II. GIVE A ROUSE
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6. =Noll= was a contemptuous nickname for Oliver Cromwell, the leaderof 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 offeeling, and lyric sweetness. 3. =Trafalgar=, The scene of the famous victory of the Englishadmiral, Nelson, over the French fleet in 1805. 4. =Gibraltar=. The famous rocky promontory at the entrance of theMediterranean. 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 alove lyric written by an old man whose spirit is still youthful. Thereare some similar things by Tennyson, in _Gareth and Lynette_, andelsewhere in his later publications. Note here the somewhat exaggerated art of the poem in thealliterations and in the multiple comparisons. SONGS FROM PIPPA PASSES. (PAGE 73.) The drama of _Pippa Passes_ is a succession of scenes, eachrepresenting some crisis of human life, into which breaks, withbeneficent influence, a song of the girl Felippa, or "Pippa," on herholiday from the silk-mills. She is unconscious of the influence sheexerts. William Sharp says these songs "are as pathetically freshand free as a thrush's song in a beleaguered city, and with the sameunconsidered 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 strenuouslyinsisted that the resemblance went no further; that _The LostLeader_ is no true portrait of Wordsworth, though he becamepoet-laureate. _The Lost Leader_ is a purely ideal conception,developed by the process of idealization from an individual who servesas 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, andhad worked for it as Cromwell's Latin secretary. 14. =Burns, Shelley=. What poems can you cite of either poet to placehim in this list? Who is the speaker? What is the cause? Why does he not wish the "lostleader" to return? How does he judge him? What does he expect for hiscause? What does he mean by lines 29-30? lines 31-32? Point out theclimax 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 inEngland_. 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 thetaste shown here. In what sense does the poet intend to "save" the building? Describethe scene that he recalls. What three types are the suicides? How doesthe poet know? Why does he deny the failure of their lives? Does hebase his optimistic hope on reason or feeling? Note the climax inline's 55-57. State in your own words the meaning of the last sixlines. 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. Inreference to sceptical criticism. What are the "fears and scruples" held by the speaker? What proof doeshe desire to allay his doubts? Does he settle the doubt or put itaside? Where is his spirit of reverence best shown? INSTANS TYRANNUS. (PAGE 82.) ="Instans Tyrannus"=, the threatening tyrant. The phrase is fromHorace's _Odes_, Book III., iii., as is probably the idea of thepoem. 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 thetyrant's point of view. Compare also the seventh Ode of Horace in BookII. 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? Whatthings aggravate his hatred? How does he seek to "extinguish the man"?What baffles him at first? What defeats him finally? Is he deterredby physical or moral fear? By what means is the poem given vigor andclearness? 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 havebeen his motives? How was he at first treated? What indicates thatthe change is not in him, but in the fickle mob? How does he view hisdownfall? In what thought lies his sense of triumph? How does hisgreatness 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 isthe meaning of the legend? MEMORABILIA. (PAGE 91.) In Browning's early youth, while he was under the influence of Byronand Pope, he found, at a bookstall, a stray copy of Shelley's _Daemonof the World_. From this time on, Shelley's poetry was his ideal.The term "moulted feather" has peculiar significance from the factthat this was a poem which Shelley afterwards rejected. How is childlike wonder expressed in the first two stanzas? How is thedifference between the speaker and his friend indicated? Why does thename of Shelley mean so much more to one than to the other? In thefigure that follows, what do the moor and the eagle's feather standfor? WHY I AM A LIBERAL. (PAGE 92.) Note the essential elements of sonnet structure in metre, rhyme, andnumber of lines. See the Introduction to Sharp's _Sonnets of thisCentury_. Compare the idea of the poem with that of _The LostLeader_. PROSPICE. (PAGE 93.)
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