第14章

principleswhichitbehovesthepresentgenerationofeducatorstolookwellto。Theacquisitionofknowledgeisagoodthing，thesharpeningoftheintellectisagoodthing，thecultivationofphilosophyisagoodthing；butthereissomethingofinfinitelymoreimportancethanallthese——itis，therectification，theadjustment，throughthatmysteriousoperationwecallsympathy，oftheunconsciouspersonality，thehiddensoul，whichco-operateswiththeactivepowers，withtheconsciousintellect，and，asthisunconsciouspersonalityisrectifiedorunrectified，determinestheactivepowers，theconsciousintellect，forrighteousnessorunrighteousness。

TheattentivereaderofBrowning’spoetrymustsoondiscoverhowremarkablyhomogeneousitisinspirit。Therearemanyauthors，andgreatauthorstoo，thereadingofwhosecollectedworksgivestheimpressionoftheirhaving”triedtheirhand”atmanythings。

NosuchimpressionisderivablefromthevoluminouspoetryofBrowning。

Wideasisitsrange，onegreatandhomogeneousspiritpervadesandanimatesitall，fromtheearliesttothelatest。

NootherlivingpoetgivessodecidedanassuranceofhavingaBURDENtodeliver。Anappropriategeneraltitletohisworkswouldbe，`TheBurdenofRobertBrowningtothe19thCentury’。

HisearliestpoemsshowdistinctlyhisATTITUDEtowardthings。

Weseeinwhatdirectionthepoethassethisface——

whathisphilosophyoflifeis，whatsoul-lifemeanswithhim，whatregenerationmeans，whatedificationmeansinitsdeepestsenseofbuildingupwithinusthespiritualtemple。Andifhehadleftthisworldafterwritingnomorethanthosepoemsofhisyouth，`Pauline’and`Paracelsus’，averyfair`ex-pede-Herculem’estimatemighthavebeenmadeofthepossibilitieswhichhehassincesograndlyrealized。

III。Mr。Browning’s”Obscurity”。

ItwaslongtheFASHION——andthatfashionhasnotyetpassedaway——withskimmingreadersandperfunctorycriticstochargeMr。Browningwithbeing”wilfullyobscure，unconscientiouslycareless，andperverselyharsh。”

Therearereadersandreaders。Oneclass，constituting，perhaps，notmorethanone-tenthofonepercent，orathousandthpartofthewholenumber，”read，mark，learn，andinwardlydigest”；

theremainingninety-nineandnine-tenthspercent，throughahabitoflooseandindiscriminatereading，areunequaltothesustainedconcentrationofminddemandedbythehigherpoetry，thelanguageofwhichischaracterizedbyasevereeconomyofexpression——aclosenessoftexture，resultingfromtheellipticalenergyofhighlyimpassionedthought。

Readingis，perhaps，moresuperficialatthepresentdaythaniteverwasbefore。Thereisanalmostirresistibletemptationtoreversethe”multumlegendumessenonmulta”ofQuintilian，overwhelmedaswearewithbooks，magazines，andnewspapers，whichnomancannumber，andofwhichthousandsandtensofthousandsofmindsendeavortogobbleupalltheycan；andyet，fromwantofalldigestiveandassimilatingpower，theyarepitiablyfamishedanddeadened。

SirJohnLubbockhaslatelybeeninterestedinthepreparationofalistofthebesthundredbooks，andtothatendhassolicitedtheaidofanumberofprominentscholars。Prof。EdwardDowdenremarksthereupon，inanarticleon`TheInterpretationofLiterature’，”Itwouldhavebeenmoreprofitableforushadwebeenadvisedhowtoreadanyoneofthehundred；forwhat，indeed，doesitmatterwhetherwereadthebestbooksortheworst，ifwelackthepowerortheinstinctortheskillbywhichtoreachtheheartofanyofthem?

Booksformostreadersare，asMontaignesays，`alanguidpleasure’；

andsotheymustbe，unlesstheybecomelivingpowers，withasummonsorachallengeforourspirit，unlessweembracethemorwrestlewiththem。”

ToreturnfromthisdigressiontothechargeagainstBrowningofobscurity。And，first，itshouldbesaidthatBrowninghassomuchmaterial，suchalargethoughtandpassioncapital，thatweneverfindhimmakingalittlegoagreatway，bymeansofEXPRESSION，orratherconcealingthelittlebymeansofrhetoricaltinsel。WecanneverjustlydemandofhimwhattheQueenin`Hamlet’demandsofPolonius，”morematterwithlessart”。

Histhoughtiswide-reachinganddiscursive，andthemotionsofhismindrapidandleaping。Theconnectinglinksofhisthoughthaveoftentobesuppliedbyananalyticreaderwhosemindisnotuptotherequiredtensiontospringoverthechasm。

Heshowsgreatfaithinhisreaderand”leavesthemererudeexplicitdetails”，asifhethought，”’tisbutbrother’sspeechWeneed，speechwhereanaccent’schangegiveseachTheother’ssoul。”*

Sordello’。

AtrulyoriginalwriterlikeBrowning，original，Imean，inhisspiritualattitudes，isalwaysmoreoflessdifficulttotheuninitiated，forthereasonthathedemandsofhisreadernewstandpoints，newhabitsofthoughtandfeeling；says，virtually，tohisreader，Metanoei^te；anduntilthesenewstandpointsaretaken，thesenewhabitsofthoughtandfeelinginduced，thedifficulty，whileappearingtothereaderattheoutset，tobealtogetherobjective，willreallybe，toagreatextent，subjective，thatis，willbeinhimself。

Goethe，inhis`WahrheitundDichtung’，says：——”WereinemAutorDunkelheitvorwerfenwill，sollteerstseineigenesInnerebesuchen，obesdenndaauchrechthellist。InderDaemmerungwirdeinesehrdeutlicheSchriftunlesbar。”*——

*Hewhowouldchargeanauthorwithobscurity，shouldfirstlookintohisownmind，toknowwhetheritisquiteclearthere。

Intheduskaverydistincthandwritingbecomesillegible——

AndGeorgeHenryLewes，inhis`LifeofGoethe’，wellsays：——”Amasterpieceexcitesnosuddenenthusiasm；itmustbestudiedmuchandlong，beforeitisfullycomprehended；wemustgrowuptoit，foritwillnotdescendtous。Itsemphasisgrowswithfamiliarity。

Weneverbecomedisenchanted；wegrowmoreandmoreawe-struckatitsinfinitewealth。Wediscovernotrick，forthereisnonetodiscover。Homer，Shakespeare，Raphael，Beethoven，Mozart，neverstormthejudgment；butoncefairlyinpossession，theyretainitwithunceasinginfluence。”

AndProfessorDowden，inthearticlefromwhichIhavejustquoted，says：——”Approachingagreatwriterinthisspiritofcourageousandaffectionatefraternity，weneedallourforcesandallourcraftforthefriendlyencounter。Ifweloveeaseandlethargy，letusturningoodtimeandfly。Theinterpretationofliterature，liketheinterpretationofNature，isnomererecordoffacts；

itisnocatalogueoftheitemswhichmakeupabook——

suchcataloguesandanalysesofcontentsencumberourhistoriesofliteraturewithsomeoftheirdreariestpages。Theinterpretationofliteratureexhibitsnoseriesofdeaditems，butratherthelifeandpowerofonemindatplayuponanotherminddulyqualifiedtoreceiveandmanifestthese。Hence，onewhowouldinterprettheworkofamastermustsummonupallhispowers，andmustbealiveatasmanypointsaspossible。Hewhoapproacheshisauthorasawhole，bearinguponlifeasawhole，ishimselfaliveatthegreatestpossiblenumberofpoints，willbethebestandtruestinterpreter。Forhewillgraspwhatiscentral，andatthesametimewillbesensitivetothevalueofalldetails，whichdetailshewillperceivenotisolated，butinconnectionwithoneanother，andwiththecentrallifetowhichtheybelongandfromwhichtheyproceed。”

Inhispoementitled`Pacchiarotto，andhowheworkedindistemper’，Mr。Browningturnsuponhiscritics，whomhecharacterizesas”theprivilegedfellows，inthedrabs，blues，andyellows”

(alludingtothecoversoftheleadingBritishReviews)，andespeciallyuponAlfredAustin，theauthorofthatworkofwholesalecondemnation，`ThePoetryofthePeriod’，andgivesthemasoundandwell-deserveddrubbing。Atthecloseoftheonsethesays：——”Wasit`grammar’whereinyouwould`coach’me——

You，——pacingineventhatpaddockOflanguageallottedyouadhoc，Withaclogatyourfetlocks，——you——scornersOfmefreefromallitsfourcorners?

Wasit`clearnessofwordswhichconveythought?’

Ay，ifwordsneverneededenswatheaughtButignorance，impudence，envyAndmalice——whatword-swathewouldthenvieWithyoursforaclearnesscrystalline?

ButhadyoutoputinonesmalllineSomethoughtbigandbouncing——asnoddleOfgoose，borntocackleandwaddleAndbiteatman’sheelasgoose-wontis，Neverfeltplagueitspunyosfrontis——

You’dknow，asyouhissed，spatandsputtered，Clear`quack-quack’iseasilyuttered！”

InaletterwrittentoMr。W。G。Kingsland，in1868，Mr。Browningsays：——”IcanhavelittledoubtthatmywritinghasbeeninthemaintoohardformanyIshouldhavebeenpleasedtocommunicatewith；

butIneverdesignedlytriedtopuzzlepeople，assomeofmycriticshavesupposed。Ontheotherhand，Ineverpretendedtooffersuchliteratureasshouldbeasubstituteforacigaroragameatdominoestoanidleman。So，perhaps，onthewholeIgetmydeserts，andsomethingover——notacrowd，butafewIvaluemore。”*——

*`BrowningSocietyPapers’，III。，p。344——

ItwasnevertruerofanyauthorthanitistrueofBrowning，that`Lestylec’estl’homme’；andBrowning’sstyleisanexpressionofthepanther-restlessnessandpanther-springofhisimpassionedintellect。ThemusingspiritofaWordsworthoraTennysonhepartakesnotof。

Mr。RichardHoltHutton’scharacterizationofthepoet’sstyle，asa”crowdednote-bookstyle”，isnotaparticularlyhappyone。

Inthepassage，whichhecitesfromSordello，toillustratethe”crowdednote-bookstyle”，occursthefollowingparenthesis：——”(Tobebyhimthemselvesmadeact，NotwatchSordelloactingeachofthem。)””Whattheparenthesismeans，”hesays，”Ihavenotthemostdistantnotion。Mr。Browningmightaswellhavesaid，`tobebyhimherhimselfherselfthemselvesmadeact’，etc。，foranyvestigeofmeaningIattachtothiscuriousmobofpronounsandverbs。Itisexactlyliketheshortnotesofaspeechintendedtobeinterpretedafterwardsbyonewhohadheardandunderstoodithimself。”*

*`EssaysTheologicalandLiterary’。Vol。II。，2ded。，rev。andenl。，p。175。

Atfirstglance，thisparenthesisisobscure；buttheobscurityisnotduetoitsbeing”exactlyliketheshortnotesofaspeech”，etc。Itisduetowhatthe”obscurity”ofMr。Browning’slanguage，aslanguage，is，inninecasesoutoften，due，namely，totheCOLLOCATIONofthewords，nottoanexcessiveeconomyofwords。HeoftenexercisesalibertyinthecollocationofhiswordswhichisbeyondwhatanuninflectedlanguageliketheEnglishadmitsof，withoutmoreorlessobscurity。TherearedifficultpassagesinBrowningwhich，iftranslatedintoLatin，wouldpresentnodifficultyatall；forinLatin，therelationsofwordsaremoreindependentoftheircollocation，beingindicatedbytheirinflections。

Themeaningoftheparenthesisis，and，independentlyofthecontext，asecondglancetakesitin(thewonderis，Mr。Huttondidn’ttakeitin)，——”Tobethemselvesmadebyhim[to]act，NoteachofthemwatchSordelloacting。”

Therearetwoorthreecharacteristicsofthepoet’sdictionwhichmaybenoticedhere：——

1。Thesuppressionoftherelative，bothnominativeandaccusativeordative，isnotuncommon；and，untilthereaderbecomesfamiliarwithit，itoftengives，especiallyifthesuppressionisthatofasubjectrelative，amomentary，butonlyamomentary，checktotheunderstandingofapassage。

Thefollowingexamplesarefrom`TheRingandtheBook’：——”Checkingthesongofpraiseinme，hadelseSwelledtothefullforGod’swilldoneonearth。”

I。TheRingandtheBook，v。591。

i。e。，whichhad(wouldhave)elseswelledtothefull，etc。”ThisthatImixedwithtruth，motionsofmineThatquickened，madetheinertnessmalleolableO’thegoldwasnotmine，”——

I。TheRingandtheBook，v。703。”HarbouringinthecentreofitssenseAhiddengermoffailure，shybutsure，ShouldneutralizethathonestyandleaveThatfeelfortruthatfault，asthewayistoo。”

I。TheRingandtheBook，v。851。”ElaboratedisplayofpipeandwheelFramedtounchoak，pumpupandpourapaceTruthinafloweryfoamshallwashtheworld。”

I。TheRingandtheBook，v。1113。”seeinsuchAstarshallclimbapaceandculminate，”

III。TheOtherHalfRome，v。846。”Guido，byhisfolly，forcedfromthemTheuntowardavowalofthetricko’thebirth，Wouldotherwisebesafeandsecretnow。”

IV。TertiumQuid，v。1599。”soI