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

MY LAST DUCHESS. (PAGE 105.)

Ferrara still preserves the mediaeval 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.