The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-08-10
ROBERT BROWNING AND OTHERS


ROBERT BROWNING AND OTHERS
Rugged, lovely and difficult, is still my
judgment upon this Robert Browning,
gust as l expressed it three years ago in
the JournaD after a delightful three weeks
with him here at Chautauqua, under a
most competent teacher-Richard Burton,
himself a poet. 1t takes a poet to interpret
a poet. and often interpretative recitation
is the highest kind of teaching.
But for his obscurity Browning would
easily rank the leading poet OF the last
century As it is, Tennyson out-ranks him
in popularity owing to his immensely SUI
perior art, although he was greatly Brown
ing's inferior in grasp and range of thought
and robustness of spirit. Tennyson was
and is vacillating-one day up in the garnet
and the next down in the cellar and
toward the close of his life, in neither place
very long at time.
Naturally We compare Wordsworth with
Browning. The latter had advantage
over the former OF living fifty years later,
and consequently of enjoying the enormous
progress of human thought in the mean
time. The last fifty years have been the
most brilliant in the worlds intellectual
history. Wordsworth lived hermits life
upon the hills of the lake district, while
Browning spent his life "in among the
things of men" at London and in Italy,
and daily in contact with such spirits
as Spencer, Darwin, Huxley. George Eliot
and Tennyson. Hence Browning is an up
TO date thinker while Wordsworth had no
conception Of the problems of to-day. And
yet how vastly more clearly expressed are
the ideas of Wordsworth upon, for example,
future life, than those of Browning. Words
worth's ode upon immortality is upon every
cultivated tongue, but none except a
metaphyscian can read BrOwnings
'Saisiaz" and know what it all means.
Under DR.. Burton l have once more read
all of Brownings Lyrics-the music, paint
ing and religious poems, and The Ring
and the Book" The lyrics when un-ayeled
have the same subtle charm as of yore
when l first read them. But who wants,
in reading a love song, to stop at every
third line and ask What the dickens does
this mean?' Take "Porphyrias Lover"
for example. Who make any sense
out of it except as from mad-hOuse cell,
as it was originally labeled? The way it
is now read is to regard it as a study in
the rapture or despairs of love But the
Porphyria with her long yellow hair, and
then they rapturously each other the
rest of the long rainy night. If this is
not putting the cart before the horse it
is difficult to imagine what is. Take an
other lyric-for example. by the Fire
side Think of putting your around
your wife and saying.
IF two lives join there is oft scar
They a shadow
third;
One near one is too far"
What in heavens name does that mean?
! When. in the heyday of youth, one goes a
counting, he hardly waits to take a gram
mar and dictionary under his arm, and yet
of all love songs what was ever better
than "A Womans Last World
BE a god and hold me
With charm;
Be man and fold me
With thine arm.
Meet If thou require it,
Both demands
Laying flesh and spirit
In thy hands,
Browning has reached the high-water
mark of poetry a dozen times; in music in
'Abt vogler;" in the philosophy of life in
rabbi Ben Ezra" in a picture of malevo-
Il
hollowness and hypocrisy in The Bishop
orders His Tomb" in love in 1.-The Last
Ride Together" and in an exposition of I'LL
innate religious truth in his great master
piece. saul" This last piece, saul"
Wordsworth's lode to Immortality" and
st. Johns Gospel are the worlds three
mounts of TRANSPORTATION.
Did one ever see such a gigantic mix of
1 he inc
and the Book the longest, the dullest,
and, in many places. the most beautiful
poem in our language? Here we find our
! Robert at his best and his worst. If we
! could only burn all but four of these twelve
books, reserving the prologue and the cpl
losue, how much happier would the world
be! But this is the fault of all great au-
thors. Wordsworth has written some of
the silliest things human brain ever coined
Not over half of Shakespeare is worth the
reading. Why hold Robert Browning for a
fault common to all of his kind?
OF the plays of Browning-if I'm a Bal
cony' and "Pippa Passes" can be called
! plays-the lovely little Pippa and "A Blot
in the 'Scutcheon" seem TO me the best. The
first is almost universally used by our stage
readers. but only the last has ever been but
book to interpret her little songs. yet TO me
"Pippa Passes" grows in beauty every time
L read it. Its key is the enormous value in
the world OF little things as well as obscure
/ persons.
/ An service ranks the same with God:
/ IL now, as formerly He trod
/ Paradise. His presence fills
Our earth. each only God wills
Can work-GOds puppets. best and worst
Are We; there is no last nor first
I Say not "A small event. Why 'smaI?'
Y Costs IL more pain than this We call
/ a great event. should come to pass.
Than thatF Dntwine me from the mass
or deeds which make up life, one deed
| Power shall fall short in. or exceedr'
one Of the marks OF genius is the ability
10 coin apt names either OF persons or
! places. George Eliot's ''Doricote Mill or
the little village OF "Raviloe." where the
weaver, Mariner. lived. illustrates So with
Browning. What felicitious name for
literary hack is "Gigadibs;" for little girl
~PipDa". or for rnfhan 'Bluephox." How