The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-08
OUT AND ABOUT.

Tine series of "sordello" studies,
which is to be given under the aus
piees Of the Wpmsnis Club Browning
class by DIR. Philip S. Moxom of Spring
field. was very successfully inaugural
ed yesterday forenoon. DR.. Moxom
occupied the first part of tie time with
a general, introductory talk on the
poem which. he said, was regarded by
all who were familiar with Browning,
as the most formidable Of his poems,
and which was in consequence encom-
passed by a wall of prejudice and fear
through which some never try to pass.
Then he told some of the funny stories
about the effect Of the poem on Brown
ingS contemporaries-how Tennyson
said there were only two lines in it
which he understood-the first and the
last, and both were lies; how Doug
las Jerrold who tried 20 read 1t when
he was i'll. believed himself OH the
verge of madness because he could not
understand 1t, and on finding that his
family could not understand it, either,
exclaimed with fervor, Il thank God!
then 1 am not an idiot" and how Jane
WEIGH Carlyle read it through without
being able to determine whether 'Sor-
dello' was a city, a book, or a person.
DR.. MoXom dsnie1 the charge of
'Sordello's" obscurity, because obscur-
fly, he claimed, was the result either
of confusion of ideas or else of weak
or a chaotic mind, none Of which held
true of Browning The trouble is not
that Browning is turgid and obscure,
but that he is too brilliant and subtle
for the ordinary reader Browning
never tells a story for the sake Of the
story-the reader must not forget that
The story Browning values only as a
revelation of SOUL of the experiences
of life, and of the tragedies OF sorrow
and sin. And what is to be got out of
his stories is chiefly the elevation of
thought, the glow, the inspiration, the
insight.
After speaking further most interest
1ngly about the poem and the literature
that has sprung up concerning it, the
historical "Sordello" and his relation to
Dante, DIR. MoXom began the reading
and Interpretation of the poem itself.
This, as all who heard him read Brown
ing last year, was peculiarly enjoyable
and Illuminating. 1t is a tribute to Dr.
MoXom's ability as an eXpounder of
Browning that he holds the interested
attention of the detached listener not
less than of the Browning student.
The second "Sordello' study will fol-
low Saturday forenoon in Memorial
hall. The hour has been placed at 10
o'clock to accommodate DR.. Moxom.
About sixty persons We're present yes
terday morning. Among those who have
subscribed for the course are:
DIR. G. Stanley Hall, Miss Mary
Trumbull Miss Harriet w. Bliss,
Rev. G. w. Kent, Mrs. Mary A.
Tourtellotte, Miss Amy A. Tour
tellotte, Miss Sarah j. Mcclellan,
Miss Ellen A. Kimball, Mrs. G.. l..
Brownell, Mrs Emma A. Porter,
Mrs. Franklin Wyman, Mrs. sum
ner, Mrs. j. p. Jones, Mrs A. n.
Briggs, Mrs. Jerome Marble Mrs.
G. c. Baldwin Miss Elizabeth c.
Woodman, Mrs. T. c. Bates Mrs.
f. C. Thayer, Mrs. A. b. Kimball,
Miss Maria p. Cole Miss Martha r.
Wyman, Mrs Hayden, Mrs. Sarah
J.. Drury, Mrs j. r. Day, Mrs. Kate
u. Parker, Mrs. Wendell p Parker,
Miss Alice G. Merrill, Mrs John f.
Adams, Miss Harriet e. Clarke,