment of their  
fitness is possible4 ,hence the         
,browning societies1 so often held up to
 ridicule by the critics1 who blindly   
prefer to show their superior attitude  
of mind in regard to everything they do 
not know1 and growl about his obscurity1
 to welcoming any movement which means  
an increase of general culture4 ,the    
,browning societies have not only done  
much to make ,browning's unusual        
allusions common matters of knowledge1  
but they have helped to keep alive a    
taste for all poetry in an age when     
poetry has needed all the friendly      
support it could get4  ,all great poets 
lead the ordinary mind to unfamiliar    
regions of knowledge and thereby to     
fresh planes of enjoyment4 ,that        
,browning has outdone all other poets in

 this particular should be to his honor1
 not to his dispraise4  ,in one very    
marked direction1 however1 he is not a  
perfect exemplar of his own             
theories--that is1 he is not always     
consistently dramatic4 ,he belongs to   
that order of poets described by himself
 in the ,shelley ,introduction as       
neither completely subjective nor       
completely objective1 but with the two  
faculties at times running in upon each 
other4 ,he is often absolutely objective
 in his expression of a mood or a       
feeling1 but the moment the mood takes  
upon it the tinge of thought we begin to
 feel ,browning himself4  ,the          
fundamental principles upon which he    
bases his own solution of the problems  
of existence are seen to crop out1      
colored1 it is true1 by the personality 
of the speaker1 but yet traceable to    
their source in the mental make up of   
,browning himself4 ,it may well be that 
,browning has come so near to the       
ultimate truth discoverable by man in   

his fundamental principles that they are
 actually universal truths1 to be found 
lying deep down at the roots of all more
 partial expressions1 just as           
gravitation1 conservation of energy1    
evolution underlie every phenomena of   
nature1 and therefore when a ,pope in   
,the ,ring and the ,book1 a ,prince     
,hohenstiel-,swangau1 a ,bishop         
,blougram1 a ,cleon or a ,john in ,the  
,death in the ,desert1 give utterance to
 their views upon life1 they are bound  
to touch from one or another angle the  
basic principles of life common to all  
humanity as well as to the poet--the    
center within us all where truth abides 
in fulness4  ,this would seem an even   
more complete fusing of the two         
faculties in one poet than that spoken  
of by ,browning1 where a poet would     
issue successive works1 in some of them 
the one faculty and in some of them the 
other faculty being supreme4  ,that     
,browning was1 to a certain extent1 a   
poet of this third order of which he    

prophesied is true1 for he has written a
 number of poems like ,la ,saisiaz1     
,reverie1 various of his prologues and  
epilogues which are purely subjective in
 content4 ,there are also subjective    
passages in the midst of other poems1   
like those in ,sordello1 ,prince        
,hohenstiel1 the ,parleyings1 etc4 ,if  
we place such a poem as ,reverie side by
 side with ,fra ,lippo ,lippi we see    
well-nigh perfect illustrations of the  
two faculties as they existed in the one
 poet1 ,browning4 ,on the other hand1 in
 those poems where the thought1 as ,i   
have said1 suggests ,browning1 in the   
speech of his characters he has         
something of the quality of what        
,browning calls the subjective poet of  
modern classification4 ,gifted like the 
objective poet1 with the fuller         
perception of nature and man1 he is     
impelled to embody the thing he         
perceives1 not so much with reference to
 the many below as to the ,one above    
him1 the supreme intelligence which     

apprehends all things in their absolute 
truth1 an ultimate view ever aspired to1
 if but partially attained1 by the      
poet's soul4  ,browning may be said to  
have carried to its flood tide the      
,liberal ,movement in ,english          
,literature1 as ,courthope calls it1    
inaugurated at the dawn of the century  
by the ,lake ,school1 which reacted     
against the correct school of ,dryden   
and ,pope4 ,along with the earlier poets
 of the century he shared lack of       
appreciation at the hands of critics in 
general4 ,the critics had been bred in  
the school of the eighteenth century1   
and naturally would be incapable of     
understanding a man whose thought was   
permeated with the doctrines of         
evolution1 then an unknown quantity     
except to the elect in scientific       
circles1 and not to become the          
possession of the thinking world at     
large until beyond the middle of the    
century2 whose soul was full of the     
ardor of democracy1 shown not only in   

his choice and treatment of subjects1   
but in his reckless independence of all 
the shibboleths of the past2 and whose  
liberalness in the treatment of moral   
and religious problems was such as to   
scandalize many in an age when the law  
forbade that a man should marry his     
deceased wife's sister1 and when the    
,higher ,criticism of the ,bible had not
 yet migrated to ,england from ,germany2
 and1 finally1 whose style was          
everything that was atrocious because   
entirely different from anything they   
had seen before4  ,the century had to   
grow up to him4 ,it is needless to say  
that it did so4 ,just as out of the     
turmoil of conflicting scientific and   
religious thought has emerged a serene  
belief in man's spiritual destiny1 so   
out of the turmoil of conflicting       
schools of criticism has arisen a       
perception of the value of the new1 the 
original1 the different in art4 ,critics
 begin to apply the principles of       
evolution to their criticism as         

,browning applied it to his art1 with   
the result that they no longer measure  
by past standards of art but by relating
 the art to the life of the time in its 
various manifestations1 not forgetting  
that the poet or the dramatist may have 
a further vision of what is to come than
 any other man of his age4  ,the people 
first1 for the most part1 found out that
 here in ,browning's work was a new     
force1 and calmly formed themselves into
 groups to study what manner of force it
 might be1 regardless of the sneers of  
newspaperdom and conventional academies4
 ,and gradually to the few appreciative 
critics of the early days have been     
added one authoritative voice after     
another until the chorus of praise has  
become a large one1 and ,browning1      
though later than any great poet of the 
century1 is coming into his own4  ,in a 
certain chart of ,english literature    
with which ,i am acquainted1 wherein the
 poets are graphically represented in   
mountain ranges with peaks of various   

heights1 ,tennyson is shown as the      
towering peak of the ,victorian ,era1   
while ,browning is a sturdy but much    
lower peak with a blunted top4 ,this is 
quite symbolic of the general attitude  
toward ,browning at the end of the      
century1 for1 with all the appreciation1
 there has been on the part of authority
 a disinclination to assign to him the  
chief place among the poets of the      
,victorian ,era4 ,courthope1 who most of
 the time preserves a remarkable        
reticence upon ,browning1 voices this   
general attitude in a remark ventured   
upon in one of his lectures in #aijj4   
,he says3  ,no one who is capable of    
appreciating genius will refuse to      
admire the powers of this poet1 the     
extent of his sympathy and interest in  
external things1 the boldness of his    
invention1 the energy of his analysis1  
the audacity of his experiments4 ,but so
 absolutely does he exclude all         
consideration for the reader from his   
choice of subject1 so arbitrarily1 in   

his treatment of his themes1 does he    
compel his audience to place themselves 
at his own point of view1 that the life 
of his art depends entirely upon his own
 individuality4 ,should future          
generations be less inclined than our   
own to surrender their imagination to   
his guidance1 he will not be able to    
appeal to them through that element of  
life which lies in the ,universal4  ,to 
the present writer this seems simply    
like a confession on ,courthope's part  
that he was unable to perceive in       
,browning the elements of the ,universal
 which are most assuredly there1 and    
which were fully recognized by a ,scotch
 writer1 ,dawson1 at the same time that 
,courthope was questioning his power to 
hold coming generations4  ,the fashions 
of the world may change1 writes ,dawson1
 and the old doubts may wear themselves 
out and sink like shadows out of sight  
in the morning of a stronger faith2 but 
even so the world will still turn to the
 finer poems of ,browning for           

intellectual stimulus1 for the          
purification of pity and of pathos1 for 
the exaltation of hope4  ,or if the     
darkness still thickens1 all the more   
will men turn to this strong man of the 
race1 who has wrestled and prevailed2   
who has illumined with imaginative      
insight the deepest problems of the     
ages2 who has made his poetry not merely
 the vehicle of pathos1 passion1        
tenderness1 fancy1 and imagination1 but 
also of the most robust and masculine   
thought4 ,he has written lyrics which   
must charm all who love1 epics which    
must move all who act1 songs which must 
cheer all who suffer1 poems which must  
fascinate all who think2 and when ',time
 hath sundered shell from pearl1'       
however stern may be the scrutiny1 it   
may be said that there will remain      
enough of ,robert ,browning to give him 
rank among the greatest of poets1 and   
secure for him the sure reward of fame4 
,but it is to ,france we must go for the
 surest authoritative note--that land of

 the ,academy and correct taste which   
hums and hahs over its own ,immortals in
 proverbially unpenetrating conclave4   
,no less a man than ,taine declares that
 ,browning stands first among ,english  
poets--the most excellent where         
excellence is greatness1 the most gifted
 where genius is a common dower4  ,while
 there can be no doubt that ,browning   
outdid all the other great poets of his 
time in azure feats1 in developing an   
absolutely self-centered ideal of art1  
which is yet so true to the ultimate    
tendencies of the century1 indeed to    
those of all time1 for evolution and    
democracy are henceforth the            
torch-bearers of the human soul--each of
 the other half-dozen or so greatest    
poets had distinct and independent      
individualities which were more nearly  
the outcome of the current tendencies of
 the time than ,browning's4             
,illustration3 ,,alfred ,,tennyson      
,tennyson was equally familiar with the 
thought and much more familiar with the 

politics of the day1 but there is an    
infinite difference in their attitude4  
,browning1 if ,i may be excused for     
quoting one of ,shakespeare's most      
abused phrases1 rides over the century  
like a naked new-born babe striding the 
blast4 ,tennyson ambles through it on a 
palfrey which has a tendency to flounder
 into every slough of despond it comes  
to4 ,this may seem to be putting it     
rather too strongly1 but is it not true8
 ,browning has the vision belonging to  
the latest child of time4 ,he never     
follows2 he leads4 ,with his eyes fixed 
upon a far-off future where man shall be
 man at last1 he faces every problem    
with the intrepidity of an ,oedipus     
confronting the ,sphynx4 ,the mystery of
 its riddles has no terrors for him4 ,it
 is given to him as to few others to see
 the ineffable beauty of life's mystery1
 the promise it holds out of eternal    
joy4 ,while he frequently discourses    
upon the existence of evil1 he never for
 a moment admits any doubt into his own 

utmost soul of the beneficent part evil 
is meant to play in the molding of human
 destinies4 ,mr4 ,santayana has called  
him a barbarous poet4 ,in a certain     
sense he is1 if to be born among the    
first on a new plane of psychic         
perception where of no account become   
the endless metaphysical meanderings of 
the intellect1 which cry proof1 proof1  
where there can be no proof1 is         
barbarous4 ,it was doubtless largely    
owing to this power of vision reminding 
us again somewhat of the child's in     
,maeterlinck's ,les ,aveugles which kept
 ,browning from tinkering in the        
half-measures of the political leaders  
of his time4 ,his plane is not unlike   
that of his own ,lazarus1 about whom the
 ,arab physician says3    ,the man is   
witless of the size1 the sum1   ,the    
value in proportion of all things1   ,or
 whether it be little or be much4       
,discourse to him of prodigious armament
   ,assembled to besiege his city now1  
,and of the passing of a mule with      

gourds--   ',tis one6 ,then take it on  
the other side1   ,speak of some        
trifling fact1--he will gaze rapt       
,with stupor at its very littleness1    
7,for as ,i see7 as if in that indeed   
,he caught prodigious import1 whole     
results2   ,and so will turn to us the  
bystanders   ,in ever the same stupor   
7note this point7   ,that we1 too1 see  
not with his opened eyes4  ,the import  
of an event is everything4 ,large       
imports may lurk more surely in the     
awakening of some obscure soul than in  
the pageantry of law bringing a tardy   
and wholly inadequate measure of justice
 to humanity4 ,though ,tennyson talks of
 the far-off divine event he has no     
burning conviction of it and does not   
ride toward it with triumph in his eye  
and flaming joy in his soul4 ,as he     
ambles along1 steeping himself in the   
science of the time1 its revelations    
make him nervous2 he falls into doubt   
from which he can only extricate himself
 by holding on to belief1 a very        

different thing from ,browning's vision4
  ,thus it happens that ,tennyson voices
 the feelings of an immense class of    
cultured people1 who have gone through  
the century in the same ambling fashion1
 a prey to its fears1 intellectual      
enough to see the truths of science1 but
 not spiritual enough to see the import 
of the dawn of the new day4  ,tennyson1 
then1 quite of and in his time1 would   
desire above all things to appeal to it 
as it appealed to him4 ,he waxes        
enthusiastic over conventional politics1
 he treats his social problems so       
entirely in accordance with the         
conventions of the day that they are not
 problems at all1 and he is quite in    
love with the beauty of aristocratic    
society1 though he occasionally descends
 to the people for a subject4 ,these are
 all entirely sufficient reasons for his
 popularity as a poet during his life1  
further emphasized by the added fact    
that having no subject matter 7that is  
thought-content7 wherewith to startle   

the world by strangeness1 he took the   
wiser part of delighting them with his  
exquisite music4  ,though so            
satisfactory a representative of his    
times1 he did outrage one of the        
shibboleths of the critics in his       
efforts to find a new and richer music  
than poets had before used by bringing  
scientific imagery into his verse4 ,of  
all the absurd controversies indulged in
 by critics1 the most absurd is that    
fought out around the contention that   
science and poetry cannot be made to    
harmonize4 ,wordsworth was keen enough  
to see this before the rest of the world
 and prophesied in the preface to his   
,lyrical ,ballads that science would one
 day become the closest of allies to    
poetry1 and ,tennyson was brilliant     
enough to seize the new possibilities in
 scientific language with a realization 
that nature imagery might almost be made
 over by the use in describing it of    
scientific epithets4 ,a famous          
illustration of the happy effects he    

produced by these means is in the lines 
,move eastward happy ,earth and round   
again to-night4 ,his observation of     
,nature1 moreover1 had a scientific     
accuracy1 which made possible far more  
delicate and individual descriptions of 
,nature's aspects than had been produced
 before4 ,it was also a happy thought   
for him to weave so much of his poetry  
around the ,arthurian legends4          
,beautiful in themselves1 they came     
nearer home than classical or ,italian  
legends1 and1 when made symbolic of an  
ideal which must appeal to the heart of 
every cultured ,englishman1 who regarded
 himself as a sort of prototype of the  
blameless ,king ,arthur1 and whose grief
 at the failure of the social fabric    
planned by him would be as poignant as  
that of the ,king himself1 they carried 
with them a romantic and irresistible   
attraction4  ,the reasons why ,tennyson 
should appeal especially to the         
nineteenth century cultured and highly  
respectable ,englishman far outweighed  

any criticisms that might be made by    
critics on his departure from poetic    
customs of the past4 ,he pleased the    
highest powers in the land1 became      
,laureate and later ,lord ,tennyson4 ,he
 will therefore always remain the poet  
most thoroughly representative of that  
especial sort of beauty belonging to a  
social order which has reached a climax 
of refinement and intelligence1 but     
which1 through its very                 
self-satisfaction1 cuts itself off from 
a perception of the true value of the   
new forces coming into play in the      
on-rushing stream of social development4
  ,the other poets who divide with      
,browning and ,tennyson the highest     
honors of the ,victorian ,era are       
,landor1 ,arnold1 ,rossetti1 ,swinburne1
 ,morris1 ,mrs4 ,browning1 ,george      
,meredith4  ,landor and ,arnold         
preserved more than any of the others a 
genuine classical aroma in their verse1 
and on this account have always been    
delighted in by a few4 ,after all1 the  

people may not immediately accept a poet
 of too great independence1 but they are
 least of all likely to grow            
enthusiastic over anything reactionary  
either in style or thought4 ,romantic   
elements of not too startling a         
character win the favor of most readers4
  ,though classic in style both these   
poets reflected phases of the century's 
thought4 ,landor differed from ,browning
 in the fact that he frequently         
expressed himself vigorously upon the   
subject of current politics4 ,his       
political principles were not of the    
most advanced type1 however4 ,he        
believed in the notion of a free        
society1 but seems to have thought the  
best way of attaining it would be a     
commonwealth in which the wise should   
rule1 and see that the interests of all 
should be secured4 ,still his insistence
 upon liberty1 however old-fashioned his
 ideas of the means by which it should  
be maintained1 puts him in the line of  
the democratic march of the century4    

,swinburne calls him his master1 and    
represents himself in verse as having   
learned many wise and gracious things of
 him1 but his thought was not           
sufficiently progressive to triumph over
 the classicism of his style in an age  
of romantic poetry1 though there will   
always be those who hold on to the      
shibboleth that1 after all1 the classic 
is the real thing in poetry1 never      
realizing that where the romantic is old
 enough1 it1 too1 becomes classic4      
,matthew ,arnold stands in poetry where 
men like ,huxley and ,clifford stood in 
science1 who1 ,childe-,roland like1 came
 to the dark tower1 calmly put the slug 
horn to their lips and blew a blast of  
courage4 ,science had undermined their  
belief in a future life as well as      
destroying the revealed basis of moral  
action4 ,in such a man the intellectual 
nature overbalances the intuitional1 and
 when inherited belief based on         
authority is destroyed1 there is nothing
 but the habit of morality left4        

,arnold has had the sympathy of those   
who could no longer believe in their    
revealed religion1 but who loved it and 
regretted its passing away from them4   
,he gives expression to this feeling in 
lines like these3                       
,the sea of faith   ,was once1 too1 at  
the full1 and round earth's shore   ,lay
 like the folds of a bright girdle      
furl'd4   ,but now ,i only hear   ,its  
melancholy1 long1 withdrawing roar1     
,retreating1 to the breath   ,of the    
night-wind1 down the vast edges drear   
,and naked shingles of the world4  ,the 
regret for something beautiful that is  
gone is capable of exquisite poetic     
treatment1 but it is not an abiding note
 of the century4 ,it represents only one
 phase of its thought1 and that a       
transcient one1 because it could be felt
 with poignancy only by those whose     
lives were rudely shaken by the         
destruction of the ideal in which they  
had been bred and in which they devoutly
 believed4 ,arnold's sympathetic        

treatment of this phase of doubt seems1 
however1 to have been of incalculable   
service to those who felt as he did4 ,it
 softened the anguish of the shock to   
have not only the beauty of the past    
dwelt upon1 but to have the beauty of   
courage in the face of a destroyed ideal
 erected into a new ideal for living    
brave and noble lives4 ,in ,stanzas from
 the ,grande ,chartreuse is a fine      
example of the beauty which may be      
imparted to a mood as melancholy as     
could well be imagined3    ,not as their
 friend1 or child1 ,i speak6     ,but   
as1 on some far northern strand1        
,thinking of his own ,gods1 a ,greek    
,in pity and mournful awe might stand   
,before some fallen ,runic stone--      
,for both were faiths1 and both are     
gone4    ,wandering between two worlds1 
one dead     ,the other powerless to be 
born1   ,with nowhere yet to rest my    
head1     ,like these1 on earth ,i wait 
forlorn1   ,their faith1 my tears1 the  
world deride--   ,i come to shed them at

 their side4  ,such hope as he has to   
offer comes out in stanzas like the     
following1 but all is dependent upon    
strenuous living3    ,no1 no6 the energy
 of life may be   ,kept on after the    
grave1 but not begun2   ,and he who     
flagg'd not in the earthly strife1      
,from strength to strength              
advancing--only he1   ,his soul         
well-knit1 and all his battle won1      
,mounts1 and that hardly1 to eternal    
life4  ,nor shall better days on earth  
come without struggle since life    ,is 
on all sides o'ershadowed by the high   
,uno'erleaped ,mountains of ,necessity1 
,sparing us narrower margin than we     
deem4   ,nor will that day dawn at a    
human nod1   ,when1 bursting through the
 network1 superposed   ,by selfish      
occupation--plot and plan1   ,lust1     
avarice1 envy-liberated man1   ,all     
difference with his fellow-mortal       
closed1   ,shall be left standing face  
to face with ,god4  ,though ,arnold was 
sternly criticised he had before the end

 of the century been accorded his proper
 place as a poet1 which was that of the 
chief poet between the greatest lights  
of the century1 ,browning and ,tennyson 
and the pre-,raphaelite group4 ,gosse1  
with more penetration than can always be
 accorded to him1 declares that ,his    
devotion to beauty1 the composure1      
simplicity and dignity of his temper1   
and his deep moral sincerity gave to his
 poetry a singular charm which may prove
 as durable as any element in modern    
verse4  ,the phase of romanticism       
carried to its climax by the            
pre-,raphaelite poets ,rossetti and his 
sister1 ,morris and ,swinburne had1 like
 the work of ,tennyson1 its full        
recognition1 in its own time1 because   
these poets1 like him1 have put into    
exquisite music romantic subjects       
derived both from the classics and from 
mediaeval legend4 ,the new note of      
sensuousness1 due largely to the        
,italian influence of ,rossetti1 with   
his sensuous temperament1 his intensity 

of passion and his love of art1 and also
 in ,morris and ,swinburne to their     
pagan feeling1 one of the elements      
inaugurated by the general breaking down
 of orthodox religious ideals through   
the encroachments of science1 does not  
seem to have affected their popularity4 
,as there were those who would          
sympathize with the ,tennysonian        
attitude toward doubt1 and those who    
would sympathize with ,matthew          
,arnold's1 there were others to feel    
like ,swinburne1 pantheistic1 and1 like 
,morris1 utterly hopeless of a future1  
while others again might criticise the  
pagan feeling1 but1 with their          
inheritance of beauty from ,tennyson and
 his predecessors of the dawn of the    
century1 would delight in these new     
developments of the romantic spirit4    
,illustration3 ,a4 ,c4 ,,swinburne      
,ruskin is said to have been the        
original inspirer of these four poets1  
though ,fitz-,gerald's ,rubaiyat of     
,omar ,khayyam was not without its      

influence4 ,but as ,edmund ,gosse says1 
,the attraction of the ,french romances 
of chivalry for ,william ,morris1 of    
,tuscan painting for ,d4 ,g4 ,rossetti1 
of the spirit of ,english ,gothic       
architecture for ,christina ,rossetti1  
of the combination of all these with    
,greek and ,elizabethan elements for    
,swinburne1 were to be traced back to   
start--words given by the prophetic     
author of the ',seven ,lamps of         
,architecture4'  ,though the first books
 of this group of poets1 the ,defence of
 ,guenevere 7#aheh71 ,goblin ,market1   
,early ,italian ,poets1 ,queen ,mother  
and ,rosamond 7#ahfa71 did not make any 
impression on the public1 with the      
publication of ,swinburne's ,atalanta in
 ,calydon an interest was awakened which
 reached a climax with the publication  
of ,rossetti's poems in #ahgj4 ,rossetti
 had thrown these poems into his wife's 
grave1 as the world knows1 but was      
prevailed upon to have them recovered   
and published4  ,in the success of this 

group was vindicated at last the        
principles of the naturalists of the    
dawn of the century4 ,here was a mixture
 of color1 of melody1 of mysticism1 of  
sensuousness1 of elaboration of form    
which carried originality and           
independence as far as it could well go 
in a direction which painted life       
primarily from the outside4 ,but when   
this brilliant culminating flash of the 
early school of ,coleridge and ,keats   
began to burn itself out1 there was     
,tennyson1 who might be called the      
conservative wing of the romantic       
movement1 dominant as ever1 and         
,browning1 the militant wing1 advanced  
from his mid-century obscurity into a   
flood-tide of appreciation which was to 
bear him far onward toward literary     
pre-eminence1 placing him among the few 
greatest names in literature4  ,the     
originality of the pre-,raphaelites grew
 out of their welding of romantic1      
classical1 and mediaeval elements1      
tempered in each case by the special    

mental attitude of the poet4  ,rossetti 
and his brother artists1 ,millais and   
,holman ,hunt1 who founded the          
pre-,raphaelite brotherhood of painters1
 pledged themselves to the fundamental  
principle laid down by ,rossetti in the 
little magazine they started called the 
,germ4 ,this new creed was simple enough
 and ran3 ,the endeavor held in view    
throughout the writings on art will be  
to encourage and enforce an entire      
adherence to the simplicity of ,nature4 
,in their interpretation and development
 of this simple principle1 artists and  
the poets who joined them differentiated
 from one another often to a wide       
extent4 ,in ,rossetti1 it becomes an    
adoration of the beauty of woman        
expressed in ultra-sensuous though not  
in sensual imagery1 combined with an    
atmosphere of religious wonder such as  
one finds in mediaeval poets1 of which  
,the ,blessed ,damozel stands as a      
typical example4 ,in it1 as one         
appreciator has said1 all the qualities 

of ,rossetti's poetry are found4 ,he    
speaks alternately like a seer and an   
artist2 one who is now bewitched with   
the vision of beauty1 and now is caught 
up into ,paradise1 where he hears       
unutterable things4 ,to him the         
spiritual world is an intense reality4  
,he hears the voices1 he sees the       
presences of the supernatural4 ,as he   
mourns beside the river of his sorrow1  
like ,ezekiel1 he has his visions of    
winged and wheeling glory1 and leaning  
over the ramparts of the world his gaze 
is fixed on the uncovered mysteries of a
 world to come4 ,there is no poet to    
whom the supernatural has been so much  
alive4 ,religious doubt he seems never  
to have felt4 ,but the temper of        
religious wonder1 the old1 childlike1   
monkish attitude of awe and faith in the
 presence of the unseen1 is never absent
 in him4 ,the artistic force of his     
temperament drives him to the worship of
 beauty2 the poetic and religious forces
 to the adoration of mystery4  ,to      

,swinburne the simplicity of nature     
included the utmost lengths to which    
eroticism could go4 ,upon this ground he
 has been severely censured and he has  
had an unfortunate influence upon scores
 and scores of younger writers who have 
seemed to think that the province of the
 poet is to decry the existence of      
sincere affection1 and who in their turn
 have exercised actual mischief in      
lowering social standards4  ,this is not
 all of ,swinburne1 however4 ,his superb
 metrical power is his chief            
contribution to the originality of this 
group1 and when he developed away from  
his nauseating eroticism1 he could charm
 as no one else with his delicious      
music1 though it often be conspicuous   
for its lack of richness in thought4    
,his fate has been somewhat different   
from that of most poets4 ,when his      
,atalanta in ,calydon was published it  
was received with enthusiasm1 but the   
volumes overweighted with eroticism     
which followed caused a fierce          

controversy1 and many have not even yet 
discovered that this was only one phase 
of ,swinburne's art1 and that1          
unfortunate as it is in many respects1  
it was a phase of the century's life    
which must find its expression in art if
 that life is to be completely given1   
and that it was a passing phase         
,swinburne himself proved in the        
development of other phases shown in his
 interest in current political          
situations1 his enthusiasm for ,italy   
and his later expressions of high moral 
ideals1 as well as in a quasi-religious 
attitude of mind1 not so far from that  
of ,emerson1 himself1 in which strong   
emphasis is placed upon the importance  
of the individual1 and upon the unity of
 ,god and man4  ,there is moral courage 
and optimism in the face of doubt of a  
high order in the following lines3      
--,are ye not weary and faint not by the
 way   ,seeing night by night devoured  
of day by day1     ,seeing hour by hour 
consumed in sleepless fire8             

,sleepless2 and ye too1 when shall ye1  
too sleep8   --,we are weary in heart   
and head1 in hands and feet1   ,and     
surely more than all things sleep were  
sweet1     ,than all things save the    
inexorable desire       ,which whoso    
knoweth shall neither faint nor weep4   
,is this so sweet that one were fain to 
follow8   ,is this so sure when all     
men's hopes are hollow1      ,even this 
your dream1 that by much tribulation    
,ye shall make whole flawed hearts1 and 
bowed necks straight8   --,nay though   
our life were blind1 our death were     
fruitless1   ,not therefore were the    
whole world's high hope rootless2       
,but man to man1 nation would turn to   
nation1       ,and the old life live1   
and the old great word be great4  ,but  
,swinburne in his farthest reaches of   
pantheistic aspiration is to be seen in 
a poem like ,hertha3                ,i  
am that which began2                    
,out of me the years roll2              
,out of me ,god and man2                

,i am equal and whole2   ,god changes1  
and man1 and the form of them bodily2 ,i
 am the soul4                ,the tree  
many-rooted                 ,that swells
 to the sky               ,with frondage
 red-fruited                 ,the       
life-tree am ,i2   ,in the buds of your 
lives is the sap of my leaves2 ye shall 
live and not       die4                 
,but the ,gods of your fashion          
,that take and that give1               
,in their pity and passion              
,that scourge and forgive1   ,they are  
worms that are bred in the bark that    
falls off2 they shall die       and not 
live4                ,my own blood is   
what stanches                 ,the      
wounds in my bark3               ,stars 
caught in my branches                   
,make day of the dark1   ,and are       
worshipped as suns till the sunrise     
shall tread out their fires       as a  
spark4  ,morris's interpretation of     
pre-,raphaelite tenets took him into    
mediaeval legend and the classics for   

his subject matter4 ,in his first       
volume1 ,the ,defence of ,guenevere and 
,other ,poems1 he came into competition 
with ,tennyson1 who was at the same time
 issuing his ,arthurian legends4 ,the   
polish of ,tennyson's verse1 as well as 
its symbolical meaning for the time1 was
 more acceptable than the actual return 
to the nature of the fifteenth century1 
and this the first volume from a        
pre-,raphaelite was hardly noticed by   
the critics4 ,morris sulked within his  
literary tents for ten years before he  
again appeared1 this time with ,the     
,life and ,death of ,jason 7#ahfg71     
which immediately became popular4 ,later
 came the ,earthly ,paradise4 ,these    
tales1 in verse noble and simple1 in    
style recalling the tales of ,chaucer1  
yet with a charm all their own1 in which
 the real men and women of ,chaucer give
 place to types1 have been the delight  
of those who like to find in poetry a   
dreamland of romance where they may     
enjoy themselves far from the problems  

and toils of everyday life4 ,he differs 
from all the other poets of this group  
in his lack of religious hope4 ,his mind
 was of the type that could not stand up
 against the undermining influences of  
the age3 hence world-weariness and      
despair are the constantly recurring    
notes4  ,illustration3 ,,dante ,,gabriel
 ,,rossetti  ,mrs4 ,browning far        
outdistanced her husband in the early   
days in popularity4 ,she pleased the    
people by her social enthusiasm1 a      
characteristic more marked in her verse 
than in that of any of the poets        
mentioned4 ,the critics have found many 
faults in her style1 mainly those       
growing out of an impassioned nature    
which carried her at times beyond the   
realm of perfectly balanced art4 ,but   
even an ,english critic of the          
conservatism of ,edmund ,gosse could at 
last admit that ,in some of her lyrics  
and more rarely in her sonnets she rose 
to heights of passionate humanity which 
place her only just below the great     

poets of her country4  ,contemporary    
criticism of ,aurora ,leigh1 which was  
certainly a departure both in form and  
matter from the accepted standards1 was1
 on the whole1 just4 ,the ,quarterly    
,review in #ahfb said of it3 ,this      
',aurora ,leigh' is a great poem4 ,it is
 a wonder of art4 ,it will live4 ,no    
large audience will it have1 but it will
 have audience2 and that is more than   
most poems have4 ,to those who know what
 poetry is and in what struggles it is  
born--how the great thoughts justify    
themselves--this work will be looked    
upon as one of the wonders of the age4  
,mrs4 ,browning resembles her husband in
 the fact that she does not fit into the
 main line of evolution of the romantic 
school1 but is an individual            
manifestation of the romantic spirit1   
showing almost as great freedom from the
 trammels of accepted romanticism as    
,browning does4  ,the writer of the     
century whose experience as a novelist  
almost paralleled that of ,browning as  

poet was ,meredith4 ,because of his     
psychological analysis and the so-called
 obscurity of his style1 he waited many 
years for recognition and finally was   
accepted as one of the most remarkable  
novelists of the age4 ,his poetry1      
showing similar tendencies1 and         
overshadowed by his novels1 has not yet 
emerged into the light of universal     
appreciation4 ,one finds it even ignored
 altogether in the most recent books of 
,english literature1 yet he is the      
author of one of the most remarkable    
series of sonnets in the ,english       
language1 ,modern ,love1 presenting1 as 
it does1 a vivid picture of domestic    
decadence which forms a strange contrast
 to ,rossetti's sonnets1 ,the ,house of 
,life1 indicating how many and various  
have been the forces at work during the 
nineteenth century in the disintegrating
 and molding of social ideals4 ,meredith
 writes of ,hiding the ,skeleton4    ,at
 dinner she is hostess1 ,i am host4     
,went the feast ever cheerfuller8 ,she  

keeps   ,the topic over intellectual    
deeps   ,in buoyancy afloat4 ,they see  
no ghost4   ,with sparkling surface-eyes
 we ply the ball3   ,it is in truth a   
most contagious game2   ,hiding the     
,skeleton shall be its name4   ,such    
play as this the devils might appall1   
,but here's the greater wonder2 in that 
we1   ,enamor'd of our acting and our   
wits1   ,admire each other like true    
hypocrites4   ,warm-lighted glances1    
,love's ,ephemeral1   ,shoot gayly o'er 
the dishes and the wine4   ,we waken    
envy of our happy lot4   ,fast sweet1   
and golden1 shows our marriage-knot4    
,dear guests1 you now have seen ,love's 
corpse-light shine6  ,rossetti writes   
,lovesight3    ,when do ,i see thee     
most1 beloved one8     ,when in the     
light the spirits of mine eyes          
,before thy face1 their altar1 solemnize
   ,the worship of that ,love through   
thee made known8   ,or when1 in the dusk
 hours 7we two alone71     ,close-kiss'd
 and eloquent of still replies     ,thy 

twilight--hidden glimmering visage lies1
   ,and my soul only sees thy soul its  
own8     ,o love1 my love6 if ,i no more
 should see     ,thyself1 nor on the    
earth the shadow of thee1   ,nor image  
of thine eyes in any spring1--     ,how 
then should sound upon ,life's darkening
 slope1     ,the ground-whirl of the    
perish'd leaves of ,hope1   ,the wind of
 ,death's imperishable wing8            
,browning's criticism of painting was   
evidently much influenced by the        
pre-,raphaelites4 ,their admiration for 
the painters who preceded ,raphael1     
revealing as it did to them an art not  
satisfied with itself1 but reaching     
after higher things1 and earnestly      
seeking to interpret nature and human   
life1 is echoed in his ,old ,pictures in
 ,florence1 which was written but six   
years after ,hunt1 ,millais1 and        
,rossetti formed their brotherhood4 ,in 
poetry1 they did not eschew classical   
subjects1 as ,browning did for the most 
part1 but they treated these subjects in

 a romantic spirit1 and so removed them 
from the sort of strictures that        
,browning made upon the perfection of   
,greek art4  ,from this summary of the  
chief lines of literary development in  
the nineteenth century it will be seen1 
not only what a marvelous age it has    
been for the flowering of individualism 
in literary invention1 but how ,browning
 has surpassed all the other poets of   
note in the wideness of his departure   
from accepted standards1 and how        
helpless the earlier critics were in the
 face of this departure1 because of     
their dependence always upon critical   
shibboleths--in other words1 of         
principles not sufficiently             
universal--as their means of measuring a
 poet's greatness4 ,tennyson and the    
pre-,raphaelites won their popularity   
sooner among critics because they       
followed logically in the line of       
development inaugurated by the earlier  
poets1 ,wordsworth1 ,shelley1 ,keats1   
etc41 whose poetry had already done some

 good work in breaking down the school  
of ,dryden and ,pope1 though it         
succeeded only in erecting another      
standard not sufficiently universal to  
include ,browning4 ,the evolution of art
 forms1 a principle so clearly          
understood1 as we have shown by         
,browning1 has never become a guiding   
one with critics1 though ,mr4 ,gosse in 
his ,modern ,english ,literature has    
expressed a wish that the principle of  
evolution might be adapted to criticism4
 ,he has evidently felt how hopeless is 
the task of appraising poets by the old 
individualistic method1 which1 as he    
says1 has been in favor for at least a  
century4 ,it possesses1 he declares1    
considerable effectiveness in adroit    
hands1 but is1 after all1 an adaptation 
of the old theory of the unalterable    
type1 merely substituting for the one   
authority of the ancients an equal      
rigidity in a multitude of isolated     
modern instances4 ,for this inflexible  
style of criticism he proposes that a   

scientific theory shall be adopted which
 shall enable us at once to take an     
intelligent pleasure in ,pope and in    
,wordsworth1 in ,spenser and in ,swift4 
,he writes3  ,herbert ,spencer has1 with
 infinite courage1 opened the entire    
world of phenomena to the principles of 
evolution1 but we seem slow to admit    
them into the little province of        
aesthetics4 ,we cling to the            
individualist manner1 to that intense   
eulogy which concentrates its rays on   
the particular object of notice and     
relegates all others to proportional    
obscurity4 ,there are critics of        
considerable acumen and energy who seem 
to know no other mode of nourishing a   
talent or a taste than that which is    
pursued by the cultivators of gigantic  
gooseberries4 ,they do their best to nip
 off all other buds1 that the juices of 
the tree of fame may be concentrated on 
their favorite fruit4 ,such a plan may  
be convenient for the purposes of       
malevolence1 and in earlier times our   

general ignorance of the principles of  
growth might well excuse it4 ,but it is 
surely time that we should recognize    
only two criteria of literary judgment4 
,the first is primitive1 and merely     
clears the ground of rubbish2 it is1    
,does the work before us1 or the author1
 perform what he sets out to perform    
with a distinguished skill in the       
direction in which his powers are       
exercised8 ,if not1 he interests the    
higher criticism not at all2 but if yes1
 then follows the second test3 ,where1  
in the vast and ever-shifting scheme of 
literary evolution1 does he take his    
place1 and in what relation does he     
stand1 not to those who are least like  
him1 but to those who are of his own    
kith and kin8  ,illustration3 ,,george  
,,meredith  ,with such principles of    
criticism as this1 the public would     
sooner be brought to an appreciation of 
all that is best worth while in         
literature1 instead of being taken1 as  
it too often is1 upon a wrong scent to  

worship at the shrine of the ,nokes and 
,stokes1 who simply print blue and eat  
the turtles4  ,if ,mr4 ,gosse had       
himself been fully imbued with such     
principles would he have made the       
statement quoted in chapter two in      
regard to ,browning's later books8 ,and 
should we have such senseless criticism 
as a remark which has become popular    
lately1 and which ,i believe emanated   
from a university in the ,south--namely1
 that ,browning never said anything that
 ,tennyson had not said better8 ,as an  
illustration of this a recent critic may
 be quoted who is entirely scornful of  
the person who prefers ,browning's      
,god's in his heaven1 all's right with  
the world  to ,tennyson's    ,and hear  
at times a sentinel     ,who moves about
 from place to place1     ,and whispers 
to the worlds of space   ,in the deep   
night that all is well4  ,one might     
reply to this that it is a matter of    
taste had not ,courthope shown          
conclusively that ,matthew ,arnold's    

criterion of criticism--namely1 that a  
taste which is born of culture is the   
only certain possession by which the    
critic can measure the beauty of a      
poet's line--is a fallacy4 ,his argument
 is worth quoting3      ,you have stated
 strongly one side of the truth1 but you
 have ignored1     completely ignored1  
the other4 ,you have asserted the claims
 of     individual liberty1 and up to a 
certain point ,i agree with you4 ,i do  
not deny that spiritual liberty is      
founded on consciousness1 and hence     
the self-consciousness of the age is    
part of the problem we are              
considering4 ,i do not deny that the    
prevailing rage for novelty must        
also be taken into account4 ,liberty1   
variety1 novelty1 are all     necessary 
to the development of ,art4 ,without    
novelty there can be no     invention1  
without variety there can be no         
character1 without liberty     there can
 be no life4 ,life1 character1          
invention1 these are of the     essence 

of ,poetry4 ,but while you have defended
 with energy the freedom     of the     
,individual1 you have said nothing of   
the authority of society4     ,and yet  
the conviction of the existence of this 
authority is a belief     perhaps even  
more firmly founded in the human mind   
than the sentiment     as to the rights 
of individual liberty4444      ,the     
great majority of the professors of     
poetry1 however various their           
opinions1 however opposite their tastes1
 have felt sure that there was     in   
taste1 as in science1 a theory of false 
and true2 in art1 as in     conduct1 a  
rule of right and wrong4 ,and even among
 those who have     asserted most       
strongly the inward and relative nature 
of poetry1 do     you think there was   
one so completely a skeptic as to       
imagine that he     was the sole        
proprietor of the perception he sought  
to embody in     words2 one who doubted 
his power1 by means of accepted symbols1
 to     communicate to his audience his 

own ideas and feelings about external   
things8 ,yet until some man shall have  
been found bold enough to defend     a  
thesis so preposterous1 we must continue
 to believe that there is a     positive
 standard1 by which those at least who  
speak a common language     may reason  
about questions of taste4  ,armed with  
this gracious permission on the part of 
a professor of poetry1 we may venture to
 reason a little upon the foregoing     
quotations from ,tennyson and ,browning 
to the effect that the person of really 
good taste might like each of them in   
its place4 ,while ,tennyson's mystical  
quatrain is beautiful and quite         
appropriate in such a poem as ,in       
,memoriam1 it would not be in the least 
appropriate from the lips of a little   
silk-winding girl as she wanders through
 the streets of ,asolo on a sunny       
morning singing her little songs4 ,she  
is certainly a more lifelike child      
speaking ,browningese1 as she has often 
been criticised for doing1 than she     

would be if upon this occasion she spoke
 in a ,tennysonian manner4 ,that her    
song has touched the hearts of the      
twentieth century1 if it was not        
altogether appreciated in the           
nineteenth1 is proved by the fact that  
it is one of the most popular songs of  
the day as set by ,mrs4 ,h4 ,h4 ,a4     
,beach1 and that the line is heard upon 
the lips of people to-day who do not    
even know whose it is1 and herein lies  
the ultimate test of greatness4     ,,vi
  ,,classic ,,survivals   ,before       
passing in review ,browning's treatment 
of classical subjects as compared with  
the other great poets of the nineteenth 
century1 it will be interesting to take 
a glimpse at his choice of              
subject-matter in general4  ,to compare 
,browning's choice of subject-matter    
with that of other ,english poets is to 
strike at the very root of his position 
in the chain of literary development4   
,subject-matter is by no means simple in
 its nature1 but as a musical sound is  

composed of vibrations within           
vibrations1 so it is made up of the     
complex relations of body and           
spirit--the mere external facts of the  
story are blended with such             
philosophical undercurrent1 or dramatic 
motif1 or unfolding of the hidden       
springs of action as the poet is able to
 insinuate into it4  ,however far back  
one penetrates in the history of poetry1
 poets will be found depending largely  
upon previous sources1 rather than upon 
their own creative genius1 for the body 
of their subject-matter1 until the      
question presents itself with           
considerable force as to who could have 
been the mysterious first poet who      
supplied plots to the rest of mankind4  
,conjecture is obliged to play a part   
here1 as it does wherever human origins 
are in question4 ,doubtless1 this first 
poet was no separate individual1 but    
simply the elements man and nature1     
through whose action and reaction upon  
each other grew up story-forms1         

evidently compounded of human customs1  
and observed natural phenomena such as  
those we find in the great ,hindu1      
,greek1 and ,teutonic classics1 and     
which thus crystallized became great    
well-springs of inspiration for future  
generations of poets4  ,each new poet1  
however1 who is worthy of the name1 sets
 up his own particular interplay with   
man and nature2 and however much he may 
be indebted for his inspiration to past 
products of this universal law of action
 and reaction1 he is bound to use them  
or interpret them in a manner colored by
 his own personal and peculiar relations
 with the universe4  ,in so doing he    
supplies the more important spiritual   
side of subject-matter and becomes in   
very truth the poet or maker1 to that   
extent at least which ,browning himself 
lays down as the province of            
art--namely1 to arrange1    ,dissociate1
 redistribute1 interchange   ,part with 
part3 lengthen1 broaden   444 simply    
what lay loose   ,at first lies firmly  

after1 what design   ,was faintly traced
 in hesitating line   ,once on a time   
grows firmly resolute   ,henceforth and 
evermore4  ,sometimes the poet's power  
of arranging and redistributing and     
interchanging carries him upward into   
the realm of ideas alone1 among which   
his imagination plays in absolute       
freedom2 he throws over the results of  
man's past dallyings with ,nature and   
makes his own terms with her1 and the   
result is an approach to absolute       
creation4  ,except in the case of lyric 
poetry the instances where there have   
been no suggestions as to subject-matter
 are rare in comparison with those where
 the subject-matter has been derived    
from some source4  ,look1 for instance1 
at the father of ,english poetry1       
,chaucer1 how he ransacked ,french1     
,italian and ,latin literature for his  
subject-matter1 most conscientiously    
carrying out his own saying1 that       
,out of olde feldys as men sey          
,comyth all this newe corn from yere to 

yere1   ,and out of olde books in good  
fey     ,cometh all this new science    
that men alere4  ,how external a way he 
had of working over old materials1      
especially in his earlier work1 is well 
illustrated in ,the ,parliament of      
,fowls1 which he opens by relating the  
dream of ,scipio1 originally contained  
in ,cicero's treatise on the ,republic1 
and preserved by ,macrobius4 ,this      
dream1 which tells how ,africanus       
appears to ,scipio1 and carries him up  
among the stars of the night1 shows him 
,carthage1 and prophesies to him of his 
future greatness1 tells him of the      
blissful immortal life that is in store 
for those who have served their country1
 points out to him the brilliant        
celestial fires1 and how insignificant  
the earth is in comparison with them1   
and opens his ears to the wondrous      
harmony of the spheres--this dream is as
 far removed from the main argument of  
the poem as anything well could be a    
contest between three falcons for the   

hand of a formel4 ,the bringing together
 of such diverse elements presents no   
difficulties to the childlike stage of  
literary development that depends upon  
surface analogies for the linking       
together of its thoughts4 ,just as      
talking about his ancestor1 the great   
,scipio ,africanus1 with the old ,king  
,masinissa caused ,scipio to dream of   
him1 so reading about this dream caused 
,chaucer1 who has to close his book and 
go to bed for want of a light1 to dream 
of ,scipio ,africanus also1 who was come
 and stood right at his bedis syde4     
,africanus then plays the part of       
conductor to ,chaucer in a manner       
suggestive not only of his relations to 
,scipio1 but of ,virgil's relation to   
,dante1 and brings him to the great     
gateway and through it into the garden  
of love4 ,the description is of the     
temple of ,venus in ,boccaccio's ,la    
,teseide4 ,there ,nature and the ,fowls 
are introduced and described1 and at    
last the point is reached4 ,nature      

proclaims that it is ,st4 ,valentine's  
day1 and all the fowls may choose them  
mates4 ,the royal falcon is given first 
choice1 and chooses the lovely formel   
that sits upon ,nature's hand4 ,two     
other ardent falcons declare their      
devotion to the same fowl1 and ,nature1 
when the formel declares that she will  
serve neither ,venus nor ,cupid and asks
 a respite for a year1 decides that the 
three shall serve their lady another    
year--a pretty allegory supposed to     
refer to the wooing of ,blanche of      
,lancaster by ,john of ,gaunt4  ,the    
main argument of this poem1 when it     
finally is reached by artificially      
welding together rich links borrowed    
from other poets1 is one of the few     
examples in ,chaucer of subject-matter  
derived direct from a real event1 but   
the putting of it in an allegorical form
 at once lays him under obligations to  
his poetic predecessors1 not only on    
,anglo-,saxon soil1 but in ,france and  
,italy4  ,his most important            

contributions as an inventor are1 of    
course1 his descriptions of the         
,canterbury ,pilgrims1 which are the    
pure outcome of a keen observation of   
men and women at first hand4 ,so        
lifelike are they that in them he has   
made the ,england of the fourteenth     
century live again4 ,but how small a    
proportion of the bulk of the           
,canterbury ,tales is contained in these
 glimpses of ,english life and manners4 
,it is but the framework upon which     
luxuriate vines of fancy transplanted   
from many another garden1 and even in   
its place resembling1 if not borrowed   
from1 ,boccaccio4  ,the thoroughly human
 instincts of the poet assert           
themselves1 however1 in the choice of   
the tales which he puts into the mouths 
of his pilgrims4 ,he allows a place to  
the crudities and even the vulgarities  
of common stories as well as to         
culture-lore4 ,the magic of the ,east1  
the love tales of ,italy1 the wisdom of 
philosophers1 the common stories of the 

people1 all give up their wealth to his 
gentle touch4 ,with a keen sense of     
propriety he1 with few exceptions1 gives
 each one of his pilgrims a tale suited 
in its general tendency to the character
 of its narrator1 and in the critical   
chatter of the pilgrims about the tales1
 reflects not only his own tastes1 but  
that of the times1 the opinions         
expressed frequently being most         
uncomplimentary in their tenor4  ,in    
fine1 the life of reality and the life  
of books is spread out before ,chaucer1 
and his observation of both is keen and 
interested2 and this it is which makes  
him much more than the great translator 
that ,eustace ,les ,champs called him1  
and settles the nature of the subtle    
thing called spirit contributed by the  
individuality of the poet to his        
subject-matter4 ,he brings everything   
within the reach of human sympathy1     
because his way of putting a story into 
his own words is sympathetic4 ,he was a 
combination of the story-teller1 the    

scholar1 the poet1 and the critic4 ,as a
 scholar he brings in learned allusions 
that are entirely extraneous to the     
action in hand2 as the story-teller1 he 
takes delight in the tales that both the
 poet and the people have told2 as the  
poet1 his imagination dresses up a story
 with a fresh environment1 often        
anachronous1 and sometimes he alters the
 moral tone of the characters4 ,cressida
 is an interesting example of this4 ,but
 instead of the characters suggesting by
 their own action and speech all the    
needed moral1 ,chaucer himself appears  
ever at hand to analyze and criticise   
and moralize1 though he does it so      
delightfully that one hesitates to call 
him didactic4 ,the result of all this is
 that the external form and the         
underlying essence of his subject-matter
 are not completely fused4 ,we often see
 a sort of guileless working of the     
machinery of art1 yet it is true1 no    
doubt1 though perhaps not to the extent 
insisted on by ,morley1 that he has     

something of the ,shakespearian quality 
which enables him to show men as they   
really are1 wholly developed as if from 
within1 not as described from without by
 an imperfect and prejudiced observer4  
,in his great work1 ,spenser is no less 
dependent upon sources for his          
inspiration1 but there is a marked      
difference in his use of them4 ,although
 his range of observation is much       
narrower than ,chaucer's1 hardly        
extending at all into the realm of      
actual human effort1 yet he makes an    
advance in so far as his powers of      
redistribution are much greater than    
,chaucer's4  ,the various knights of the
 ,fairy ,queen and their exploits are   
not modeled directly upon any previous  
stories1 but they are made up of        
incidents similar to those found        
scattered all through classic lore2 and 
as his inspirations were drawn in most  
cases directly from the fountain-head of
 story in the ,greek writers--instead of
 as they filtered through the ,latin1   

,italian1 and ,french1 with the         
inevitable accretions that result from  
migrations1--and from the comparatively 
unalloyed ,arthurian legends1 there is a
 clearer reflection in them of the      
cosmic elements that shine through both 
the ,greek and ,arthurian originals than
 is found in ,chaucer4  ,although       
,spenser was certainly unaware of any   
such modern refinement of the           
mythologist as a solar myth1 yet the    
,fairy ,queen forms a curious and       
interesting study on account of the     
survivals everywhere evident of solar   
characteristics in his characters and   
plots4 ,indeed it could hardly be       
otherwise1 considering his intention1   
and his method of carrying it out1 which
 he1 himself1 explains in his quaint    
letter to ,sir ,walter ,raleigh--namely1
 to fashion a gentleman or noble person 
in virtuous and gentle discipline4 ,he  
goes on3      ,i close the history of   
,king ,arthur as most fit for the       
excellency of     his person1 being made

 famous by many men's former works1 and 
also     further from danger and envy of
 suspicion of present time4 ,in which ,i
     have followed all the antique poets
 historical2 first ,homer1 who in       
the person of ,agamemnon and ,ulysses   
hath ensampled a good governor     and a
 virtuous man1 the one in his ',iliad1' 
the other in his     ',odyssey'2 then   
,virgil1 whose like intention was to do 
in the person     of ,a,eneas3 ,after   
him1 ,ariosto comprised them both in his
 ,orlando1 and     lately ,tasso        
dissevered them again1 and formed both  
parts in two     persons1 the part which
 they in ,philosophy call ,ethice or    
virtues of a     private man1 colored in
 his ,rinaldo1 the other1 named         
,politice1 in his     ,godfieldo4 ,by   
example of which excellent poets1 ,i    
labor to portray in     ,arthur before  
he was ,king1 the image of a brave      
,knight perfected in     the twelve     
private moral virtues as ,aristotle hath
 devised1 the which     is the purpose  

of these first twelve books4  ,in the   
fashioning of his knight he took        
,arthur1 a hero whose life as it appears
 in the early romances is inextricably  
mingled with solar elements1 and has    
built up his virtues upon other ancient 
solar heroes4 ,here are all the         
paraphernalia of solar mythology3       
invincible knights with marvelous       
weapons1 brazen castles guarded by      
dragons1 marriage with a beautiful      
maiden and parting from the bride to    
engage in new quests1 an enchantress who
 turns men into animals1 even the       
outcast child2 but none of the incidents
 appear intact4 ,it is as if there had  
been a great explosion in the ancient   
land of romance and that in the mending 
up of things the separate pieces are all
 recognizable1 although all joined      
together in a different pattern1 while  
under all is the allegory4 ,a gentle    
knight is no longer a solar hero as set 
forth by ,max ,mueller or ,cox1 but     
,holiness2 his invincible armor is not  

the all-powerful rays of the sun1 but   
truth2 the enchantress not night casting
 a spell over mortals1 but sensuous     
pleasure entangling them4  ,these two   
poets1 ,chaucer and ,spenser1 are       
prototypes of two poet types of two     
poetical tendencies that have gone on   
developing side by side in ,english     
literature3 ,chaucer1 democratic1       
interested supremely in the             
personalities of men and women1         
portraying the real1 and ,spenser1      
aristocratic1 interested in imaging     
forth an ideal of manhood1 choosing his 
subject-matter from sources that will   
lend themselves to such a purpose2      
,chaucer drawing his lessons out of the 
real actions of humanity2 ,spenser      
framing his story so that it will       
illustrate the moral he wishes to       
inculcate4  ,shakespeare1 of course1    
ranges himself in line with ,chaucer4   
,his interest centered on character1 and
 wherever a story capable of character  
development presented itself1 that he   

chose1 altered it in outline            
comparatively little1 and when he did so
 it was in order to carry forward the   
dramatic motif which he infused into his
 subject4 ,the dramatic form in which he
 wrote furnished him a better medium for
 reaching a complete welding together of
 the external and spiritual side of his 
subject-matter4 ,where ,chaucer hinted  
at the possibilities of an artistic     
development of character that would     
cause the events of the story to appear 
as the inevitable outcome of the hidden 
springs of action1 ,shakespeare         
accomplished it1 and peopled the world  
of imagination with group after group of
 living1 acting characters4  ,in the    
nineteenth century ,tennyson and        
,browning have represented1 broadly     
speaking1 these two tendencies4 ,as with
 ,spenser1 the classics and the         
,arthurian legends have been the sources
 from which ,tennyson has drawn most    
largely2 but although a philosophical   
undercurrent is this poet's spiritual   

addition to the subject-matter1 his     
method of putting his soul inside his   
work is very different from ,spenser's4 
,he does not tear the old myths to      
pieces and join them together again     
after a pattern of his own to fit his   
allegorical situation1 but keeps the    
events of his stories almost unchanged1 
in this particular resembling ,chaucer  
and ,shakespeare1 and--except in a few  
instances1 such as ,tithonus and        
,lucretius1 where the classic spirit of 
the originals is preserved--he infuses  
in his subject a vein of philosophy1    
illustrating those modern tendencies of 
,english thought of which ,tennyson1    
himself1 was the exemplar4 ,even when   
inventing subjects1 founded upon the    
experiences of everyday life1 he so     
manipulates the story as to make it     
illustrate some of his favorite moral   
maxims4 ,his characters do not act from 
motives which are the inherent          
necessities of their natures1 but they  
act in accordance with ,tennyson's      

preconceived notions of how they ought  
to act4 ,he manipulates the elements of 
character to suit his own view of       
development1 just as ,spenser           
manipulated the elements of the story to
 suit his own allegorical purpose4      
,browning is the nineteenth-century heir
 of ,chaucer2 but it is doubtful whether
 ,chaucer would recognize his own       
offspring1 so remarkable has the        
development been in those five          
centuries4 ,with ,chaucer's keen        
interest in human nature deepened to a  
profound insight into the very soul of  
humanity1 and the added wealth of these 
centuries of human history1 ,browning   
not only had a far wider range of choice
 in subject-matter1 but he was enabled  
to instil into it greater intellectual  
and emotional complexities4  ,rarely has
 he treated any subject that has already
 been treated poetically unless we      
except the transcripts from the classics
 soon to be considered4 ,wherever he saw
 an interesting historical personage1   

interesting1 not on account of his      
brilliant achievements in the eyes of   
the world1 but on account of            
potentialities of character1 such a one 
he has set before us to reveal himself4 
,there are between twenty and thirty    
portraits of this nature in his work1   
chosen from all sorts and conditions of 
men--men who stand for some phase of    
growth in human thought2 and always in  
developing a personality he gives the   
kernel of truth upon which their        
peculiar point of view is based4 ,thus1 
among the musical poems1 ,abt ,vogler   
speaks for the intuitionalist--he who is
 blessed by a glimpse of the absolute   
truth4 ,charles ,avison1 on the other   
hand1 is the philosopher of the relative
 in music and the arts generally4 ,among
 the art poems1 ,fra ,lippo ,lippi is   
the apostle of beauty in realism1       
,andrea del ,sarto the attainer of      
perfection in form4 ,in the religious   
poems the ,jewish standpoint is         
illustrated in ,saul and ,rabbi ,ben    

,ezra1 the ,christian in the portrait of
 ,john in ,the ,death in the ,desert2   
the empirical reasoner in ,paracelsus4  
,this is only one of ,browning's methods
 in the choice and use of               
subject-matter4 ,the characters and     
incidents in his stories are frequently 
the result of pure invention1 but he    
sets them in an environment recreated   
from history1 developing their          
individualities in harmony with the     
environment1 thus giving at one stroke  
the spirit of the time and the          
individual qualities of special         
representatives of the time4 ,examples  
of this are3 ,my ,last ,duchess1 where  
the ,duke is an entirely imaginary      
person and the particular incident is   
invented1 but he is made to act and talk
 in a way perfectly in keeping with the 
spirit of the time--mediaeval ,italy4   
,hugues of ,saxe-,gotha is another being
 of ,browning's fancy1 who yet          
represents to perfection the spirit of  
the old fugue writers4 ,luria1 ,the     

,soul's ,tragedy1 ,in a ,balcony1 all   
represent the same method4  ,another    
plan pursued by the poet is either to   
invent or borrow a historical personage 
into whose mouth he puts the defence of 
some course of action or ethical        
standard that may or may not be founded 
upon the highest ideals4 ,sludge1 the   
hero of ,fifine at the ,fair1 ,bishop   
,blougram1 ,hohenstiel-,schwangau1 range
 themselves in this group4  ,there are  
comparatively few cases where he has    
taken a complete story and developed its
 spiritual possibilities without much   
change in external detail1 but how      
adequate his art was to such ends1 ,the 
,ring and the ,book1 ,inn ,album1 ,two  
,poets of ,croisic1 ,red ,cotton        
,nightcap ,country1 the historical      
dramas of ,strafford1 and ,king ,victor 
and ,king ,charles fully prove1         
including1 as they do1 some of his      
finest masterpieces4  ,history and story
 have furnished many of the incidents   
which he has worked up in his dramatic  

lyrics and romances like ,clive1 ,herve 
,riel1 ,donald1 etc4 ,there remains1    
however1 a large number of poems        
containing some of ,browning's loveliest
 work in which the subject-matter is1 as
 far as we know1 the creation of pure1  
unadulterated fancy4 ,a ,blot in the    
',scutcheon1 ,in a ,balcony1 ,colombe's 
,birthday1 ,childe ,roland1 ,james      
,lee's ,wife are some of them4 ,even in 
this rapid survey of the field the fact 
is patent that ,browning's range of     
subject-matter is infinitely wider and  
his method of developing it far more    
varied than has been that of any other  
,english poet4 ,he seems the first to   
have completely shaken himself free from
 the trammels of classic or mediaeval   
literature4 ,there are no echoes of     
,arthur and his ,knights in his poetry1 
the shadows of the ,greek gods and      
goddesses exert no spell--except in the 
few instances when he deliberately chose
 a ,greek subject4  ,the fact that      
,browning was so free from classical    

influence in the great body of his work 
as compared with the other chief poets  
of the nineteenth century gives an      
especial interest to those poems in     
which he chose classical themes for his 
subjects4 ,there are not more than ten  
all told1 and one of these is a         
translation1 yet they represent some of 
his finest and most original work1 for  
,browning could not touch a classical   
theme without infusing into it that     
grasp and insight peculiar to his own   
genius4  ,his first and most            
conventionally classical poem is the    
fragment in ,men and ,women1 ,artemis   
,prologizes1 written in #ahdb4 ,it was  
to have been the introduction to a long 
poem telling of the mad love of         
,hippolytus for a nymph of ,artemis1    
after that goddess had brought about his
 resuscitation4 ,it has been suggested  
by ,mr4 ,boynton in an interesting paper
 that ,browning shows traces of the     
influence of ,landor in his poetry4     
,this fragment certainly furnishes      

argument for this opinion1 though it has
 a strength of diction along with its   
,greek severity and terseness of style  
which leads to the conclusion that the  
influence came from the fountain head of
 ,greek poetry itself rather than       
through the lesser muse of this         
nineteenth-century ,greek4  ,the poem is
 said to have been begun on a sick-bed  
and when the poet recovered he had      
forgotten or lost interest in his plans4
 ,this is to be regretted for if he had 
continued as he began1 the poem would   
have stood unique in his work as a true 
survival of ,greek subject wedded with  
classical form and style1 and would     
certainly have challenged comparison    
with the best work done in this field by
 ,landor or ,swinburne1 who tell over   
the classical stories or even invent new
 episodes1 but1 when all is said1 do not
 write as if they were actually         
themselves ,greeks4  ,there is no other 
instance in ,browning of such a         
survival4 ,in his other poems on ,greek 

subjects it is ,browning bringing ,greek
 life to our ken with wonderful         
distinctness1 but doing it according to 
his own accustomed poetical methods1 or1
 as in ,ixion1 a ,greek story has been  
used as a symbol for the inculcating of 
a philosophy which is largely           
,browning's own4  ,in spite of the fact 
that he has turned to ,greece so seldom 
for inspiration1 his ,greek poems range 
from such stirring pictures of ,greek   
life and feeling as one gets in the     
splendid dramatic idyl ,pheidippides1   
based on a historical incident1 through 
the imaginary ,cleon1 in which is found 
the sublimated essence of ,greek        
philosophical thought at the time of    
,christ--thought1 weary of law and      
beauty1 longing for a fresh inspiration1
 knowing not what1 and unable to        
perceive it in the new ideal of love    
being taught by the ,christians--to     
,aristophanes' ,apology1 in which the   
,athens of his day1 with its literary   
and political factions1 is presented    

with a force and analysis which place it
 second only to ,the ,ring and the      
,book4  ,this poem taken1 with          
,balaustion1 gives the reader not only a
 comprehensive view of the historical   
atmosphere of the time but indirectly   
shows the poet's own attitude toward the
 literary war between ,euripides and    
,aristophanes4 ,so different are        
,browning's ,greek poems from all other 
poems upon classical subjects that it   
will be interesting to dwell upon the   
most important of them at greater length
 than has been deemed necessary in the  
case of the more widely known and read  
of the poems4  ,cleon links itself with 
the nineteenth century1 because of its  
dealing with the problem of immortality1
 a problem which has been ever present  
in the mind of the century4 ,cleon has1 
beside that type of synthetic mind which
 belongs to a ripe phase of             
civilization4 ,though he is a ,greek and
 a pagan1 he stretches hands across the 
centuries to men of the type of ,morris 

or ,matthew ,arnold4 ,he is the latest  
child of his own time1 the heir of all  
the ages during which ,greece had       
developed its aesthetic perfection1     
discovered the inadequacy of its        
established religion1 come through its  
philosophers and poets to a perception  
of the immortality of the soul1 and sunk
 again to a skepticism which had no     
vision of personal immortality at least1
 though among the stoics there were some
 who believed in an absorption into     
divine being4 ,cleon would fain believe 
in personal immortality but cannot1 and1
 like ,matthew ,arnold1 believes in     
facing death imperturbably4  ,in        
,balaustion's ,adventure a historical   
tradition is used as the central episode
 of the poem1 but life and romance are  
given to it by the creation of the      
heroine1 ,balaustion1 a young ,greek    
woman whose fascinating personality     
dominates the whole poem4 ,she was a    
,rhodian1 else her freedom of action and
 speech might seem too modern1 but among

 the islands of ,greece1 at least at the
 time of ,euripides1 there still        
survived that attitude toward woman     
which we see reflected in the ,homeric  
epics4 ,away from ,athens1 too1         
,euripides was a power2 hence his       
defence is put into the mouth of one not
 an ,athenian4 ,she had saved a shipload
 of ,athenian sympathizers by reciting  
,euripides when they were in danger from
 the hostile ,syracusans4               
,illustration3 ,,euripides  ,besides the
 romantic touch which is given the story
 by the creation of the lyric girl1     
there is an especial fitness in making  
the enthusiastic devotee of this poet a 
woman1 for no one among the ancients has
 so fully and sympathetically portrayed 
woman in all her human possibilities of 
goodness and badness as ,euripides1 yet 
he has been called a                    
woman-hater--because some of his men    
have railed against women--but one      
,alkestis is enough to offset any       
dramatic utterances of his men about    

women4 ,the poet's attitude should be   
looked for in his power of portraying   
women of fine traits1 not in any        
opinions expressed by his men4          
,furthermore1 ,browning had before him a
 model of ,balaustion in her enthusiasm 
for ,euripides1 in ,mrs4 ,browning4     
,these circumstances are certainly      
sufficient to prove the appropriateness 
of making a ,rhodian girl the defender  
of ,euripides4  ,there is nothing more  
delicious in ,browning than             
,balaustion's relation of ,alkestis1 as 
she had seen it acted1 to her three     
friends4 ,her woman's comment and       
criticisms combine a ,browning's        
penetration of the fine points in the   
play with a girl's idealism4 ,such a    
combination of masculine intellectualism
 and feminine charm has been known in   
women of all centuries4 ,as the         
translation of the beautiful play of    
,alkestis proceeds1 ,balaustion         
interprets its art and moral1 defending 
her favorite poet1 not with the         

ponderousness of a grave critic weighing
 the influences which may have molded   
his genius1 or calculating the pros and 
cons of his style1 but with the swift   
appreciation of a mind and spirit full  
of the ardor of sympathy4 ,moreover1 her
 talk of the play being a recollection  
of how it appeared to her as she saw it 
acted1 the mere text is constantly      
enlarged upon and made vital with       
flashing glimpses of the action1 as1 for
 example1 in the passage just after the 
funeral of ,alkestis3    ,so1 to the    
struggle off strode ,herakles1   ,when  
silence closed behind the lion-garb1    
,back came our dull fact settling in its
 place1   ,though heartiness and passion
 half-dispersed   ,the inevitable fate4 
,and presently   ,in came the mourners  
from the funeral1   ,one after one1     
until we hoped the last   ,would be     
,alkestis1 and so end our dream4        
,could they have really left ,alkestis  
lone   ,i' the wayside sepulchre6 ,home1
 all save she6   ,and when ,admetos felt

 that it was so1   ,by the stand-still3 
when he lifted head and face   ,from the
 two hiding hands and peplos' fold1     
,and looked forth1 knew the palace1 knew
 the hills1   ,knew the plains1 knew the
 friendly frequence there1   ,and no    
,alkestis any more again1   ,why1 the   
whole woe billow-like broke on him4     
,again1 her criticism of ,admetos gives 
at once the natural feeling of a girl   
who could not be satisfied with what    
seemed to her his selfish action1 and   
,browning's feeling that ,euripides saw 
its selfishness just as surely as       
,balaustion1 despite the fact that it   
was in keeping1 as numerous critics     
declare1 with the customs of the age1   
and would not by any of his             
contemporaries be regarded as selfish on
 his part3    ,so he stood sobbing3     
nowise insincere1   ,but somehow        
child-like1 like his children1 like     
,childishness the world over4 ,what was 
new   ,in this announcement that his    
wife must die8   ,what particle of pain 

beyond the pact   ,he made with his eyes
 wide open1 long ago--   ,made and was1 
if not glad1 content to make8   ,now    
that the sorrow1 he had called for1     
came1   ,he sorrowed to the height3 none
 heard him say1   ,however1 what would  
seem so pertinent1   ',to keep this     
pact1 ,i find surpass my power2         
,rescind it1 ,moirai6 ,give me back her 
life1   ,and take the life ,i kept by   
base exchange6   ,or1 failing that1 here
 stands your laughing-stock   ,fooled by
 you1 worthy just the fate o' the fool  
,who makes a pother to escape the best  
,and gain the worst you wiser ,powers   
allot6'   ,no1 not one word of this2 nor
 did his wife   ,despite the sobbing1   
and the silence soon   ,to follow1 judge
 so much was in his thought--   ,fancy  
that1 should the ,moirai acquiesce1     
,he would relinquish life nor let her   
die4   ,the man was like some merchant  
who in storm1   ,throws the freight over
 to redeem the ship2   ,no question1    
saving both were better still1   ,as it 

was1--why1 he sorrowed1 which sufficed4 
,so1 all she seemed to notice in his    
speech   ,was what concerned her        
children4  ,among modern critics who    
take the conventional ground in regard  
to ,admetos may be cited ,churton       
,collins1 whose opinion is1 of course1  
weighty4 ,he writes3      ,alcestis     
would be considered fortunate for having
 had an opportunity     of displaying so
 conspicuously the fidelity to a wife's 
first and     capital duty4 ,had        
,admetus prevented such a sacrifice he  
would have     robbed ,alcestis of an   
honor which every nobly ambitious woman 
in     ,hellas would have coveted4 ,this
 is so much taken for granted by the    
poet that all that he lays stress on in 
the drama is the virtue     rewarded by 
the return of ,alcestis to life1 the    
virtue characteristic     of ,admetus1  
the virtue of hospitality2 to this duty 
in all the agony     of his sorrow      
,admetus had been nobly true1 and as a  
reward for what he     had thus earned1 

the wife who had been equally true to   
woman's     obligations was restored    
all-glorified to home and children and  
mutual     love4  ,most readers1        
however1 will find it difficult to put  
themselves into the appropriate ,greek  
frame of mind1 and will sympathize with 
,browning's supposition that after all  
,euripides had transcended current ideas
 on the subject and deliberately        
intended to convey such an              
interpretation of the character of      
,admetos as ,balaustion gives4          
,balaustion shows her penetration again 
in her appreciation of ,herakles4 ,he   
distinguishes clearly between evil that 
is inherent in the nature as the        
selfishness of ,admetos1 and evil which 
is more or less external1 growing out of
 conditions incident to the time rather 
than from any real trait of nature4     
,herakles' delight in the hospitality   
accorded him1 his drinking and feasting 
in the interim of his labors1 did not   
touch the genuine1 large-hearted        

helpfulness of the demigod1 who became  
sober the moment he learned there was   
sorrow in the house and need of his aid4
  ,in her proposed version of the story1
 ,balaustion is surely the romantic     
girl1 who would have her hero a hero    
indeed and in every way the equal of his
 spouse4 ,yet if we delve below this    
romanticism of ,balaustion we shall find
 the poet's own belief in the almost    
omniscient power of human love the basis
 of the relation between ,admetos and   
,alkestis4  ,the soul of ,alkestis in   
one look entered into that of ,admetos2 
she died1 but he is entirely guiltless  
of agreeing to her death4 ,alkestis     
herself had made the pact with ,apollo  
to die for her husband4 ,he1 when he    
learns it1 refuses to accept the        
sacrifice1 and unable to persuade him   
that his duty to humanity demands that  
he accept it1 ,alkestis asks him to look
 at her4 ,then her soul enters his1 but 
when she goes to ,hades and demands to  
become a ghost1 the ,queen of ,hades    

replies3    ,hence1 thou deceiver6 ,this
 is not to die1   ,if1 by the very death
 which mocks me now1   ,the life1 that's
 left behind and past my power1   ,is   
formidably doubled--,say1 there fight   
,two athletes1 side by side1 each       
athlete armed   ,with only half the     
weapons1 and no more1   ,adequate to a  
contest with their foes4   ,if one of   
these should fling helm1 sword and      
shield   ,to fellow--shieldless1        
swordless1 helmless late--   ,and so    
leap naked o'er the barrier1 leave   ,a 
combatant equipped from head to heel1   
,yet cry to the other side1 ',receive a 
friend   ,who fights no longer6' ',back1
 friend1 to the fray6'   ,would be the  
prompt rebuff2 ,i echo it4   ,two souls 
in one were formidable odds3   ,admetos 
must not be himself and thou6    ,and   
so1 before the embrace relaxed a whit1  
,the lost eyes opened1 still beneath the
 look2   ,and lo1 ,alkestis was alive   
again1   ,and of ,admetos' rapture who  
shall speak8  ,how unique a treatment of

 a classical subject this poem is1 is   
self-evident4 ,not content with making a
 superb translation of the play1        
remarkable both for its literalness and 
for its poetic beauty1 the poet has     
dared to present that translation       
indirectly through the mouth of another 
speaker1 and to incorporate with it a   
running commentary of criticism in blank
 verse4 ,still more daring was it to    
make play and criticism an episode in a 
dramatic monologue in which we learn not
 only the story of the rescue of the    
shipload of ,athenian sympathizers1 but 
the story of ,balaustion's love4 ,along 
with all this complexity of interest    
there is still room for a lifelike      
portrayal of ,balaustion herself1 one of
 the loveliest conceptions of womanhood 
in literature4  ,to reiterate what ,i   
have upon another occasion expressed in 
regard to her1 she is a girl about whom 
the fancy loves to cling--she is so     
joyous1 so brave1 and so beautiful1 and 
possessed of so rare a mind             

scintillating with wit1 wisdom and      
critical insight1 not ,browning's own   
mind either except in so far as his     
sympathies were with ,euripides4 ,her   
ardor for purity and perfection is      
perhaps peculiarly feminine4 ,it is     
quite different from that of the mind   
tormented by the problem of evil and    
taking refuge in a partisanship of evil 
as a force which works for good and     
without which the world would be a waste
 of insipidity4 ,her suggested version  
of the ,alkestis story converts ,admetos
 into as much of a saint as ,alkestis1  
and makes an exquisite and soul-stirring
 romance of their perfect union1 though 
it must be admitted that it would do    
away with all the intensity and dramatic
 force of the play as it is presented by
 ,euripides4 ,like the angels who       
rejoice more over one sinner returned   
than over the ninety and nine that did  
not go astray1 an artist prefers the    
contrast and movement of a sinning and  
regenerated ,admetos to an ,admetos more

 suited from the first to be the consort
 of ,alkestis4 ,this is the touch1      
however1 which preserves ,balaustion's  
feminine charm and makes her truly her  
own self--an ardent soul very far from  
being simply ,browning's mouthpiece4    
,aristophanes' ,apology is a still more 
remarkable play in its complexity4      
,again1 ,balaustion is the speaker1 and 
,browning has set himself the task in   
this monologue of relating the fall of  
,athens1 of presenting the personality  
of ,aristophanes1 of defending          
,euripides1 a translation of whose play1
 ,herakles1 is included1 and            
incidentally sketching the history of   
,greek comedy1 all through the mouth of 
the one speaker1 ,balaustion4 ,not until
 one has grasped the law by which the   
poet has accomplished this1 and has     
moreover freshly in his mind the facts  
of ,greek history at the time of        
,athens' fall1 and ,greek literature1   
especially the plays of ,aristophanes   
and ,euripides1 can the poem be         

thoroughly enjoyed4  ,in the very first 
line the suggestion of the scene setting
 is given1 and such suggestions occur   
from time to time all through the poem4 
,it should be observed that they are    
never brought in for themselves alone1  
but are always used in connection with  
some mood of ,balaustion's or as imagery
 in relation to some thought4 ,while the
 reader is thus kept conscious of the   
background of wind and wave1 as         
,balaustion and her husband voyage      
toward ,rhodes1 it is not until the end 
of the poem that we learn with a        
pleasant surprise that the boat on which
 they are sailing is the same one saved 
once by ,balaustion when she recited    
,euripides' sweetest1 saddest song4     
,thus there is a dramatic denouement in 
connection with the scene setting4      
,through the expression of a mood of    
despair on the part of ,balaustion at   
the opening of the poem the reader is   
put in possession not only of the scene 
setting but of the occasion of the      

voyage1 which is the overthrow of       
,athens4 ,from the mood of despair      
,balaustion passes to one in which she  
describes how she could better have     
borne to see ,athens perish4 ,this      
carries her on to a more hopeful frame  
of mind1 in which she can foresee the   
spiritual influence of ,athens          
persisting4 ,the peace of mind ensuing  
upon this consideration makes it        
possible for her calmly to survey the   
events connected with its downfall1     
among which the picturesque episode of  
the dancing of the flute girls to the   
demolition of the walls of the ,piraeus 
is conspicuous4 ,she then sees the      
vision of the immortal ,athens while    
,sparta the victorious in arms will die4
 ,then comes a mood in which she        
declares it will be better to face the  
grief than to brood over it1 which leads
 to her proposing to ,euthukles that    
they treat the fall of ,athens as a     
tragic theme1 as the poet might do1 and 
enact it on the voyage4 ,then grief over

 the recent events takes possession of  
her again1 and now with the feminine    
privilege of changing her mind1 she     
thinks it would be better to rehearse an
 event which happened to herself a year 
ago as a prologue4 ,speaking of         
adventures causes her very naturally to 
drop into reminiscences about her first 
adventure1 when she recited ,euripides  
and met the man who was to become her   
husband4  ,illustration3 ,,aristophanes 
,thus1 through this perfectly natural   
transition from one mood to another1    
,balaustion leads up to the real        
subject-matter of the poem1             
,aristophanes' defence of himself1      
which1 however1 is preceded by an       
account of the effect of the death of   
,euripides upon the ,athenians as       
witnessed by ,euthukles1 his death being
 the occasion of ,aristophanes' call on 
,balaustion4 ,what she calls the        
prologue is really the main theme of the
 poem1 while all her talk up to this    
point is truly the prologue4 ,the actual

 account of the fall of ,athens does not
 come until the conclusion1 and is      
related in comparatively few words4     
,what seems1 then1 to be the chief theme
 of the poem with its setting of wind   
and wave and bark bears somewhat the    
same relation to the real theme as      
incidental music does to a play4 ,upon  
first thoughts it may seem like a clumsy
 contrivance for introducing            
,aristophanes upon the scene1 but in the
 end it will be perceived1 ,i think1    
that it serves the artistic purpose of  
placing ,aristophanes in proper         
perspective4 ,balaustion with her       
exquisitely human moods and progressive 
spirit forms the right complement to the
 decaying ideals of ,aristophanes1 and  
gives him the proper flavor of          
antiquity4 ,instead of seeing him in the
 broad light of a direct dramatic       
presentation we see him indirectly      
through ,balaustion's thoughts and      
moods1 who1 though permitting him to do 
full justice to himself1 yet surrounds  

him all the time with the subtle        
influence of her sympathy for           
,euripides4  ,as the better way to      
follow the development of the           
preliminary part of the poem is by      
regarding every step as the outcome of a
 mood on the part of ,balaustion1 so the
 better way of following ,aristophanes  
through what seems his interminable     
defence of himself is again by tracing  
the moods through which his arguments   
express themselves4  ,aristophanes comes
 in half drunk to make his call on      
,balaustion1 and his first mood is one  
of graciousness toward her whose beauty 
has impressed his artistic perceptions1 
but noticing her dignity and its effect 
in routing the chorus1 he immediately   
begins to be on the defensive4 ,the     
disappearance of his chorus1 however1   
takes him off on a little excursion     
about the moves which are being made by 
the city to cut down the expense of     
dramatic performances by curtailing the 
chorus4 ,in a spirit of bravado he      

declares that he does not care so long  
as he has his actors left4 ,a coarse    
reference causes ,balaustion to turn and
 he changes his mood4 ,he acknowledges  
he is drunk and rushes off into a       
defence of drunkenness in general for   
playwrights and for himself1 which on   
this occasion came about on account of  
the supper he and his players have      
attended4 ,he rattles on about the      
supper1 telling how the merriment       
increased until something happened4 ,the
 thought of this something changes his  
mood completely4 ,balaustion notices it1
 he reads her expression1 and           
characteristically explains the change  
in himself as due to her fixed regard4  
,the reader is left in suspense as to   
the something which happened1 yet it    
haunts the memory1 and he feels         
convinced that some time he is to know  
what it was4  ,now ,aristophanes bids   
,balaustion speak to him without fear4  
,she does so1 conveying in her welcome  
both her disapproval and her admiration4

 ,aristophanes1 evidently piqued1 does  
not answer1 but makes personal remarks  
upon the manner of her speech1 asking   
her if she learned tragedy from         
him--,euripides4 ,this starts him off on
 dreams of a new comedy in which women  
shall act1 but he concludes that his    
mission is to ornament comedy as he     
finds it1 not invent a new comedy4      
,this gives ,balaustion a chance to ask 
if in his last play1 later than the one 
,euthukles had seen1 he had smoothed    
this ancient club of comedy he speaks of
 into a more human and less brutal      
implement of warfare1 and was it a      
conviction of this new method he might  
use in comedy which was the something   
that happened at the feast4             
,aristophanes1 as usual when he is      
cornered1 makes no direct reply1 but    
asks if ,euthukles saw his last play1 to
 which ,balaustion frankly replies that 
having seen the first he never cared to 
see the following4 ,aristophanes avows  
he can show cause why he wrote them1 but

 glances off in a sarcastic reference to
 ,euripides1 whose art he says belongs  
to the closet or the cave1 not to the   
world4 ,he prefers to stick to the old  
forms of art and make ,athens happy in  
what coarse way she desires4 ,he then   
proceeds to enlarge upon what that is4  
,then he changes again and asks with    
various excursions into side issues 7for
 example3 the rise of comedy2 how it is 
now being regarded by the government1   
which favors tragedy1 giving him another
 chance for a dig at ,euripides7 if he  
is the man likely to be satisfied to be 
classed merely a comic poet since he    
wrote the ,birds8 ,balaustion encourages
 him a little here1 and1 cheered up1 he 
goes on to tell how he gave the people  
draught divine in ,wasps and            
,grasshoppers1 and how he praised peace 
by showing the kind of pleasures one may
 have when peace reigns--and still at   
every opportunity casting slurs at the  
tragic muse1 especially ,euripides4  ,he
 goes on describing his play until he   

touches on some of the sarcasms which   
make ,balaustion wince4  ,then he turns 
about and declares he loathes as much as
 she does the things of which he tells1 
but his attempts at bringing comedy up  
to a high level having failed1 he is    
obliged to give the ,athenians what they
 want1 a smartened up version of the    
,thesmaphoriazousai1 which had failed   
the year before4 ,he describes his      
triumph with this which was being       
celebrated at the supper when the       
something happened which is now at last 
described--namely1 the entrance of      
,sophocles1 who announces that he       
intends to commemorate the death of     
,euripides by having his chorus clothed 
in black and ungarlanded at the         
performance of his play next month4     
,this startling scene1 being prepared   
for and not brought in until            
,aristophanes has done much talking1    
seems to throw a sudden flash of reality
 into the poem4 ,ill-natured criticism1 
,aristophanes shows1 follows on the part

 of the feasters1 though ,aristophanes' 
mood is one of sudden recognition of the
 value of ,euripides4 ,but when he1     
sobered for the time being1 proposes a  
toast to the ,tragic ,muse1 the feasters
 consider it a joke4 ,he quickly accepts
 the situation1 and comes off triumphant
 by proposing a toast to both muses4    
,after this ,balaustion asks            
,aristophanes if he will commemorate    
,euripides with them4 ,but his sober    
mood is gone4 ,he looks about the room1 
sees things that belong to ,euripides1  
and immediately begins stabbing at him4 
,balaustion objects1 and upon the theme 
of respect to the dead he begins his    
usual invective against his rivals1 but 
finally ends by giving respect to       
,euripides1 him whose serenity1 he      
declares1 could never with his gibes be 
disturbed4  ,after venting this mood of 
animosity he begins soberly to discuss  
the origin of comedy4 ,he traces its    
growth to the point where he found it1  
and enlarges on the improvements he has 

made1 touching1 as always1 upon the     
criticisms of his opposers1 and finally 
arriving at the chief point of          
difference between himself and          
,euripides1 which he enlarges upon at   
great length4 ,here the incidental music
 breaks in with talk between ,balaustion
 and ,euthukles1 in which the former    
rather tries to excuse herself from     
relating her reply to ,aristophanes4    
,however1 she does give her reply1 which
 is conducted in a more truly           
argumentative fashion than the defence  
of ,aristophanes4 ,she picks up his     
points and makes her points against him 
usually by denying the truth of what he 
has said4 ,her supreme defence is1      
however1 the reading of the play        
,herakles4  ,aristophanes1 touched but  
not convinced1 finally insists that he  
is ,athens' best friend4 ,he is no      
,thamuris to be punished for seeing     
beyond human vision4 ,the last          
characteristic touch is when            
,aristophanes catches up the psalterion 

and sings the lyric of ,thamuris4 ,then 
he departs1 and ,balaustion rehearses   
the last days of ,athens1 with          
,euthukles' part in delaying the tragedy
 of the doomed city4  ,by threading     
one's way thus through the apology1 not 
from the point of view of ,aristophanes'
 arguments1 but from the point of view  
of his moods1 one experiences a         
tremendous sense of the personality of  
the man4 ,repetitions which are not     
required for the full presentation of   
his case take their place as natural to 
a man who is not only inordinately vain 
but is immediately swayed by every      
suggestion and emotion that comes to    
him4 ,owing to his volatile temperament 
the argument is varied by now a bit of  
vivid description like that of the      
archon's feast when ,sophocles appeared1
 now by some merely personal remark to  
,balaustion4  ,the criticism in this    
play1 as in that of ,balaustion's       
,adventure1 may be considered either as 
representing some phase of contemporary 

opinion about ,aristophanes or as       
expressing the opinion of the poet      
himself4 ,balaustion's indignation is   
especially aroused by the two plays1    
,the ,lusistrata and the                
,thesmophoriazousai1 both of which she  
finds utterly detestable4 ,it is        
interesting to compare with this        
entirely unfavorable criticism the      
feeling of such distinguished classical 
scholars as ,gilbert ,murray and ,j4 ,a4
 ,symonds4 ,the first ,murray describes 
as a play full of daring indecency1 it  
is true1 but the curious thing is that  
,aristophanes1 while professing to      
ridicule the women1 is all through on   
their side4 ,the jokes made by the      
superior sex at the expense of the      
inferior--to give them their ,roman     
names--are seldom remarkable either for 
generosity or refinement1 and it is our 
author's pleasant humor to accuse       
everybody of every vice he can think of 
at the moment4 ,yet with the single     
exception that he credits women with an 

inordinate fondness for wine            
parties--the equivalent it would seem of
 afternoon tea--he makes them on the    
whole perceptibly more sensible and more
 sympathetic than his men4  ,of the     
second play ,symonds speaks with actual 
enthusiasm4 ,it has a regular plot--an  
intrigue and a solution--and its persons
 are not allegorical but real4 ,thus it 
approaches the standard of modern       
comedy4 ,but the plot1 though gigantic  
in its scale1 and prodigious in its     
wealth of wit and satire1 is farcical4  
,the artifices by which ,euripides      
endeavors to win ,agathon to undertake  
his cause1 the disguise of ,muesilochus 
in female attire1 the oratory of the old
 man against the women in the midst of  
their assembly1 his detection1 the      
momentary suspension of the dramatic    
action by his seizure of the supposed   
baby1 his slaughter of the swaddled wine
 jar1 his apprehension by ,cleisthenes1 
the devices and disguises by which      
,euripides endeavors to extricate his   

father-in-law from the scrape1 and the  
final ruse by which he eludes the       
,scythian bowmen1 and carries off       
,muesilochus in triumph--all these form 
a series of highly diverting comic      
scenes4 ,again1 ,there is no passage in 
,aristophanes more amusing than the     
harangue of ,muesilochus4 ,the portrait1
 too1 of ,agathon in the act of         
composition is exquisitely comic4 ,but  
the crowning sport of the               
',thesmophoriazousai' is in the last    
scene when ,muesilochus adapts the      
,palamedes and the ,helen of ,euripides 
to his own forlorn condition1 jumbling  
up the well-known verses of these       
tragedies with coarse-flavored1 rustical
 remarks2 and when at last ,euripides1  
himself1 acts ,echo and ,perseus to the 
,andromeda of his father-in-law1 and    
both together mystify the policeman by  
their ludicrous utterance of antiphonal 
lamentation4  ,in her welcome of him1   
,balaustion expresses rather what she   
thinks he might be than what she really 

thinks he is4 ,she welcomes him3        
,good ,genius6 ,glory of the poet1 glow 
,o' the humorist who castigates his     
kind1   ,suave summer-lightning lambency
 which plays   ,on stag-horned tree1    
misshapen crag askew1   ,then vanishes  
with unvindictive smile   ,after a      
moment's laying black earth bare4       
,splendor of wit that springs a thunder 
ball--   ,satire--to burn and purify the
 world1   ,true aim1 fair purpose3 just 
wit justly strikes   ,injustice1--right1
 as rightly quells the wrong1   ,finds  
out in knaves'1 fools'1 cowards'1 armory
   ,the tricky tinselled place fire     
flashes through4   ,no damage else1     
sagacious of true ore2   ,wit learned in
 the laurel1 leaves each wreath   ,o'er 
lyric shell or tragic barbiton1--       
,though alien gauds be                  
singed1--undesecrate4  ,her attitude    
here is very like that of criticism in  
general1 except that she is more or less
 sarcastic1 meaning to imply that such  
,aristophanes might be but is not4      

,symonds1 on the other hand1 thinks him 
really what ,balaustion thinks he might 
be4  ,if1 he says1 ,coleridge was       
justified in claiming the ,german word  
,lustspiel for the so-called comedies of
 ,shakespeare1 we have a far greater    
right to appropriate this wide and      
pregnant title to the plays of          
,aristophanes4 ,the brazen mask which   
crowns his theatre smiles indeed        
broadly1 serenely1 as if its mirth      
embraced the universe2 but its hollow   
eye-sockets suggest infinite            
possibilities of profoundest irony4     
,buffoonery carried to the point of     
paradox1 wisdom disguised as insanity1  
and gaiety concealing the whole sum of  
human disappointment1 sorrow and        
disgust1 seem ready to escape from its  
open but rigid lips1 which are molded to
 a proud perpetual laughter4 ,it is a   
laughter which spares neither ,god nor  
man--which climbs ,olympus only to drag 
down the immortals to its scorn1 and    
trails the pall of august humanity in   

the mire2 but which1 amid its mockery   
and blasphemy1 seems everlastingly      
asserting1 as by paradox1 that reverence
 of the soul which bends our knees to   
heaven and makes us respect our         
brothers4  ,one cannot help feeling1 in 
view of these very diverse opinions1    
that both are exaggerated4 ,the         
enthusiasm of ,symonds seems almost     
fanatic4 ,though no one of penetration  
can fail to see the wit and wisdom1 and 
at times1 in such lyrics as those in    
,the ,clouds1 the poetic charm of       
,aristophanes1 the person of fastidious 
taste1 whether a ,greek girl of his own 
day1 or a man of these latter days1 must
 sometimes feel that his buffoonery     
oversteps the bounds of true wit1 even  
when it is not shadowed by a coarseness 
not to be borne at the present day4     
,when ,balaustion asks him in plain     
words1    ,have you exchanged brute     
blows1 which teach the brute   ,man may 
surpass him in brutality1--   ,for human
 fighting1 or true god-like force       

,which breeds persuasion nor needs fight
 at all8  ,aristophanes replies that it 
had not been his intention to turn art's
 fabric upside down and invent an       
entirely new species of comedy4 ,that   
sort of thing can be done by one who has
 turned his back on life1 friendly      
faces1 sympathetic cheer1 as ,euripides 
had done in his ,salaminian cave4  ,this
 may be regarded1 on the whole1 as a    
good bit of defence on ,aristophanes'   
part4 ,it is equivalent to his saying   
that there was no use in his trying to  
be anything for which his genius had not
 fitted him4 ,this chimes in1 again1    
with such authoritative criticism as    
,murray's1 who declares3 ,the general   
value of his view of life1 and1 above   
all1 his treatment of his opponent's    
alleged vices1 may well be questioned4  
,yet admitting that he often opposed    
what was best in his age1 or advocated  
it on the lowest grounds1 admitting that
 his slanders are beyond description and
 that1 as a rule1 he only attacks the   

poor and the leaders of the poor1       
nevertheless he does it all with such   
exhuberant high spirits1 such an air of 
its all being nonsense together1 such   
insight and swiftness1 such incomparable
 directness and charm of style1 that    
even if some ,archelaus had handed him  
over to ,euripides to scourge1 he would 
probably have escaped his well-earned   
whipping4  ,much of ,aristophanes'      
defence consists in slurring at         
,euripides1 against whom he waxes more  
and more fierce as he goes on4 ,his     
plays furnish numerous illustrations of 
his rivalry with ,euripides1 yet        
curiously enough1 as critics have       
pointed out1 ,aristophanes imitates     
,euripides to a noteworthy extent1 so   
much so that the dramatist ,cratinus    
invented a word to describe the style of
 the two--,euripid-,aristophanize4      
,judging from his parodies on           
,euripides1 he must certainly have read 
and reread his plays until he knew them 
practically by heart4  ,balaustion1 as  

,browning has portrayed her in this     
poem1 is the lyric girl developed into  
splendid womanhood4 ,she has a large    
heart and a large brain1 as well as     
imagination and strong ethical fervor4  
,her intense feeling at the fall of     
,athens1 which had been the ideal to her
 of greatness1 and her reverential love 
for ,euripides1 her charity toward      
,aristophanes the man1 if not toward his
 work1 show how deep and far-reaching   
her sympathies were4 ,again1 her        
imagination flashes forth in her        
picturesque descriptions of the ruined  
,athens and her prophetic picture of the
 new ,athens1 of the spirit which will  
arise in its place1 in her telling      
portraiture of ,aristophanes and his    
entrance into her house1 as well as in  
many another passage4 ,her intellect    
shines out in her clever management of  
the argument with ,aristophanes1 and her
 ethical fervor in her denunciations of 
the moral depravity of certain of the   
plays4  ,as to the question of whether a

 young ,greek woman would be likely to  
criticise ,aristophanes in this way1    
opinion certainly differs4 ,history is1 
for the most part1 silent about women4  
,as ,mahaffy says1 it is only in the    
dramatists and the philosophers that we 
can get any glimpses of the woman of the
 time4  ,mahaffy's opinions are worth   
quoting as an example of the pessimism  
growing out of a bias in favor of a     
particular type of woman which he       
idealized in his own mind4 ,he seems    
utterly incapable of appreciating the   
humanness of the women in the ,greek    
dramatists1 especially those in         
,euripides4 ,sadder than the condition  
of the aged was that of women1 he       
writes1 at this remarkable period4 ,the 
days of the noble and high-principled   
,penelope1 of the refined and           
intellectual ,helen1 of the innocent and
 spirited ,nausikaa1 of the gentle and  
patient ,andromache1 had passed away4   
,men no longer sought and respected the 
society of the gentler sex4 ,would that 

,euripides had even been familiar1 as   
,homer was1 with the sound of women     
brawling in the streets6 ,for in these  
days they were confined to ,asiatic     
silence and seclusion1 while the whole  
life of the men1 both in business and   
recreation1 was essentially public4     
,just as the feverish excitement of     
political life nowadays prompts men to  
spend even their leisure in the clubs1  
where they meet companions of like      
passions and interests with themselves1 
so the ,athenian gentleman only came    
home to eat and sleep4 ,his leisure as  
well as his business kept him in the    
market place4 ,his wife and daughters1  
ignorant of philosophy and politics1    
were strangers to his real life1 and    
took no interest in his pursuits4  ,the 
results were fatal to ,athenian society4
 ,the women1 uninstructed1 neglected1   
and enslaved1 soon punished their       
oppressors with their own keen and      
bitter weapons1 and with none keener    
than their vices4 ,for1 of course1 all  

the grace and delicacy of female        
character disappeared4 ,intellectual    
power in women was distinctly associated
 with moral depravity1 so that excessive
 ignorance and stupidity was considered 
the only guarantee of virtue4 ,the      
qualifications for society became       
incompatible with the qualifications for
 home duties1 so that the outcasts from 
society1 as we call them1 were not the  
immoral and the profligate but the      
honorable and the virtuous4  ,such is   
the view to be gleaned from history1 and
 in ,mahaffy's opinion the literature of
 the time tells the same story4 ,he goes
 on3 ,when we consult the literature of 
the day1 we find women treated either   
with contemptuous ridicule in comedy1 or
 with still more contemptuous silence in
 history4 ,in tragedy or in the social  
theories of the philosophers alone can  
we hope for a glimpse into the average  
character and position of ,athenian     
women4 ,here at least we might have     
expected that the portraits drawn with  

such consummate skill by ,homer would   
have been easily transferred to the     
,athenian stage4 ,but to our            
astonishment we find the higher social  
feelings toward women so weak that the  
,athenian tragic poets seem quite unable
 to appreciate1 or even to understand1  
the more delicate features in ,homeric  
characters4 ,they are painted so        
coarsely and ignorantly by ,euripides   
that we should never recognize them but 
for their names4 ,base motives and      
unseemly wrangling take the place of    
chivalrous honor and graceful           
politeness4  ,but the critics of the day
 complained that ,euripides degraded the
 ideal character of tragedy by painting 
human nature as he found it3 in fact as 
it was1 and not as it ought to be4 ,let 
us turn1 then1 to ,sophokles1 who       
painted the most ideal women which the  
imagination of a refined ,athenian could
 conceive1 and consider his most        
celebrated characters1 his ,antigone and
 his ,elektra4 ,a calm1 dispassionate   

survey will1 ,i think1 pronounce them   
harsh and masculine4 ,they act rightly1 
no doubt1 and even nobly1 but they do it
 in the most disagreeable way4 ,except  
in their external circumstances they    
differ in no respect from men4          
,certainly1 the opinion expressed of the
 women of ,euripides is tainted by the  
feeling that they ought to act like     
,english matrons and their daughters4   
,quite a different impression is given  
by ,symonds1 who1 in regard to some of  
the sentences occurring in ,euripides   
which are uncomplimentary to women1     
says3 ,it is impossible to weigh        
occasional sententious sarcasms against 
such careful studies of heroic virtue in
 women as the ,iphigenia1 the ,elektra1 
the ,polyxena1 the ,alkestis4  ,but the 
complete vindication of the fact that   
,balaustion and ,mrs4 ,browning and our 
own women of to-day are on the right    
side in their appreciation of ,euripides
 as the great woman's poet of antiquity 
is found in the opinion of our          

contemporary critic1 ,gilbert ,murray1  
who more than thirty years after these  
poems were written writes of the        
wonderful women-studies by which        
,euripides dazzled and aggrieved his    
contemporaries4 ,they called him a hater
 of women2 and ,aristophanes makes the  
women of ,athens conspire for revenge   
against him4 ,of course he was really   
the reverse4 ,he loved and studied and  
expressed the women whom the ,socratics 
ignored and ,pericles advised to stay in
 their rooms4 ,crime1 however1 is always
 more striking and palpable than virtue4
 ,heroines like ,medea1 ,phaedra1       
,stheneboia1 ,aerope1 ,clytemnestra1    
perhaps fill the imagination more than  
those of the angelic or devoted         
type--,alcestis1 who died to save her   
husband1 ,evadne and ,laodamia1 who     
could not survive theirs1 and all the   
great list of virgin-martyrs4 ,but the  
significant fact is that1 like ,ibsen1  
,euripides refuses to idealize any man1 
and does idealize women4 ,there is one  

youth-martyr1 ,menoikeus in the         
',phaenissae1' but his martyrdom is a   
masculine1 businesslike performance--he 
gets rid of his prosaic father by a     
pretext about traveling money without   
that shimmer of loveliness that hangs   
over the virgins4  ,where then did      
,euripides find these splendid women of 
force and character8 ,it seems quite    
impossible that he could have evolved   
them out of his own inner consciousness4
 ,he must have known women who served at
 least1 in part1 as models4 ,besides1   
there was undoubtedly a new woman       
movement in the air or ,plato in his    
,republic would not have suggested a    
plan for educating men and women alike4 
,the free women of ,athens are known in 
some cases to have attained a high      
degree of culture4 ,aspasia1 who became 
the wife of ,pericles1 is a shining     
example4 ,there was ,sappho1 also1 with 
her school of poetry attended by girls  
in ,lesbos4  ,taking all these facts    
into consideration1 it would seem that  

,browning was sufficiently justified in 
drawing such a woman as ,balaustion1 and
 that a woman of her penetrating        
intellect and ardor of spirit would love
 ,euripides1 and dislike ,aristophanes1 
seems absolutely certain4  ,therefore1  
if the historical attitude is taken     
toward ,balaustion and her criticism and
 appreciation1 it can be on the whole   
accepted as reflecting what would       
probably be the feeling of an ardent    
woman-follower of ,euripides in his own 
day4  ,but1 on the other hand1 if the   
criticism be taken as ,browning's own1  
it is open to question whether it is    
partisan rather than entirely           
broad-minded4 ,take the consensus of    
opinion of modern critics and we find   
them all agreed in regard to the genius 
of ,aristophanes1 though admitting that 
his coarseness must1 at times1 detract  
from their enjoyment of him4  ,there is 
much truth in ,symonds' criticism of the
 poem4 ,he says of it3 ,as a sophist and
 a rhetorician of poetry1 ,mr4 ,browning

 proves himself unrivaled1 and takes    
rank with the best writers of historical
 romances4 ,yet students may fairly     
accuse him of some special pleading in  
favor of his friends and against his    
foes4 ,it is true that ,aristophanes did
 not bring back again the golden days of
 ,greece2 true that his comedy revealed 
a corruption latent in ,athenian life4  
,but neither was ,euripides in any sense
 a savior4 ,impartiality regards them   
both as equally destructive3            
,aristophanes1 because he indulged      
animalism and praised ignorance in an   
age which ought to have outgrown both2  
,euripides1 because he criticised the   
whole fabric of ,greek thought and      
feeling in an age which had not yet     
distinguished between analysis and      
skepticism4  ,what has just been said   
about ,mr4 ,browning's special pleading 
indicates the chief fault to be found   
with his poem4 ,the point of view is    
modern4 ,the situation is strained4     
,aristophanes becomes the scapegoat of  

,athenian sins1 while ,euripides shines 
forth a saint as well as a sage4        
,balaustion1 for her part1 beautiful as 
her conception truly is1 takes up a     
position which even ,plato could not    
have assumed4 ,into her mouth ,mr4      
,browning has put the views of the most 
searching and most sympathetic modern   
analyst4 ,she judges ,euripides not as  
he appeared to his own ,greeks1 but as  
he strikes the warmest of his admirers1 
who compare his work with that of all   
the poets who have ever lived4  ,it     
would seem that ,mr4 ,symonds1 himself1 
does some special pleading here4 ,as we 
have seen1 ,euripides1 though not a     
favorite in ,athens1 did have warm      
admirers in his own day2 consequently   
there is nothing out of the way in      
portraying one of his contemporaries as 
an admirer4 ,furthermore1 ,balaustion   
does not represent him as a savior of   
his age4 ,she sees only too clearly that
 in the narrow sense of convincing his  
age he has not been a success4 ,what is 

her vision of the spiritual ,athens     
which is to arise but a confession of   
this fact6 ,nor is it entirely          
improbable that she might be prophetic  
of a time when ,euripides will be       
recognized as the true power4 ,any      
disciple of a poet ahead of his time    
perceives these things4 ,one should be  
careful in judging of the poem as good  
modern criticism not to be entirely     
guided by the opinions of ,balaustion4  
,it should never be forgotten that it is
 a dramatic poem in which ,aristophanes 
is allowed to speak for himself at great
 length1 and whatever can be accepted as
 good argument for himself upon his own 
ground should be set over against the   
sweeping strictures of ,balaustion4     
,indeed it may turn out that ,browning  
has1 after all1 said for him the most   
exculpatory word of any critic1 for he  
has so presented his case as to show    
that he considers him the outcome of the
 undeveloped phase of morals then       
existing for which he is hardly         

responsible because the higher light has
 not yet broken in upon him4 ,this is   
evidenced especially in the strange     
combination in him of a frank belief in 
a life of the senses which goes along   
with a puritanical reverence for the    
gods1 and a hatred of anything that     
falls within his own definition of vice4
  ,to sum up1 if ,i may again be        
forgiven for re-expressing an opinion   
elsewhere printed1 which states as      
clearly as ,i am able to do my          
conviction of where the play stands as  
criticism1 like all dramatic work1 this 
poem aims to present the actual spirit  
of the time in which the actors moved   
upon the stage of life1 and to reproduce
 something of their mental and emotional
 natures4 ,any criticism of the poets   
who figure in the poem1 or of the larger
 question of the quarrel between tragedy
 and comedy1 should be deduced          
indirectly1 as implied in the           
sympathetic presentation of both sides1 
not based exclusively upon direct       

expressions of opinion on either side4  
,so regarded it would seem that         
,browning was able to appreciate the    
genius of ,aristophanes as well as that 
of ,euripides1 but that he considered   
,aristophanes to have value chiefly in  
relation to his age1 as the artistic    
mouthpiece of its long-established      
usages1 while ,euripides had caught the 
breath of the future1 and was the mirror
 of the prophetic impulses of his age   
rather than of its dominant             
civilization4  ,it is not improbable    
that ,landor's fascinating portrayal of 
the brilliant ,aspasia may have had some
 influence upon ,browning's conception  
of ,balaustion1 upon the intellectual   
side at least4 ,alcibiades says that    
many people think her language as pure  
and elegant as ,pericles1 and ,pericles 
says she was never seen out of temper or
 forgetful of what argument to urge     
first and most forcibly4 ,when all is   
said1 however1 it may be that the halo  
irised around ,balaustion's head was    

due1 more than to any one else1 to the  
influence of the memory of ,mrs4        
,browning1 of whom she is made to say   
with a sublime disregard of its         
anachronism3    ,i know the poetess who 
graved in gold1   ,among her glories    
that shall never fade1   ,this style and
 title for ,euripides1   ,the ,human    
with his droppings of warm tears4       
,after such a study of ,greek life as   
this1 wherein every available incident  
in history1 every episode in the plays  
of ,aristophanes bearing on the subject1
 every contemporary allusion are all    
woven together with such consummate     
skill that the very soul and body of the
 time is imaged forth1 the classical    
poems of the other great names of the   
century seem almost like child's play4  
,landor's poems on ,greek subjects sound
 like imitations in inferior material of
 antiquity4 ,arnold's are even duller4  
,swinburne tells his ,greek tales in an 
endless flow of rhythmical1 musical     
verse1 which occasionally rises into the

 realm of having something to say4      
,morris tells his at equal length in a  
manner suggestive of ,chaucer without   
,chaucer's snap1 but where among them   
all is there such a bit of stinging life
 as in ,pheidippedes or ,echetlos8      
,illustration3 ,,walter ,,savage        
,,landor  ,tennyson has1 it is true1    
written some altogether exquisite verse1
 upon classical themes1 and in every    
case the poems are not descriptive nor  
dramatic1 but are dramatic soliloquies1 
thus approaching in form ,browning's    
dramatic idyls4 ,one of the most        
beautiful of these is ,oenone4 ,there we
 have a mere tradition enlarged upon and
 the feelings of ,oenone upon the       
desertion of ,paris expressed with a    
richness of emotional fervor in a       
setting of appropriate nature imagery   
which carries us back to the idyls of   
,theocritus4 ,ulysses1 again gives the  
psychology of a wanderer who has become 
so habituated to adventures that he is  
quite incapable of settling down with   

,penelope for the remainder of his life4
 ,one cannot quite forgive the poet for 
calling the ever youthful and beautiful 
,penelope1 whose hand was sought by so  
many suitors1 and who1 although twenty  
years had passed1 might still be quite  
young1 an aged wife4 ,it has always     
seemed to the writer like a wholly      
unnecessary stab at a very beautiful    
story1 and the poem would have been just
 as effective if ,ulysses' hunger for   
lands beyond the sun had not been       
coupled with any scorn of ,penelope1 but
 with a feeling of pain that again ,fate
 must take him away from her4 ,aside    
from this note of bad taste--bad1       
because it shadows a picture of         
faithfulness1 cherished as an almost    
universal possession of humanity--the   
poem is fine4 ,there is also1 though not
 ,greek1 the remarkable study of        
,lucretius going mad from the effects of
 his wife's love philter1 in which the  
most fascinating glimpses of his        
philosophy of atoms are caught amid his 

maniacal wanderings1 and1 last1 the very
 beautiful ,demeter and ,persephone4    
,these are as unique in their way as    
,browning's ,greek poems are in theirs1 
standing quite apart from such work as  
,morris'1 or ,swinburne's1 not only     
because of their haunting music1 which  
even ,swinburne cannot equal1 but       
because of a deeper vein of thought     
running through them4 ,as far as thought
 is concerned1 however1 all pale in     
significance the moment they are placed 
in juxtaposition with any of ,browning's
 classical productions4  ,not the least 
interesting of ,browning's classical    
poems is ,ixion4 ,in his treatment of   
the myth of ,ixion he proves himself a  
true child of the ,greeks1 not that he  
makes any slavish attempt to reproduce a
 ,greek atmosphere as it existed in the 
lifetime of ,greek poetry1 but he       
exercises that prerogative which the    
,greek poets always claimed1 of         
interpreting a myth to suit their own   
ends4  ,it has become a sort of critical

 axiom to compare ,browning's ,ixion    
with the ,prometheus of literature4     
,this is one of those catching analogies
 which lay hold upon the mind1 and      
cannot be shaken off again without      
considerable difficulty4 ,mr4 ,arthur   
,symons first spoke of the resemblance2 
and almost every other critic with the  
exception of ,mr4 ,nettleship has dwelt 
mainly upon that aspect of the poem     
which bears out the comparison4 ,but    
why1 it might very well be asked1 did   
,browning1 if he intended to make       
another ,prometheus1 choose ,ixion for  
his theme8 ,and the answer is evident1  
because in the story of ,ixion he found 
some quality different from any which   
existed in the story of ,prometheus1 and
 which was especially suited to the end 
he had in view4  ,the kernel of the myth
 of ,prometheus as developed by         
,a,eschylus is proud1 unflinching       
suffering of punishment1 inflicted1 not 
by a god justly angry for sin against   
himself1 but by a god sternly mindful of

 his own prerogatives1 whose only right 
is might1 and jealous of any            
interference in behalf of the race which
 he detested--the race of man4 ,thus    
,prometheus stands out as a hero in     
,greek mythology1 a mediator between man
 and the blind anger of a god of        
unconditional power2 and ,prometheus1   
with an equally blind belief in ,fate1  
accepts while he defies the punishment  
inflicted by ,zeus4 ,he tacitly         
acknowledges the right of ,zeus to      
punish him1 since he confesses his deeds
 to be sins1 but1 nevertheless1 he would
 do exactly the same thing over again3  
,by my choice1 my choice   ,i freely    
sinned--,i will confess my sin--   ,and 
helping mortals found mine own despair4 
,on the other hand1 ,ixion never appears
 in classic lore as a hero4 ,he has been
 called the ,cain of ,greece1 because he
 was the first1 as ,pindar says1 to     
introduce to mortal men the murder of   
kin not unaccompanied by cunning4 ,zeus 
appears1 however1 to have shown more    

leniency to him for the crime of killing
 his father-in-law than he ever did to  
,prometheus1 as he not only purified him
 from murder1 but invited him to a seat 
among the gods4 ,but to quote ,pindar   
again1 he found his prosperity too great
 to bear1 when with infatuate mind he   
became enamored of ,hera4444 ,thus his  
conceit drave him to an act of enormous 
folly1 but the man soon suffered his    
deserts1 and received an exquisite      
torture4 ,ixion1 then1 in direct        
contrast to ,prometheus1 stands forth an
 embodiment of the most detestable of   
sins1 perpetrated simply for personal   
ends4 ,to depict such a man as this in  
an attitude of defiance1 and yet to     
justify his defiance1 is a far more     
difficult problem than to justify the   
already admired heroism of ,prometheus4 
,it is entirely characteristic of       
,browning that he should choose perhaps 
the most unprincipled character in the  
whole range of ,greek mythology as his  
hero4 ,he is not content1 like ,emerson1

 with simply telling us that in the mud 
and scum of things there alway1 alway   
something sings2 his aim is ever to     
bring us face to face with reality1 and 
to open our ears that we may hear for   
ourselves this universal song4 ,in fine1
 ,browning chose ,ixion and not another1
 because he wanted above all things an  
unquestioned sinner2 and the task he set
 himself was to show the use of sin and 
at the same time exonerate the sinner   
from the eternal consequences of his    
act4  ,so mystical is the language of   
the poem that it is extremely difficult 
to trace behind it the subtle reasoning4
 ,mr4 ,nettleship has given by far the  
best exposition of the poem1 though even
 he does not seize all its              
suggestiveness4  ,ixion1 the sinner1    
suffering eternal torment1 questions the
 justice of such torment4 ,the first    
very important conclusion to which he   
comes1 and it is one entirely in accord 
with science1 is that sin is an         
aberration of sense1 merely the result  

of external conditions in which the soul
 of man has no active part4 ,the soul   
simply dreams1 but once fully awakened1 
it would free itself from this bondage  
of sense if it were allowed to do so4   
,ixion argues that it is ,zeus that hath
 made him and not he himself1 and if he 
has sinned it is through the bodily     
senses which ,zeus has conferred upon   
him1 and if he were the friendly and    
all-powerful god which he claimed       
himself to be and which ,ixion believed 
he was1 why did he allow these          
distractions of sense to lead him       
7,ixion7 into sin which could only be   
expiated by eternal punishment8 ,without
 body there would have been nothing to  
obstruct his soul's rush upon the real2 
and with one touch of pitying power     
,zeus might have dispersed this         
film-work1 eye's and ear's4 ,it is      
entirely the fault of ,zeus that he had 
sinned2 and having done so will external
 torture make him repent any more who   
has repented already8 ,this is the old1 

old problem that has taxed the brains of
 many a philosopher and the faith of    
many a theologian--the reconcilement of 
the existence of evil with an omnipotent
 ,god4 ,then follows a comparison       
between the actions of ,zeus1 a god1 and
 of ,ixion1 the human king2 and ,ixion  
declares could he have known all1 as    
,zeus does1 he would have warded off    
evil from his subjects1 would have seen 
that they were trained aright from the  
first--in fact1 would not have allowed  
evil to exist1 or failing this1 could he
 have seen the heart of the criminals   
and realized how they repented he would 
have given them a chance to retrieve    
their past4 ,ixion now realizes that his
 human ideal is higher than that of     
,zeus4 ,he had imagined him possessed of
 human qualities1 and finds his         
qualities are less than human4 ,what    
must be the inevitable result of        
arriving at such a conclusion8 ,it means
 the dethronement of the god1 and either
 a lapse into hopeless atheism or the   

recognition that the conception formed  
of the god was that of the human mind at
 an earlier stage of understanding4     
,this conception becomes crystallized   
into an anthropomorphic god2 but the    
mind of man goes onward on its way to   
higher heights1 and lo6 there comes a   
day when the god-ideal of the past is   
lower than the human ideal of the       
present4 ,it is such a crisis as this   
that ,ixion has arrived at1 and his     
faith is equal to the strain4 ,since    
,zeus is man's own mind-made god1       
,ixion's tortures must be the natural   
consequences of his sin1 and not the    
arbitrary punishment of a god2 and what 
is ,ixion's sin as ,browning has        
interpreted the myth8  ,the sin is that 
of arrogance4 ,ixion1 a mere man1       
strives to be on an equality with gods4 
,in ,lucian's dialogue between ,hera and
 ,zeus the stress is laid upon the      
arrogance of ,ixion4 ,jupiter declares  
that ,ixion shall pay the penalty not of
 his love--for that surely is not so    

dreadful a crime--but of his loud       
boasting4 ,browning raises the sin into 
a rarer atmosphere than that of the     
,greek or ,latin4 ,zeus and ,hera may be
 taken to represent the attributes of   
power and love as conceived by man in   
,divinity2 and ,ixion1 symbolic of man1 
arrogantly supposes that he is capable  
of putting himself on an equality with  
,divinity by conceiving the entire      
nature of ,divinity1 that out of his    
finite mind he can construct the        
absolute god1 and this is the sin1 or1  
better1 the aberration of sense1 which  
results in the crystallization of his   
former inadequate conceptions into an   
anthropomorphic god1 and causes his own 
downfall4 ,ixion1 now fully aroused to  
the fact that the god he has been       
defying is but his own miserable        
conception of ,god1 realizes that the   
suffering caused by this conception of  
,god is the very means through which man
 struggles toward higher ideals3 through
 evil he is brought to a recognition of 

the good2 from his agony is bred the    
rainbow of hope1 which ever shines above
 him glorified by the light from a      
,purity far beyond1 all-unobstructed4   
,successive conceptions of ,god must    
sink2 but man1 however misled by them1  
must finally burst through the          
obstructions of sense1 freeing his      
spirit to aspire forever toward the     
light4  ,ixion1 then1 is not merely an  
argument against eternal punishment1 nor
 a picture of heroic suffering1 though  
he who will may draw these lessons from 
it1 but it is a tremendous symbol of the
 spiritual development of man4 ,pure in 
its essence1 the spirit learns through  
the obstructions of sense to yearn      
forever for higher attainment1 and this 
constitutes the especial blessedness of 
man as contrasted with ,zeus4 ,he1 like 
the ,pythagorean ,father of ,number1 is 
the conditioned one2 but man is         
privileged through all aeons of time to 
break through conditions1 and thus      
,ixion1 triumphant1 exclaims3           

,where light1 where light is1 aspiring  
,thither ,i rise1 whilst thou--,zeus1   
keep the godship and sink4  ,in these   
poems1 as in other phases of his work1  
,browning runs the gamut of life1 of    
art1 and of thought4 ,he has set a new  
standard in regard to the handling of   
classic material1 one which should open 
the field of classic lore afresh to     
future poets4 ,instead of trying to ape 
in more or less ineffectual imitations  
the style and thought of the great      
masters of antiquity1 or simply use     
their mythology as a well-spring of     
romance to be clothed in whatever       
vagaries of style the individual poet   
might be able to invent1 the aim of the 
future poet should be to reconstruct the
 life and thought of that wonderful     
civilization4 ,one playwright1 at least1
 has made a step in the right direction4
 ,i refer to ,gilbert ,murray1 whose    
classical scholarship has thrown so much
 light upon the vexed questions of      
,browning's attitude toward ,euripides1 

and who1 in his ,andromache1 has written
 a play1 not in classical1 but in modern
 form1 which seems to bring us more into
 touch with the life of ,homer's day    
than even ,homer himself4     ,,vii     
,,prophetic ,,visions   ,the division   
between centuries1 though it be an      
arbitrary one1 does actually appear to  
mark fairly definite steps in human     
development1 and already there are      
indications that the twentieth century  
is taking on a character quite distinct 
from that of the nineteenth4 ,it looks  
now as if it were to be the century of  
the realization of mankind's wildest    
dreams in the past4 ,air navigation1 the
 elixir of life1 perpetual motion1 are  
some of them4 ,about the first no one   
can now have much skepticism1 for if    
airships are not as yet common objects  
of the everyday sky1 they1 at least1    
occupy a large share of attention in the
 magazines1 while the aviator1 a being  
who did not exist in the last century1  
is now the hero of the hour4  ,with     

regard to the second1 though no         
sparkling elixir distilled from some    
rare flower1 such as that ,septimius    
,felton sought in ,hawthorne's tale1 has
 been discovered1 the great scientist   
,metchnikoff has brought to light a     
preserver of youth more in keeping with 
the science of the day--namely1 a       
microbe1 possessing power to destroy the
 poison that produces age4 ,whether     
perpetual youth is to lead to           
immortality in the flesh will probably  
be a question for other centuries to    
discuss1 though if ,metchnikoff is right
 there is no reason why we should not   
retain our youthfulness all our lives in
 this century4 ,add to this1 machinery  
run by the perpetual energy of radium--a
 possibility1 if radium can ever be     
obtained in sufficient quantities to    
supply the needed power to keep modern  
civilization on its ceaseless go--and we
 may picture to ourselves1 before the   
end of the twentieth century1 youths of 
ninety starting forth on voyages of     

thirty years in radium ships1 which1    
like the fairy watch of the ,princess   
,rossetta1 will never go wrong and will 
never need to be wound up1              
metaphorically speaking4 ,it would      
almost seem as if some method of        
enlarging the earth1 or of arranging    
voyages to the moon and ,mars1 would be 
necessary in order to give the new      
radium machinery sufficient scope for   
its activities4 ,however1 at present it 
seems unlikely that it will ever be     
possible to produce more than half an   
ounce of radium a year4 ,as it would    
take a ton to run one ship for thirty   
years1 and the expense would be         
something almost incalculable1 it is a  
dream only to be realized by the        
inventing of methods by which the feeble
 radio-activity known to exist in many  
other substances can be utilized4 ,these
 methods have not yet been invented1 but
 it is a good deal that they have been  
thought of1 for what man thinks of he   
generally seems to have the indomitable 

energy to accomplish4  ,how such        
inventions as these1 even if very far   
from attaining success1 may affect the  
social and thought ideals of the century
 it is impossible to say4 ,the          
automobile is said to have brought about
 a change1 not altogether beneficial1 to
 the intellectual and artistic growth of
 society to-day4 ,it has taken such     
powerful possession of the minds of     
humanity that homes have been mortgaged1
 music and books and pictures have been 
sacrificed1 in order that all the money 
procurable could be put into the        
machines and their running4 ,you hear   
complaints against the automobile from  
writers1 musicians1 and artists4 ,the   
only thing that really has a good sale  
is the automobile4 ,what effect rushing 
about so constantly at high speed in the
 open air is to have on the brain-power 
is another interesting problem4 ,perhaps
 it is this growing subjective delight  
in motion which is causing the          
development of an artistic taste        

dependent upon motion as its chief      
element4 ,motion pictures and dancing   
appeal to the public with such          
insistence that plays will not hold     
successfully without an almost          
exaggerated attention to action and     
dancing1 which1 whenever it is at all   
possible1 make a part of the show4  ,the
 pictures of the new school of painters1
 the futurists1 also reveal the craze   
for motion4 ,they try to put into their 
pictures the successive and decidedly   
blurred impressions1 from the           
illustrations ,i have seen1 of scenes in
 motion1 with a result that is certainly
 startling and interesting1 but which it
 is difficult to believe is beautiful4  
,one has a horrible suspicion that all  
this emphasis upon motion in art is a   
running to seed of the art which appeals
 to the eye and with a psychological    
content derived principally from        
sensation4 ,perhaps in some other       
century1 fatuous humanity will like to  
listen to operas or to plays in a       

pitch-dark theatre4 ,this will represent
 the going to seed of the art which     
appeals to the ear1 and a psychological 
content derived principally from        
sentiment4  ,while movement seems to be 
the keynote of the century thus far1 in 
its everyday life and in its art        
manifestation1 very interesting         
developments are taking place in        
scientific theories and in philosophy1  
as well as in the world of education and
 sociology4  ,in relation to ,browning  
and the other chief poets of the        
nineteenth century1 the only aspects of 
interest are in the region of thought   
and social ideals4  ,with the exception 
of ,tennyson1 no other of the chief     
poets of the century need be considered 
in this connection with ,browning1      
because1 as we have seen in a previous  
chapter1 they reflected on the whole the
 prevalent disbelief and doubt of the   
century which came with the revelations 
of science4 ,many people have regarded  
,tennyson as the chief prophet of the   

century4 ,he seems1 however1 to the     
present writer to have held an attitude 
which reflected the general tone of     
religious aspiration in the century1    
rather than one which struck a new note 
indicating the direction in which future
 religious aspiration might turn4  ,the 
conflict in his mind is between doubt   
and belief4 ,to doubt he has often given
 the most poignant expression1 as in his
 poem called ,despair4 ,the story is of 
a man and his wife who have lost all    
religious faith through the reading of  
scientific books3    ,have ,i crazed    
myself over their horrible infidel      
writings8 ,o1 yes1   ,for these are the 
new dark ages1 you see1 of the popular  
press1   ,when the bat comes out of his 
cave1 and the owls are whooping at noon1
   ,and doubt is the lord of the        
dunghill1 and crows to the sun and the  
moon1   ,till the sun and the moon of   
our science are both of them turned into
       blood4   ,and hope will have     
broken her heart1 running after a shadow

 of good2   ,for their knowing and      
know-nothing books are scatter'd from   
hand to       hand--   ,we have knelt in
 your know-all chapel1 too1 looking over
 the sand4  ,if the effect of science   
was bad upon this weak-minded pair1 the 
effect of religion as it had been taught
 them was no better4 ,the absolute      
hopelessness of a blasted faith in all  
things reaches its climax in the        
following stanzas3    ,and the suns of  
the limitless universe sparkled and     
shone in the sky1   ,flashing with fires
 as of ,god1 but we knew that their     
light was a lie--   ,bright as with     
deathless hope--but1 however they       
sparkled and shone1   ,the dark little  
worlds running round them were worlds of
 woe like our       own--   ,no soul in 
the heaven above1 no soul on the earth  
below1   ,a fiery scroll written over   
with lamentation and woe4    ,see1 we   
were nursed in the drear nightfold of   
your fatalist creed1   ,and we turn'd to
 the growing dawn1 we had hoped for a   

dawn indeed1   ,when the light of a sun 
that was coming would scatter the ghosts
 of the       past4   ,and the cramping 
creeds that had madden'd the peoples    
would vanish at       last1   ,and we   
broke away from the ,christ1 our human  
brother and friend1   ,for ,he spoke1 or
 it seemed that ,he spoke1 of a hell    
without help1       without end4        
,hoped for a dawn1 and it came1 but the 
promise had faded away2   ,we had passed
 from a cheerless night to the glare of 
a drearier day2   ,he is only a cloud   
and a smoke who was once a pillar of    
fire1   ,the guess of a worm in the dust
 and the shadow of its desire--   ,of a 
worm as it writhes in a world of the    
weak trodden down by the       strong1  
,of a dying worm in a world1 all        
massacre1 murder and wrong4  ,there are 
many hopeful passages in ,tennyson to   
offset such deep pessimism as is        
expressed in this one1 which1 moreover1 
being a dramatic utterance it must be   
remembered1 does not reflect any settled

 conviction on the poet's part1 though  
it shows him liable to moods of the most
 extreme doubt4 ,in ,the ,ancient ,sage 
the agnostic spirit of the century is   
fully described1 but instead of leading 
to a mood of despair1 the mood is one of
 clinging to faith in the face of all   
doubt4 ,the sage speaking1 says3        
,thou canst not prove the ,nameless1 ,o 
my son1   ,nor canst thou prove the     
world thou movest in1   ,thou canst not 
prove that thou art body alone1   ,nor  
canst thou prove that thou art both in  
one4   ,thou canst not prove thou art   
immortal1 no1   ,nor yet that thou art  
mortal--nay1 my son1   ,thou canst not  
prove that ,i who speak with thee1      
,are not thyself in converse with       
thyself1   ,for nothing worthy proving  
can be proven1   ,nor yet disproven4    
,wherefore thou be wise1   ,cleave ever 
to the sunnier side of doubt1   ,and    
cling to ,faith beyond the forms of     
,faith6   ,she reels not in the storm of
 warring words1   ,she brightens at the 

clash of ',yes' and ',no4'   ,she sees  
the best that glimmers thro' the worst1 
,she feels the sun is hid but for a     
night1   ,she spies the summer thro' the
 winter bud1   ,she tastes the fruit    
before the blossom falls1   ,she hears  
the lark within the songless egg1   ,she
 finds the fountain where they wail'd   
,mirage6  ,there is nothing here more   
reassuring than a statement made by the 
sage1 based upon no argument1 nor       
revelation1 nor intuition--nothing but  
the utilitarian doctrine that it will be
 wiser to cling to ,faith beyond ,faith6
 ,this is a sample of the sort of       
assurance in the reality of ,god and of 
immortality which ,tennyson was in the  
habit of giving4 ,in the poem called    
,vastness he presents with genuine power
 a pessimistic view of humanity and     
civilization in all its various         
phases--all of no use1 neither the good 
any more than the bad1 if we all of us  
end but in being our own corpse-coffins 
at last8 ,the effect of the dismal      

atmosphere of the poem as a whole is    
supposed to be dissipated by the last   
stanza3    ,peace1 let it be6 for ,i    
loved him1 and love him forever3 the    
dead are       not dead but alive4  ,the
 conviction here of immortality through 
personal love is born of the feeling    
that his friend whom he has loved must  
live forever4 ,the note of ,in ,memoriam
 is sounded again4 ,tennyson's          
philosophy1 in a nutshell1 seems to be  
that doubts are not so much overcome as 
quieted by a struggling faith in the    
truths of religion1 of which the chief  
assurance lies in the thought of        
personal love4 ,not as in ,browning1    
that human love1 because of its beauty  
and ecstasy1 is a symbol of divine love1
 but because of its wish to be reunited 
to the one beloved is an earnest of     
continued existence4 ,while ,tennyson's 
poetry is saturated with allusions to   
the science of the century1 it seems to 
be ever the dark side of the doctrine of
 evolution that is dwelt upon by him1   

while his religion is held to in spite  
of the truths of science1 not because   
the truths of science have given him in 
any way a new revelation of beauty4     
,much more emphasis has been laid upon  
,tennyson's importance as a prophet in  
religious matters than seems to the     
present writer warranted4 ,he did not   
even keep pace with the thought of the  
century1 though his poetry undoubtedly  
reflected the liberalized theology of   
the earlier years of the second half of 
the century4 ,as ,joseph ,jacobs says1  
,in ,memoriam has been to the ,broad    
,church ,movement what the ,christian   
,year has been to the ,high ,church4    
,but where is the ,broad ,church now8   
,tennyson was1 on the whole1 adverse to 
evolution1 which has been almost an     
instinct in ,english speculation for the
 last quarter of a century4 ,so far as  
he was the voice of his age in          
speculative matters1 he only represented
 the thought of the sixties4  ,what     
vision ,tennyson did have came not      

through intuition or the higher reason1 
but through his psychic power of        
self-hypnotism4 ,in ,the ,ancient ,sage 
is a passage describing the sort of     
trance into which he could evidently    
cause himself to fall3                  
,for more than once when ,i   ,sat all  
alone1 revolving in myself   ,the word  
that is the symbol of myself1   ,the    
mortal limit of the self was loosed1    
,and passed into the ,nameless1 as a    
cloud   ,melts into ,heaven4 ,i touch'd 
my limbs1 the limbs   ,were strange1 not
 mine--and yet no shade of doubt1   ,but
 utter clearness1 and thro' loss of     
self1   ,the gain of such large life as 
match'd with ours   ,were sun to        
spark--unshadowable in words1           
,themselves but shadows of a shadow     
world4  ,such trances have been of      
common occurrence in the religious life 
of the world1 as ,professor ,james has  
shown so exhaustively in his great book1
 ,varieties of ,religious ,experience4  
,and in that book1 too1 it is           

maintained1 against the scientific      
conclusions1 that such ecstasies signify
 nothing but suggested and imitated     
hypnoid states1 on an intellectual basis
 of superstition1 and a corporal one of 
degeneration and hysteria1 that mystical
 states have an actual value as         
revelations of the truth4 ,after passing
 in review many examples of ecstasy and 
trance1 from the occasional experiences 
of the poets to the constant experiences
 of the mediaeval mystics and the ,hindu
 ,yogis1 he finally comes to the        
interesting conclusion that3      ,this 
overcoming of all the usual barriers    
between the individual and     the      
absolute is the great mystic            
achievement4 ,in mystic states we       
both become one with the ,absolute and  
we become aware of our one-ness4        
,this is the everlasting and triumphant 
mystical tradition1 hardly     altered  
by differences of clime or creed4 ,in   
,hinduism1 in     ,neoplatonism1 in     
,sufism1 in ,christian mysticism1 in    

,whitmanism1 we     find the same       
recurring note1 so that there is about  
mystical     utterances an eternal      
unanimity--which ought to make a critic 
stop and     think1 and which brings it 
about that the mystical classics have1  
as     has been said1 neither birthday  
nor native land4  ,the witness given    
religion in ,tennyson's mystical trances
 is then his most valuable contribution 
to the speculative thought of the       
century1 and in a sense is prophetic of 
the twentieth century1 because in this  
century revelations attained in this way
 have been given a credence long denied 
them except in the case of the          
uneducated and super-emotional1 by a man
 of the sound scholarship and good      
judgment of ,professor ,james4  ,how    
fully ,browning was a representative of 
the thought of this time1 combining as  
he did an intuitional with a scientific 
outlook has already been shown4         
,evolution means for him the progress   
toward the infinite1 and is full of     

beauty and promise4 ,the failures in    
nature and life which fill ,tennyson    
with despair furnish to ,browning's mind
 a proof of the existence of the        
absolute1 or a somewhere beyond1 where  
things will be righted4 ,observation    
shows him everywhere in the universe the
 existence of power and mystery4 ,the   
mystery is either that of the           
incomprehensibleness of causes1 or is   
emphasized in the existence of evil4    
,the first leads to awe and wonder1 and 
is a constant spur to mankind to seek   
further knowledge1 but the poet insists 
that the knowledge so accumulated is not
 actual gain1 but only a means to gain  
in so far as it keeps bringing home to  
the human mind the fact of its own      
inadequacy in the discovery of truth4   
,the existence of evil leads to the     
constant effort to overcome it1 and to  
sympathy and pity1 and as the failure of
 knowledge proves a future of truth to  
be won1 so the failure of mankind to    
attain perfection in moral action proves

 a future of goodness to be realized4   
,all this may be found either explicitly
 or implied in the synthetic philosophy 
of ,herbert ,spencer1 whose fundamental 
principles1 despite the fire of         
criticism to which he has been subjected
 from all sides--science1 religion1     
metaphysics1 each of which felt it could
 not claim him exclusively as its own1  
yet resenting his inclusion of the other
 two--are now1 in the first decade of   
the twentieth century1 receiving the    
fullest recognition by such masters of  
the history of nineteenth-century       
thought as ,theodore ,merz and ,emile   
,boutroux4  ,people often forget that   
while ,spencer spent his life upon the  
knowledge or scientific side of human   
experience1 he frequently asserted that 
there was in the human consciousness an 
intuition of the absolute which was the 
only certain knowledge possessed by man4
 ,here again ,browning was at one with  
,spencer4 ,discussing the problem of a  
future life in ,la ,saisiaz1 he declares

 that ,god and the soul are the only    
facts of which he is absolutely certain3
    ,i have questioned and am answered4 
,question1 answer presuppose   ,two     
points3 that the thing itself which     
questions1 answers--is1 it       knows2 
,as it also knows the thing perceived   
outside itself--a force   ,actual ere   
its own beginning1 operative through its
 course1   ,unaffected by its end--that 
this thing likewise needs must be2      
,call this--,god1 then1 call that--soul1
 and both--the only facts for me4       
,prove them facts8 ,that they o'erpass  
my power of proving1 proves them        
such4  ,to this scientific and          
metaphysical side ,browning adds1 as has
 also already been pointed out1 a       
mystical side based upon feeling4 ,his  
revelations of divinity do not come by  
means of self-induced trances1 as       
,tennyson's seem to have come1 but      
through the mystery of feeling4 ,this   
mystical state seems to have been his   
habitual one1 if we may judge by its    

prominence in his poetry4 ,he           
occasionally descends to the realm of   
reason1 as he has in ,la ,saisiaz1 but  
the true plane of his existence is up   
among the exaltations of aspiration and 
love4 ,his cosmic sense is a sense of   
,god as ,love1 and is the quality most  
characteristic of the man4 ,it is like1 
though perhaps not identical with1 the  
mysticism of ,whitman1 which seems to   
have been an habitual state4 ,he writes3
 ,there is1 apart from mere intellect1  
in the make-up of every superior human  
identity1 a wondrous something that     
realizes without argument1 frequently   
without what is called education 7though
 ,i think it the goal and apex of all   
education deserving the name71 an       
intuition of the absolute balance1 in   
time and space1 of the whole of this    
multifariousness1 this revel of fools1  
and incredible make-believe and general 
unsettledness we call the world2 a      
soul-sight of that divine clue and      
unseen thread which holds the whole     

congeries of things1 all history and    
time1 and all events1 however trivial1  
however momentous1 like a leashed dog in
 the hand of the hunter4  ,this mystic  
mood of ,browning's which underlies his 
whole work--even a work like ,the ,ring 
and the ,book1 where evil in various    
forms is rampant and seems for the time 
being to conquer--is nowhere more fully1
 and at the same time more concisely1   
expressed than in his poem ,reverie1 one
 of his last1 which ends with a full    
revelation of this mystical feeling1    
from which the less inspired reasoning  
of ,la ,saisiaz is a descent3    ,even  
as the world its life1       ,so have ,i
 lived my own--   ,power seen with ,love
 at strife1       ,that sure1 this dimly
 shown--   ,good rare and evil rife     
,whereof the effect be--faith           
,that1 some far day1 were found         
,ripeness in things now rathe1          
,wrong righted1 each chain unbound1     
,renewal born out of scathe4    ,why    
faith--but to lift the load1       ,to  

leaven the lump1 where lies   ,mind     
prostrate through knowledge owed        
,to the loveless ,power it tries   ,to  
withstand1 how vain6 ,in flowed    ,ever
 resistless fact3       ,no more than   
the passive clay   ,disputes the        
potter's act1       ,could the whelmed  
mind disobey   ,knowledge the cataract4 
,but1 perfect in every part1       ,has 
the potter's moulded shape1   ,leap of  
man's quickened heart1       ,throe of  
his thought's escape1   ,stings of his  
soul which dart1    ,through the barrier
 of flesh1 till keen       ,she climbs  
from the calm and clear1   ,through     
turbidity all between       ,from the   
known to the unknown here1   ,heaven's  
',shall be' from ,earth's ',has been'8  
,then life is--to wake not sleep1       
,rise and not rest1 but press   ,from   
earth's level where blindly creep       
,things perfected more or less1   ,to   
the heaven's height1 far and steep1     
,where1 amid what strifes and storms    
,may wait the adventurous quest1        

,power is ,love--transports1 transforms1
       ,who aspired from worst to best1 
,sought the soul's world1 spurned the   
worms6    ,i have faith such end shall  
be3       ,from the first1 ,power       
was--,i knew4   ,life has made clear to 
me       ,that1 strive but for closer   
view1   ,love were as plain to see4     
,when see8 ,when there dawns a day1     
,if not on the homely earth1   ,then    
yonder1 worlds away1       ,where the   
strange and new have birth   ,and ,power
 comes full in play4  ,browning has1 far
 more than ,tennyson1 put religious     
speculation upon a basis where it may   
stand irrespective of a belief in the   
revelations of historical ,christianity4
 ,for the central doctrine of           
,christianity he had so profound a      
reverence that he recurs to it again and
 again in his poetry1 and at times his  
feeling seems to carry him to the verge 
of orthodox belief4 ,so near does he    
come to it that many religious critics  
have been convinced that he might be    

claimed as a ,christian in the orthodox 
sense of the word4  ,a more careful     
reading1 however1 of such poems as ,the 
,death in the ,desert1 and ,christmas   
,eve and ,easter ,day1 upon which rest  
principally the claim of the poet's     
orthodoxy1 will reveal that no certain  
assertion of a belief in supernaturalism
 is made1 even though the poems are     
dramatic and it might be made without   
necessarily expressing the feeling of   
the poet4 ,what ,browning felt was that 
in historical ,christianity the highest 
symbol of divine love had been reached4 
,though he may at times have had moods  
in which he would fain have believed    
true an ideal which held for him great  
beauty1 his worth for his age was in    
saving religion1 not upon a basis of    
faith1 but upon the ground of logical   
arguments deduced from the failure of   
knowledge1 of his personal intuition of 
,god and his mystical vision in regard  
to the nature of ,god4  ,so complete a  
synthesis is this that only in the      

present century is its full purport     
likely to be realized4 ,the thought of  
the century is showing everywhere a     
strong reaction away from materialism   
and toward religious thought4  ,even in 
the latest stronghold of science1       
psychology1 as we have already seen1    
there is no formula which will explain  
the existence of individuality4 ,while  
the scientists themselves plod on1 often
 quite unconscious that they are not    
dealing with ultimates1 the thinkers are
 no longer satisfied with a philosophy  
of materialism1 and once more it is     
being recognized that the province of   
philosophy is to give us ,god1 the soul 
and immortality4  ,it is especially     
interesting in this connection to       
observe that ,germany1 the land of      
destructive biblical criticism1 which   
,browning before the middle of the      
century handled with the consummate     
skill characteristic of him1 by         
accepting its historical conclusions    
while conserving the spirit of          

,christianity1 has now in the person of 
,professor ,rudolf ,eucken done an      
almost similar thing4 ,like ,browning1  
he is a strong individualist and        
believes that the development of the    
soul is the one thing of supreme moment4
 ,there is a spontaneous springing up of
 the individual spiritual life1 he      
writes1 only within the soul of the     
individual4 ,all social and all         
historical life that does not           
unceasingly draw from this source falls 
irrecoverably into a state of stagnation
 and desolation4 ,the individual can    
never be reduced to the position of a   
mere member of society1 of a church1 of 
a state2 notwithstanding all external   
subordination1 he must assert an inner  
superiority2 each spiritual individual  
is more than the whole external world4  
,illustration3 ,,browning ,,at #gg      
7#ahhi7  ,he calls his system activism1 
which merely seems to be another way of 
saying that the soul-life is one of     
aspiration toward moral ideals and the  

will to carry them out4 ,such a life1 he
 thinks1 demands a new world and a new  
character in man1 and is entirely at    
variance with nature4 ,our whole life is
 an indefatigable seeking and pressing  
forward4 ,in self-consciousness the     
framework is given which has to be      
filled2 in it we have acquired only the 
basis upon which the superstructure has 
to be raised4 ,we have to find          
experience in life itself to reveal     
something new1 to develop life1 to      
increase its range and depth4 ,the      
endeavor to advance in spirituality1 to 
win through struggle1 is the soul of the
 life of the individual and the work of 
universal history4 ,readers of ,browning
 will certainly not feel that there is  
anything new in this4  ,in so far1      
however1 as he finds the spiritual life 
at variance with nature he parts company
 with ,browning1 showing himself to be  
under the influence of the dualism of   
the past which regarded matter and      
spirit as antagonistic4 ,in ,browning's 

view1 matter and spirit are the two     
aspects of ,god1 in the one1 power being
 manifested2 in the other1 love4  ,it   
follows naturally from this1 that       
,eucken does not think of evil as a     
means by which good is developed4 ,he   
prefers to regard it as unexplained1 and
 forever with us to be overcome4 ,its   
reduction to a means of realizing the   
good leads1 he thinks1 to a weakening   
which threatens to transform the mighty 
world-struggle into an artistic         
arrangement of things and into an       
effeminate play1 and which takes away   
that bitterness from evil without which 
there is no strenuousness in the        
struggle and no vitality in life4 ,thus 
it remains true that religion does not  
so much explain as presuppose evil4 ,an 
attempt to explain evil1 he says1       
belongs to speculation rather than to   
religion4 ,that he has an inkling of the
 region to which speculation might lead 
him is shown when it is realized1 that  
upon his explanation1 as one critic of  

him has said1 it might be possible to   
find some reconciliation in the fact    
that this world with its negations had  
awakened the spiritual life to its      
absolute affirmation1 which could1      
therefore1 not be in absolute           
opposition4  ,in leaving aside          
speculation and confining himself to    
what he considers the religious aspects 
of life1 he no doubt strengthens himself
 as a leader of those whose speculative 
powers have not yet been developed1 or  
who can put one side of the mind to     
sleep and accept with the other         
half-truths4 ,the more developed mind1  
however1 will prefer ,browning's greater
 inclusiveness4 ,to possess a complete  
view of life1 man must live his own life
 as a human being struggling to overcome
 the evil1 at the same time keeping in  
mind the fact that evil is in a sense   
the raw material provided by ,god1 or   
the ,absolute1 or whatever name one     
chooses to give to the all-powerful and 
all-loving1 from which the active soul  

of man is to derive a richness of beauty
 and harmony of development not         
otherwise possible4 ,eucken's attitude  
toward ,jesus is summed up in a way     
which reminds one strongly of the       
position taken in the comment made at   
the end of ,the ,death in the ,desert4  
,he writes3 ,the position of the        
believer in the universal ,christian    
,church is grounded upon a relation to  
,god whose uniqueness emerges from the  
essential divinity of ,jesus2 only on   
this supposition can the personality of 
,christ stand as the unconditional ,lord
 and ,master to whom the ages must do   
homage4 ,and while the person of ,jesus 
retains a wonderful majesty apart from  
dogma1 its greatness is confined to the 
realm of humanity1 and whatever of new  
and divine life it brings to us must be 
potential and capable of realization in 
us all4 ,we therefore see no more in    
this figure the normative and           
universally valid type of all human     
life1 but merely an incomparable        

individuality which cannot be directly  
imitated4 ,at any rate the figure of    
,jesus1 thus understood in all its      
height and pure humanity1 can no longer 
be an object of faith and divine honor4 
,all attempts to take shelter in a      
mediating position are shattered against
 a relentless either--or4 ,between man  
and ,god there is no intermediate form  
of being for us1 for we cannot sink back
 into the ancient cult of heroes4 ,if   
,jesus1 therefore1 is not ,god1 if      
,christ is not the second person in the 
,trinity1 then he is a man2 not a man   
like any average man among ourselves1   
but still man4 ,we can therefore honor  
him as a leader1 a hero1 a martyr1 but  
we cannot directly bind ourselves to him
 or root ourselves in him2 we cannot    
submit to him unconditionally4 ,still   
less can we make him the centre of a    
cult4 ,to do so from our point of view  
would be nothing else than an           
intolerable deification of a human      
being4 ,the comment at the end of ,the  

,death in the ,desert puts a similar    
question1 and answers1 ,call ,christ1   
then1 the illimitable ,god1 ,or ,lost6  
,but the final word which casts a light 
back upon the previous conclusion is    
,but1 'twas ,cerinthus that is lost--the
 man1 in other words1 who held the      
heresy that the ,christ part only       
resided in ,jesus1 who was merely human1
 and that the divine part was not       
crucified1 having flown away before4    
,thus it is implied that neither those  
who believe ,jesus divine1 nor those who
 believe him human1 are lost1 but those 
who try as ,cerinthus did to make a     
compromise4 ,the same note is struck in 
,christmas ,eve1 and now ,professor     
,eucken takes an exactly similar ground 
in regard to any sort of compromise1    
coming out boldly1 however1 as ,browning
 does not in this poem1 though he makes 
no strong argument against it--in the   
acceptance of ,christ as human4         
,browning's own attitude is expressed as
 clearly as it is anywhere in his work  

in the epilogue to ,dramatis ,personae1 
in which the conclusion is entirely in  
sympathy with that of ,eucken3    ,when 
you see what ,i tell you--nature dance  
,about each man of us1 retire1 advance1 
,as though the pageant's end were to    
enhance    ,his worth1 and--once the    
life1 his product gained--   ,roll away 
elsewhere1 keep the strife sustained1   
,and show thus real1 a thing the ,north 
but feigned--    ,when you acknowledge  
that one world could do   ,all the      
diverse work1 old yet ever new1         
,divide us1 each from other1 me from    
you--    ,why1 where's the need of      
,temple1 when the walls   ,o' the world 
are that8 ,what use of swells and falls 
,from ,levites' choir1 ,priests' cries1 
and trumpet calls8    ,that one ,face1  
far from vanish1 rather grows1   ,or    
decomposes but to recompose1   ,become  
my universe that feels and knows4  ,the 
hold which the philosophy of ,eucken    
seems to have taken upon the minds of   
many people all over the world shows    

that it must have great elements of     
strength4 ,that there is a partial      
resemblance between his thought1 which  
belongs to the end of the nineteenth and
 the beginning of the twentieth century1
 and ,browning's is certain1 but the    
fact remains that the poet made a       
synthesis of the elements which must go 
to the forming of any complete religious
 conceptions of the future so far in    
advance of his own century that even    
,eucken is in some respects behind it4  
,another interesting instance of        
,browning's presenting a line of        
reasoning which resembles very strongly 
one phase of present-day philosophy is  
to be found in ,bishop ,blougram's      
,apology4 ,the worldly ,bishop gives    
voice to good pragmatic doctrine1 which 
in a nutshell is1 believe in1 or rather 
follow1 that ideal which will be of the 
most use to you1 and if it turns out not
 to be successful1 then try another one4
 ,the poet declares that ,blougram said 
good things but called them by wrong    

names4 ,if the ideal is a high one there
 is no great danger in such reasoning1  
but it can very easily be turned into   
sophistical arguments for an ideal of   
living to thoroughly selfish ends1 as   
,blougram actually did4 ,the poem might 
almost be taken as a prophetic criticism
 of the weak aspects of pragmatism4     
,the belief in immortality which        
pervades ,browning's work often comes   
out in a form suggesting the idea of    
reincarnation4 ,his future for the human
 soul is not a heaven of bliss1 but life
 in other worlds full of activity and   
aspiration4 ,this note is struck in     
,paracelsus1 where life's destiny is    
described to be the climbing of         
pleasure's heights forever the seeking  
of a flying point of bliss remote4 ,in  
his last volume the idea is more fully  
brought out in ,rephan4 ,in this it is  
held that a state of perfect bliss might
 grow monotonous1 and that a preferable 
state would be to aspire1 yet never     
attain1 to the object aimed at4 ,the    

transmigration is from ,rephan1 where   
all was merged in a neutral ,best to    
,earth1 where the soul which had been   
stagnating would have an opportunity to 
strive1 not rest4 ,the most beautiful   
expression1 however1 of the idea of a   
future of many lives is found in ,one   
,word ,more3    ,so it seems3 ,i stand  
on my attainment4   ,this of verse1     
alone1 one life allows me2   ,verse and 
nothing else have ,i to give you4       
,other heights in other lives1 ,god     
willing3   ,all the gifts from all the  
heights1 your own1 ,love6  ,though the  
theory of reincarnation is so ancient a 
one1 and one entirely discredited by    
,christianity1 ,browning was again      
expressing an ideal which was to be     
revived in our own day4 ,oriental       
thought has made it almost a commonplace
 of talk4 ,many people doubtless speak  
of what they mean to do in their next   
incarnation without having the thought  
very deeply imbedded in their           
consciousness1 yet the mere fact that   

one hears the remark so often proves    
what a hold the theory has on the       
imagination of mankind4 ,as ,browning   
gives it in ,one ,word ,more1 the       
successive incarnations take one on to  
higher heights--other lives in other    
worlds4 ,thus regarded1 it is the final 
outcome of evolution and progress1 a    
process to be carried forward in other  
worlds than our own1 and has no         
degrading suggestion of a degenerating1 
because of sin1 into lower forms of     
existence4 ,the movement is always      
upward4 ,thus it has been effected by   
the idea that progress is the law of    
life1 and that evolution means1 on the  
whole1 progress4  ,again1 in the        
liberality of his social ideals1        
combined with an intensest belief in the
 supremacy of genuine love1 he was the  
forerunner of ,ibsen1 who1 the world is 
beginning to discover1 was not a        
subverter of high moral ideals1 as it   
had thought1 but a prophet of the new   
day1 when to be untrue to the highest   

ideal of love will be accounted the     
greatest crime of one human being       
against another4 ,from ,the ,doll's     
,house to ,when ,we ,that ,are ,dead    
,awaken the same lesson is taught4 ,few 
people realize that this is the keynote 
of ,browning's teaching1 or would be    
ready to regard him as a prophet of an  
ideal of love which shall come to be    
seen as the true one after the science  
of eugenics1 the latest of the exact    
sciences1 has found itself as powerless 
as all other sciences have been to touch
 the reality of life1 because amid all  
the mysteries of the universe none is   
greater than the spiritual mystery of   
love4 ,among writers who are to-day     
recognizing a part of the truth1 at     
least1 is ,ellen ,key1 but neither she  
nor ,ibsen has insisted in the way that 
,browning has upon the mystical source  
of human love4 ,that ,browning is the   
poet who has given the world the utmost 
certainty of ,god1 the soul and         
immortality1 and the most inspiring     

ideals of human love1 will be more      
completely recognized in the future4 ,as
 time goes on he will emerge above the  
tumultuous intellectual life of the     
present1 which1 with its enormous       
increase of knowledge of phenomena1     
bringing with it a fairly titanic       
mastery of the forces of nature1 and its
 generation of multitudes of ideas upon 
every conceivable subject1 many of them 
trite1 many of them puerile1 and some of
 them no doubt of genuine value1        
obscures for the time being the         
greatness of any one voice4 ,a little   
later1 when the winnowing of ideas shall
 come1 ,browning will be recognized as  
one of the greatest men of his own age  
or any age--a man combining knowledge1  
wisdom1 aspiration1 and vision to a     
marvelous degree4 ,he belongs to the    
master-order of poets1 who write some   
things which will pass into the popular 
knowledge of the day1 but whose serious 
achievements will be read and studied by
 the cultured and scholarly of all time4

 ,no students of ,greek literature will 
feel that they can omit from their      
reading his ,greek poems1 no students of
 sociology will feel that they can omit 
from their reading ,the ,ring and the   
,book4 ,lovers of the drama must ever   
respond to the beauty of ,the ,blot in  
the ',scutcheon and ,pippa ,passes4     
,even the student of verse technique    
will not be able to leave ,browning out 
of account1 and making allowances for   
the fact that the individuality of his  
style sometimes overasserts itself1 he  
will realize more and more its freshness
 and its vividness1 its power of        
suggestion1 and its depths of emotional 
fervor4 ,when the romanticism of a      
,keats or a ,shelley has completely     
worked itself out in musical            
efflorescence2 from which all           
thought-content has disappeared1 there  
may grow up a school of poets which     
shall1 without direct imitation1 develop
 poetry along the lines of vigor and    
strength in form1 and which shall have  

for its content a tremendous sense of   
the worth of humanity and an unshakable 
belief in the splendor of its destiny4  
,virilists might well be the name of    
this future school of poets who would   
hark back to ,browning as their         
inspiration1 and a most pleasant        
contrast would they be to the           
sentimental namby-pambyism which passes 
muster as poetry in much of the work of 
to-day4  ,in closing this volume which  
has been inspired by a deep sense of the
 abiding greatness of ,robert ,browning1
 it has been my desire to put on record 
in some way my personal indebtedness to 
his poetry as an inspiration not only to
 high thinking and living1 but as a     
genuine revelation to me of the rare    
possibilities in poetic art1 for ,i may 
almost say that ,browning was my first  
poet1 and through him1 strange as it may
 seem1 ,i came to an appreciation of all
 other poets4 ,his poetry1 fortunately  
for me an early influence in my life1   
awakened my1 until then1 dormant faculty

 for poetic appreciation4 ,i owe him1   
therefore1 a double debt of gratitude3  
,not only has he given me the joy of    
knowing his own great work1 but through 
him ,i have entered the land of all     
poesie1 led as ,i truly think by his    
sympathy with the scientific            
dispensation into which ,i was born4    
,his thought has always seemed so       
naturally akin to my own that it has    
never seemed to me obscure4 ,finding    
such thoughts expressed through the     
medium of great poetic genius1 the      
beauty of poetic expression was brought 
home to me as it never had been before1 
and hence the poetic expression of all  
thought became a deep pleasure to me4   
,so much interpretation and criticism of
 ,browning has been given to the world  
during the last twenty years1 that      
further work in that direction seems    
hardly necessary for the present4 ,there
 will for many a day to come be those   
who feel him to be among the greatest   
poets the world has seen1 and those who 

find much more to blame in his work than
 to praise4  ,i have tried to give a few
 suggestions in regard to what ,robert  
,browning actually was in relation to   
his time4 ,the nineteenth century was so
 remarkable a one in the complexity of  
its growth1 both in practical affairs   
and in intellectual developments1 that  
it has been possible in the space of one
 volume to touch only upon the most     
important aspects under each division1  
and to try to show what measure of      
influence important movements had in the
 molding of the poet's genius4  ,though 
in the nature of the case the treatment 
could not be exhaustive1 ,i hope to have
 opened out a sufficient number of      
pathways into the fascinating vistas of 
the nineteenth century in its relation  
to ,browning to inspire others to make  
further excursions for themselves2 and1 
above all1 ,i hope ,i may have added at 
least one stone to the cairn which many1
 past and to come1 are building to his  
fame4   ,,the ,,end   ,,the ,,country   

,,life ,,press1 ,,garden ,,city1 ,n4 ,y4
     ,,footnotes3  #a ,the influence of 
the ,prometheus ,unbound upon the       
conception of ,aprile's character was   
first brought forward by the writer in a
 paper read before the ,boston ,browning
 ,society1 ,march #ae1 #aiaj1 a         
typewritten copy of which was placed in 
the ,browning alcove in the ,boston     
,public ,library4 ,in the ,life of      
,browning1 published the same year and  
not read by the writer until recently1  
,mr4 ,hall ,griffin touches upon the    
same thought in the following words3    
,from some elements in the myth of      
,prometheus ,browning unmistakably      
evolved the conception of his ,aprile as
 not only the lover and the poet but as 
the potential sculptor1 painter1 orator1
 and musician4  #b ,see the author's    
,browning's ,england4  #c ,see          
,introduction to ,ring and              
,book--,camberwell ,browning4