Chapter I

. For an account of the qualities of the Cavaliers, see Macaulay's _Essay on Milton_.

I. MARCHING ALONG

1. =Kentish Sir Byng=. The first of the family known to fame was George Byng, Viscount Torrington (1663-1733), who could not be the man meant here by Browning.

2. =crop-headed=. In allusion to the close-cropped hair of the Puritans. Long wigs were the fashion among the Cavaliers; hence the Puritans were nicknamed "Roundheads."

7. =King Charles= the First. =Pym=, John (1584-1643). Leader of the Parliament in its actions against King Charles and the Royalist party.

13. =Hampden=, John (1594-1643). One of the leaders of Parliament, known principally for his resistance to the illegal taxations of Charles I.

14. =Hazelrig=, Sir Arthur. One of the members of Parliament whom Charles tried to impeach. =Fiennes=, Nathaniel. One of the leading members of Parliament. =young Harry=. Son of Sir Henry Vane, and a member of the Puritan party.

15. =Rupert=. Prince of the Palatinate (1619-1682), and nephew of Charles I. He served in the King's army during the civil war.

23. =Nottingham=. "Charles I raised his standard here, in 1642, as the beginning of the civil war."--_Century Dictionary_.

II. GIVE A ROUSE

16. =Noll= was a contemptuous nickname for Oliver Cromwell, the leader of the Puritans.

HOME-THOUGHTS, FROM THE SEA. (PAGE 70.)

This poem is a companion piece to _Home Thoughts, from Abroad_. It is, however, distinctly inferior to it in clearness, vividness of feeling, and lyric sweetness.

3. =Trafalgar=, The scene of the famous victory of the English admiral, Nelson, over the French fleet in 1805.

4. =Gibraltar=. The famous rocky promontory at the entrance of the Mediterranean. It has been held as an English fort since 1704.

SUMMUM BONUM. (PAGE 71.)

This little poem, published in 1890, is one of the good examples of a love lyric written by an old man whose spirit is still youthful. There are some similar things by Tennyson, in _Gareth and Lynette_, and elsewhere in his later publications.

Note here the somewhat exaggerated art of the poem in the alliterations and in the multiple comparisons.

SONGS FROM PIPPA PASSES. (PAGE 73.)

The drama of _Pippa Passes_ is a succession of scenes, each representing some crisis of human life, into which breaks, with beneficent influence, a song of the girl Felippa, or "Pippa," on her holiday from the silk-mills. She is unconscious of the influence she exerts. William Sharp says these songs "are as pathetically fresh and free as a thrush's song in a beleaguered city, and with the same unconsidered magic."

THE LOST LEADER. (PAGE 75.)

The desertion of the liberal cause by Wordsworth, Southey, and others, is the germinal idea of this poem. But Browning always strenuously insisted that the resemblance went no further; that _The Lost Leader_ is no true portrait of Wordsworth, though he became poet-laureate. _The Lost Leader_ is a purely ideal conception, developed by the process of idealization from an individual who serves as a "lay figure."

13. =Shakespeare= was more of an aristocrat, surely, than a democrat. Milton had championed the cause of liberty in prose and poetry, and had worked for it as Cromwell's Latin secretary.

14. =Burns, Shelley=. What poems can you cite of either poet to place him in this list?

Who is the speaker? What is the cause? Why does he not wish the "lost leader" to return? How does he judge him? What does he expect for his cause? What does he mean by lines 29-30? lines 31-32? Point out the climax in the second stanza.

APPARENT FAILURE. (PAGE 77.)

3. =your Prince=. Son of Napoleon III., born in March, 1856.

7. =The Congress= assembled to discuss Italy's unity and freedom. =Gortschakoff= represented Russia; =Count Cavour=, Italy; =Buol=, Austria. Austria had conquered Italy. See Browning's _The Italian in England_.

12. =Petrarch's Vaucluse=. The fountain from which the Sorgue rises. The town of Vaucluse (Valclusa) was the home of the poet Petrarch (1304-1374).

14. =debt=. The obligation to visit a famous place.

39. =Tuileries=. The imperial palace in Paris.

43-44. What is meant? Death? Freedom?

46-47. In allusion to the game of _rouge-et-noir_. Criticise the taste shown here.

In what sense does the poet intend to "save" the building? Describe the scene that he recalls. What three types are the suicides? How does the poet know? Why does he deny the failure of their lives? Does he base his optimistic hope on reason or feeling? Note the climax in line's 55-57. State in your own words the meaning of the last six lines.

FEARS AND SCRUPLES. (PAGE 80.)

The problem of the religions doubter is here set forth by an analogy.

5. =letters=. The reference is of course to the Scriptures.

17 ff. In reference to sceptical criticism.

What are the "fears and scruples" held by the speaker? What proof does he desire to allay his doubts? Does he settle the doubt or put it aside? Where is his spirit of reverence best shown?

INSTANS TYRANNUS. (PAGE 82.)

="Instans Tyrannus"=, the threatening tyrant. The phrase is from Horace's _Odes_, Book III., iii., as is probably the idea of the poem. Gladstone translates the passage:--

"The just man in his purpose strong, No madding crowd can turn to wrong. The forceful tyrant's brow and word . . . . . . . His firm-set spirit cannot move."

There is novelty of conception in giving the situation from the tyrant's point of view. Compare also the seventh Ode of Horace in Book II.

44. =gravamen=. Latin for burden, difficulty, annoyance.

69. =Just= (as) =my vengeance= (was) =complete=.

What conception do you get of the tyrant? What is his motive? What things aggravate his hatred? How does he seek to "extinguish the man"? What baffles him at first? What defeats him finally? Is he deterred by physical or moral fear? By what means is the poem given vigor and clearness? Note the dramatic effect in the last stanza.

THE PATRIOT. (PAGE 85.)

At what point in his career does the speaker give his story? What have been his motives? How was he at first treated? What indicates that the change is not in him, but in the fickle mob? How does he view his downfall? In what thought lies his sense of triumph? How does his greatness of soul appear?

THE BOY AND THE ANGEL. (PAGE 87.)

24. ="the voice of my delight"=. That is, the boy's simple praises.

What quality did the praise of the Pope and of the angel lack? What is the meaning of the legend?

MEMORABILIA. (PAGE 91.)

In Browning's early youth, while he was under the influence of Byron and Pope, he found, at a bookstall, a stray copy of Shelley's _Dæmon of the World_. From this time on, Shelley's poetry was his ideal. The term "moulted feather" has peculiar significance from the fact that this was a poem which Shelley afterwards rejected.

How is childlike wonder expressed in the first two stanzas? How is the difference between the speaker and his friend indicated? Why does the name of Shelley mean so much more to one than to the other? In the figure that follows, what do the moor and the eagle's feather stand for?

WHY I AM A LIBERAL. (PAGE 92.)

Note the essential elements of sonnet structure in metre, rhyme, and number of lines. See the Introduction to Sharp's _Sonnets of this Century_. Compare the idea of the poem with that of _The Lost Leader_.

PROSPICE. (PAGE 93.)

Written shortly after the death of Mrs. Browning.

Note the vividness of the imagery, the swiftness of the movement, the rise to the climax, the change in spirit after the climax, and the note of courage and hope that informs this poem. Compare it with Tennyson's _Crossing the Bar_. What difference in spirit between the two?

EPILOGUE TO ASOLANDO. (PAGE 94.)

Sharp's _Life of Browning_ has the following passage: "Shortly before the great bell of San Marco struck ten, he turned and asked if any news had come concerning _Asolando_, published that day. His son read him a telegram from the publishers, telling how great the demand was, and how favorable were the advance articles in the leading papers. The dying poet turned and muttered, 'How gratifying!' When the last toll of St. Mark's had left a deeper stillness than before, those by the bedside saw a yet profounder silence on the face of him whom they loved."

What claim does Browning make for himself? Do you find this spirit in any of his poetry which you have read?

"DE GUSTIBUS--." (PAGE 96.)

Image the scene in the first stanza. Why are the poppies known by their flutter, rather than their color? Note the rhyme effect and climax in lines 11-13. What qualities predominate in the first scene? How does the second scene differ from it? What are the characteristic objects in the second? Has it more or less of the romantic, or of grandeur? Compare the human element introduced in each scene. Note the effectiveness of the epithets _a-flutter_, _wind-grieved_, _baked_, _red-rusted_, _iron-spiked_. Show how the poem explains its title.

THE ITALIAN IN ENGLAND. (PAGE 98.)

The setting of the story is Italy's struggle against Austria for her liberty, known as the Revolution of 1848.

8. =Charles=. Carlo Alberto, Prince of Carignano, of the house of Savoy.

19. =Metternich= (1773-1859). The Austrian diplomatist, and the enemy of Italian liberty.

25. =Lombardy=. See the Atlas.

76. =Tenebræ= = darkness. A religious service in the Roman Catholic church, commemorating the crucifixion.

MY LAST DUCHESS. (PAGE 105.)

Ferrara still preserves the mediæval traditions and appearance in a marked degree. The Dukes of Ferrara were noted art patrons. Both Ariosto and Tasso were members of their household; but neither poet was fully appreciated by his master.

8. =Fra Pandolf=. An imaginary artist.

45-46. Professor Corson, in his _Introduction to Browning_, quotes an answer from the poet himself: "'Yes, I meant that the commands were that she should be put to death.' And then, after a pause, he added, with a characteristic dash of expression, as if the thought had just started in his mind, 'Or he might have had her shut up in a convent.'"

56. =Claus of Innsbruck=. An imaginary artist.

This poem is a fine example of Browning's skill in the use of dramatic monologue. (See Introduction.) The Duke is skilfully made to reveal his own character and motives, and those of the Duchess, and at the same time to indicate the actions of himself and his listener.

Construct in imagination the scene and the action of the poem. What has brought the Duke and the envoy together? What things indicate the Duke's pride? Was his jealousy due to pride or to affection? Does he prize the picture as a work of art or as a memory of the Duchess? What faults did he find in her? What character do these criticisms show her to have had? What did he wish her to he? Note the anti-climax in lines 25-28: what is the effect? What shows the Duke's difficulty in breaking his reserve on this matter? What motive has he for so doing? Where does the poet show skill in condensation, in character drawing, in vividness, in enlisting the reader's sympathy?

_The Flight of the Duchess_ should be read as a development and variation of this theme.

THE BISHOP ORDERS HIS TOMB AT SAINT PRAXED'S. (PAGE 107.)

Ruskin gives this poem high praise: "Robert Browning is unerring in every sentence he writes of the Middle Ages.... I know no other piece of modern English prose or poetry in which there is so much told, as in these lines, of the Renaissance spirit--its worldliness, inconsistency, pride, hypocrisy, ignorance of itself, love of art, of luxury, and of good Latin. It is nearly all that I have said of the central Renaissance, in thirty pages of _The Stones of Venice_, put into as many lines; Browning's also being the antecedent work."

It is not, however, for its historical accuracy that a poem is mainly to be judged. The full and imaginative portrayal of a type, belonging not to one age only, but to human nature, is a greater achievement. And this achievement Browning has undoubtedly performed.

5. =Old Gandolf=. Evidently one of the Bishop's colleagues in holy orders, and like him in holiness.

31. =onion-stone=. See the dictionary for descriptions of this and other stones named in the poem.

41. =olive-frail=. A crate, made of rushes, for packing olives.

42. =lapis lazuli=. A very beautiful and valuable blue stone.

46. =Frascati=. A town near Rome, celebrated for its villas.

56-62. Such mixture of Christian and Pagan elements was a common feature in Renaissance art and literature.

58. =tripod=. The triple-footed seat from which the priestesses of Apollo at Delphi delivered the oracles. =thyrsus=. A staff entwined with ivy and vines, and borne in the Bacchic processions.

77. =Tully=. Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman orator, statesman, and philosopher.

79. =Ulpian=. A celebrated Roman jurist of the third century.

99. =Elucescebat=. Late Latin, from =elucesco=. The classical or Ciceronian form would be =elucebat=, from =eluceo=. Here appears the Bishop's love of good Latin.

108. =Term=. A pillar, widening toward the top, upon which is placed a figure or a bust.

Who are grouped about the Bishop's bed? What does he desire? Why? What tastes does he show? Point out evidences of his crimes, his suspicion, his sensual ideals, his artistic tastes, his canting hypocrisy, his confusion of the material and the immaterial, and the persistency of his passions and feelings. Note the subtlety with which these things are suggested, especially lines 18-19, 29-30, 33-44, 50-52, 59-62, 80-84, 122-125.

THE LABORATORY. (PAGE 113.)

This is a little masterpiece in its vividness and condensation. The passions of hate and jealousy have seldom been so well portrayed. The time and place are probably France and the sixteenth or seventeenth century. Berdoe has called attention in his _Browning Cyclopædia_, to the number of fine antitheses in the second stanza.

Who are present in the scene? Who are to be the victims? Account for the speaker's _patience_ in stanza iii. Point out the things that show the intensity of her hate. Does she display any other feeling than hate and jealousy?

HOME THOUGHTS, FROM ABROAD. (PAGE 115.)

Where is the speaker? What scene is in his imagination? Trace the growth in his mind of this scene: in color effects, in the kind of life introduced, in the intensity of the feeling, in the vividness with which he enters into it. What is the charm in lines 12-14?

UP AT A VILLA--DOWN IN THE CITY. (PAGE 116.)

4. =Bacchus=. The Roman god of wine, frequently invoked in the garnishment of Latin and Italian speech.

42. =Pulcinello= is the Italian for clown or puppet, and the prototype of the English Punch.

48, =Dante=, =Boccaccio=, and =Petrarch=. Italy's first three great authors. See a biographical dictionary or encyclopædia for their dates and their works.

=St. Jerome= (340-420.) One of the fathers of the Roman, church. He prepared the Latin translation of the Bible known as the _Vulgate_.

48. =the skirts of St. Paul has reached=. Has done almost as well as St. Paul.

51. =Our Lady=. The image of the Virgin Mary. Observe our hero's taste and his religions solemnity.

52. =seven swords=, etc. Representing the seven "legendary sorrows" of the Virgin. See Berdoe's _Browning Cyclopædia_, or Brewer's _Reader's Handbook_, or _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_ for the list.

UP AT A VILLA is one of the best humorous poems in the language. The hero's desires and sorrows are so _naïve_, his tastes so gravely held, that he provokes our sympathy as well as our laughter. One of the charms of the poem is the way in which he is made to testify, in spite of himself, to the beauties of the country (as in lines 7-9, 19-20, 22-25, 32-33, 36) and to the monotony or clanging emptiness of the city (as in lines 12-14, 38-54). Compare lines 8 and 82 with the picture in _De Gustibus_.

A TOCCATA OF GALUPPI'S. (PAGE 122.)

=Toccata=. See an unabridged dictionary.

1. =Galuppi=. Baldassare Galuppi, Venice, 1706-1785, a celebrated musician and prolific composer.

6. =St. Mark's=. The famous cathedral of Venice. =Doges ... rings=. The Doge was chief magistrate of Venice. The annual ceremony of "wedding the Adriatic" by casting into it a gold ring was instituted in 1174, in commemoration of the victory of the Venetian fleet over Frederick Barbarossa, Emperor of Germany.

8. =Shylock's bridge=. By the Rialto. A house by the bridge, said to be Shylock's, is still pointed out to visitors.

18. =clavichord=. An instrument of the type of the piano.

19 ff. =thirds=, =sixths=, etc. For the musical terms see an unabridged dictionary or a musical dictionary.

30. Compare the lines in Fitzgerald's translation of the _Rubaiyat_:--

"For some we loved, the loveliest and the best That from his vintage rolling Time hath prest, Have drunk their cup a round or two before, And one by one crept silently to rest."

This is the characteristic note of poetic melancholy, found again and again from Virgil to Tennyson.

37-39. Is the ironical tone of these lines in harmony with the spirit of the rest of the poem?

What does Galuppi's music mean to Browning? What does it recall of the life in Venice? Is the lightness of tone in the music itself or in the poet's idea of Venice? What emotions are aroused? What causes the poet's sadness? Is the verse musical? Does it suit the ideas it conveys?

ABT VOGLER. (PAGE 126.)

George Joseph Vogler, known also as Abbé (or Abt) Vogler (1748-1816), was a German musician. He composed operas and other musical pieces, became famous as an organist, and invented an organ with pedals and several keyboards. Browning seems to have in mind the complex musical harmonies of which the instrument was capable. See lines 10, 13, 52, 55, and 84 of the poem. See also the _Encyclopædia Britannica_.

3. =Solomon=. Legends about Solomon and his power over the spirits of earth and air are common in Jewish and Arabic literature.

9 ff. =building=. The idea of building by music is an old one. See the classical story of Amphion and the walls of Thebes, Coleridge's _Kubla Khan_, and Tennyson's _Gareth and Lynette_, lines 272-274.

19. =rampired=. Furnished with _ramparts_.

23. The reference is to St. Peter's in Rome.

The musician's imagination takes fire from his playing, and his music seems like a glorious palace which he is building. The notes are conceived as spirits doing his bidding (stanzas i-iii). As he proceeds the images change, and heaven and earth seem to unite with him in his creative activity: light flashes forth, and heaven and earth draw nearer together. Now he sees the past, the beginnings of things, and the future; even the dead are back again in his presence. His imagination has anulled time and space. As he thinks of his art, it seems more glorious to him than painting and poetry: these work by laws that can be explained and followed, while music is a direct expression of the will, an act of higher creative power.

When the music ends he cannot be consoled by the thought that as good music will come again. So he turns to the one unchanging thing, "the ineffable Name." Thus he gains confidence to say, "there shall never be one lost good." All failure and all evil are but a prelude to the good that shall in the end prevail. So he returns in hope and patience to the C major, the common chord of life.

ART VOGLER is famous, not only for its confident optimism, but as an example of Browning's power of annexing a new domain--that of music--to poetry.

Where does the musician cease to speak of Solomon's building and begin to describe his own? Note, in stanza ii, how he speaks first of the "keys," and afterwards has in mind the notes; how he speaks of the bass notes as the foundation, and the upper notes as the structure. Where is the climax of his creative vision? What does he mean in line 40? Is he right in saying music is less subject to laws than poetry and painting? Why is he sad when his music ceases? Why does he turn to God for consolation? Follow carefully the argument in stanza ix. Is it convincing? What analogy does he find between music, and good and evil?

RABBI BEN EZRA. (PAGE 133.)

Abraham Ben Meir Ben Ezra, into whose mouth Browning puts the reflections in this poem, was born in Toledo, Spain, in 1090, and died about 1168. He was distinguished as philosopher, astronomer, physician, and poet. The ideas of the poem are drawn largely from the writings of Rabbi Ben Ezra. See Berdoe's _Browning Cyclopædia_.

1. =Grow old along with me=. Come, and let us talk of old age.

7-15. =Not that=. Connect "not that" of lines 7 and 10, and the "not for, etc.," of 13, with "Do I remonstrate" in line 15.

29. =hold of=. Are like, share the nature of.

39-41. Compare _A Grammarian's Funeral_.

117. =be named=. That is, known, or distinguished.

124. =Was I= (whom) =the world arraigned=. Browning frequently omits the relative.

139-144. Compare lines 36-41. Note here and elsewhere in this poem the frequent repetition, and variation of the same idea.

151. =Potter's wheel=. The figure of the _Potter's wheel_ is frequent in Oriental literature. See Isaiah lxiv. 8, and Jeremiah xviii, 2-6; see also Fitzgerald's _Rubaiyat_, stanzas xxxvii, xxxviii, lxxxii-xc.

169-171. In the period of youth.

172-174. In old age.

What cares agitate youth? Why is it better so? Wherein does man partake of the nature of God? What plea is made for the "value and significance of flesh"? Show how Browning denies the doctrine of asceticism. What is meant by "the whole design," line 56? Why does Rabbi Ben Ezra pause at the threshold of old age? What has youth achieved? What advantage has old age? What are its pleasures? Its employments? Explain the figure in lines 91-5. By what are the man and his work to be judged? Compare the use of the figure of the Potter's wheel with that in the Old Testament. What has Browning added? Point out the element of optimism in the poem. How does its view of old age differ from the pagan view? See Browning's _Cleon_.

A GRAMMARIAN'S FUNERAL. (PAGE 143.)

The Grammarian is a type of the early scholars who gave to Europe the treasures of Greek thought by translating the manuscripts recovered after the fall of Constantinople. The time is therefore the Renaissance, the latter part of the fifteenth century, and the place probably Italy. The Grammarian was a scholar and thinker, not a mere student of grammar in the modern sense.

23. =Our low life=. Lacking the learning and high endeavor of their master.

45-46. =the world bent on escaping=. That is, the world of the past.

48. =shaping=, their mind and character.

97-98. Compare with lines 65-72, 77-84, and 103-4.

129-131. The Greek particles [Greek: oti, oun, and de.]

Describe the scene and action of the poem. Note the march-like and irregular movement of the verse: does it fit the theme? Why do they carry the Grammarian up from the plain? What was his work? What was his aim? What is the value of such work (1) in presenting an ideal of life, (2) in the history of culture? What circumstances in his life enhance his praise? Did he make any mistake? Does Browning think so? How does Browning defend him? What imagery in the poem seems especially effective? Are you reminded of anything in "Rabbi Ben Ezra"? Criticise the rhymes and metre.

ANDREA DEL SARTO. (PAGE 149.)

An Italian painter, of the Florentine school; born 1487, died 1531. His merits and defects as an artist are given in the poem. The crime to which he is here made to refer was the use, for building himself a house, of the money intrusted to him by the French king for the purchase of works of art. For an account of his life and work see the article in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, and Vasari's _Lives of the Painters_.

15. =Fiesole= (pronounced Fe-[='a]-so-l[ve]). A small Italian town near Florence.

119. =Rafael=. The great painter, Raphael (1483-1520).

130. =Agnolo=. Michael Angelo (1475-1584), one of Italy's greatest men: famous as sculptor, painter, architect, and poet.

150. =Fontainebleau=. A town southeast of Paris, formerly the residence of French kings, and still famous for its Renaissance architecture and for the landscapes around it.

241. =scudi=. The _scudo_ is an Italian silver coin worth about one dollar.

262. =Leonard=. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), another of Italy's great men: artist, poet, musician, and scientist.

Construct the scene and action of the poem. How does the coloring harmonize with the artist's mood? Why is he weary? How does he think of his art: what merit has it? What does it lack? How does he explain this lack? What clew to it does his life afford? Is his art soulless because he has done wrong? Or, do the lack of soul in his painting, and the wrongdoing, and the infatuation with Lucrezia's beauty, all arise from the same thing,--the man's own nature? Does he appeal to your sympathy, or provoke your condemnation? Does he blame himself, or another, or circumstances?

What idea have you of Lucrezia? What does she think of Andrea? Of his art? What things does he desire of her?

What problems of life are here presented? Which is principal: the relation of man and woman, the need of _soul_ for great work, or the interrelation between character and achievement? Or, is there something else for which the poem stands?

Can you cite any lines that embody the main idea of the poem? Does anything in it remind you of _The Grammarian_, or of _Rabbi Ben Ezra?_

CALIBAN UPON SETEBOS. (PAGE 161.)

Setebos was the god of Caliban's mother, the witch Sycorax, on Prospero's island.

Read Shakespeare's _The Tempest_. Observe especially all that is said by or about Caliban. Observe that Browning makes Caliban usually speak of himself in the third person, and prefixes an apostrophe to the initial verb, as in the first line.

Tylor's _Primitive Culture_ and _Early History of Mankind_ give interesting accounts of the religions of savages.

How is Caliban's savage nature indicated in the opening scene? What things does he think Setebos has made? From what motives? What limit to the power of Setebos? Why does Caliban imagine these limits? How does Setebos govern? Out of what materials does Caliban build his conceptions of his deity? Why does he fear him? How does he propitiate him? Why is he terrified at the end? Compare this passage with the latter part of the Book of Job. What, in general, is the meaning of the poem? Can you cite anything in the history of religions to parallel Caliban's theology?

"CHILDE ROLAND TO THE DARK TOWER CAME." (PAGE 174.)

When Browning was asked by Rev. Dr. J.W. Chadwick whether the central idea of this poem was constancy to an ideal,--"He that endureth to the end shall be saved,"--he answered, "Yes, just about that."

4-5. =to afford suppression of=. To suppress.

11. ='gin write=. Write.

48. =its estray=. That is, Childe Roland himself.

66. =my prisoners=. Those who had met their death on the plain? Or, its imprisoned vegetation?

68. =bents=. A kind of grass.

70. =as=. As if.

91. =Not it!= Memory did not give hope and solace.

106. =howlet=. A small owl.

114. =bespate=. Spattered.

133. =cirque=. A circle or enclosure.

137. =galley-slaves= whom =the Turk=, etc.

140. =engine=. Machine.

143. =Tophet=. Hell.

160. =Apollyon=. The Devil.

Note the hero's mood of doubt and despair. At what point in his quest do we see him? What does he do after meeting the cripple? How does the landscape seem as he goes on? What _moral_ quality does it seem to have? See lines 56-75. What new elements are introduced to add to the horror of the scene? What memories come to him of the failures of his friends? Was their disgrace in physical or moral failure? How does he come to find the Tower? Why does Browning represent it as a "dark tower"? Does his courage fail at the end of his quest? Or does he win the victory in finding the tower and blowing the challenge?

AN EPISTLE. (PAGE 183.)

The Arabs were among the earliest in the cultivation of mathematical and medical science. This fact, together with their monotheism, makes Karshish an appropriate character for the experience of the poem.

1-14. An ancient and oriental idea of the soul and its relation to the body.

15. =Sage=. Abib, to whom the letter is sent.

17. =snake-stone=. A stone used to cure snake-bites.

19. =charms=. Note here and elsewhere the mixture of science and superstition.

21-33. The poet has given local color to the journey.

28. =Vespasian= was appointed general-in-chief against the insurgent Jews in 67 A.D., and began the great siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The date of the poem and the length of time since Lazarus's return to life may thus be estimated.

37-38. Note the vividness gained by making Karshish keep the physician's point of view.

44. =falling-sickness ... cure=. Epilepsy. Karshish is already admitting into his letter the story of Lazarus.

48. Not only spiders, but many other animals or parts of animals were formerly used as medicines.

64-65. Karshish, still half ashamed of his interest in the marvellous story he has to tell, first gives this as a pretext, and then, in the next lines confesses.

171 ff. Belief in magic survived in some degree among the educated until a century or two ago.

177. =Greek-fire=. A violently inflammable substance, supposed to have been a compound of naphtha, sulphur, and nitre, which was hurled against the enemy in battle. As it was first used in 673, in the siege of Constantinople, Browning is guilty of an unimportant anachronism.

252-255. A good touch, to make the earthquake mean to Karshish an omen of the gravest event within his ken.

268-269. Karshish, still unconvinced by the story of Lazarus, naturally regards it as irreverent.

304-311. This comes to Karshish as an afterthought, a corollary to the idea in the body of the poem.

How is the general style of the verse-letter maintained? What is Karshish's mission in Judea? How does he show his devotion to his art? Point out instances of local color. Are they in harmony with the main current of the poem, or do they detract from the interest in the story? Why does Karshish work up to his story so diffidently? Why has the incident taken such hold upon him? What do you conceive to be his character and worth as a man?

What of Lazarus? What change has been wrought in him? Is he in any way unfitted for this life? To what does Karshish compare him, with his sudden wealth of insight behind the veil of the next world? Which of the two men is better fitted for the condition in which he is placed? What religious significance does the story of Lazarus come to have to Karshish? What parallel ideas do you find in Rabbi Ben Ezra and in this poem? Compare George Eliot's story, _The Lifted Veil_.

SAUL. (PAGE 196.)

This is generally regarded as one of Browning's greatest poems. Even his detractors concede to it beauty of form, fervor of feeling, and richness of imagery. The incident upon which it is based is found in 1 Samuel,