International Research Journal of Management Sociology & Humanities
ISSN 2277 – 9809 (online) ISSN 2348 - 9359 (Print)
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IRJMSH Vol 10 Issue 9 [Year 2019] ISSN 2277 – 9809 (0nline) 2348–9359 (Print)
Robert Browning as an Optimistic Poet Krishna Kumar Sharma Assistant Professor Teerthanker Mahaveer University Moradabad- Uttar Pradesh [email protected] Abstract:
This paper is an attempt to examine the spirit of optimism in the illustrious work of the great Victorian poet Robert Browning. His unshaken optimism had found expression in his own personal life and the reflection of optimism can be seen in his several works. This paper mentions here how he was different from his contemporaries just because of his quality of optimism. It also throws light on how great was his optimism in the era of war, skepticism and hopelessness. His style of characterization is also dealt with here. Few of his famous works like Fra Lippo Lippi, Rabbi Ben Ezra, The Last Ride Together etc. are analyzed and lines are quoted here to make the point clear to the readers of literature. His various level of optimism at various level are discussed. This paper concludes on a positive note of assurance that Browning was a poet who had a great spirit of optimism emanating from his poems irrespective of the note of skepticism that prevailed in the Era he lived.
Key Words: - Victorian Era, Skepticism, Optimism, Contemporaries, Positive note, Spirit etc.
Introduction
Robert Browning is well known poet of the Victorian Era. His optimism marked him apart from the other poets of his time. His various works reveals that he is not only an optimist but is a moralist and religious teacher too. This great optimism shows that Browning had a uncompromising will in the era of ‘scientific materialism’. His philosophy and ideas are universal. Moreover he was optimistic about the existence of God. He also believed in the existence of heaven. A reflection of this can be seen in his poetry where he diverges from the scientific temperament quite traditional of his age. In this perspective it is essential to observe Browning’s relation with the Victorian age in which he lived and wrote many of his well known collections of poems.
Browning’s optimistic spirit can be considered perfectly through his relationship with the Victorian Age. This age can be regarded as a decisive age in English literature on account of the influence of classicism, Italian Renaissance, British Renaissance, Individualism, Utilitarianism, Neo classicism, Socialism, Romanticism, Skepticism and Modernism. At the background of this, he is regarded as a consistent thinker of the optimistic philosophy of life. His poetry is considered to have plenty of variety which is co-synergized by the poet’s philosophical view of
International Research Journal of Management Sociology & Humanity ( IRJMSH ) Page 153 www.irjmsh.com IRJMSH Vol 10 Issue 9 [Year 2019] ISSN 2277 – 9809 (0nline) 2348–9359 (Print) human fate. Browning does not challenge dogmas; instead of this, he accepts and uphold the traditional view of God, the immortality of soul and the Christian beliefs in incarnation. There were several confusions and conflicts existed during the Victorian Age as the conflicts between art and life, art and morality, content and form, man and women, classics education and progressive education, flesh and spirit, body and soul etc. It is interesting that in such situations of confusions and conflicts, Browning remained totally an affected. This happened due to his optimistic approach. He was thorough optimist at heart and this optimism can be seen in his writing style. He portrays his characters in his works either in crisis or in some critical situation and when this crisis reaches the climax, it is resolved ultimately and the poet concludes his works on a note of optimism. Example can be seen in his poem “Fra Lippo Lippi” where he says in the words of Brother Lippo: “Don’t fear me! There is a grey beginning Zooks!”. It is notable that his poetry is an articulation of Victorian Optimism and belief in progress at a period when England had the power in the world. During that time England was leaping day by day in industrialization and also had uncontested naval and military power. England defeated the French in the Napoleonic wars. This was maintained throughout the Nineteenth century. Browning could maintain a strong faith in conventional religious thinking at that time when Darwinism was shaking the faith of the other poets in the divine order and the existence of God.
It is essential to know the meaning of the term “optimism” to get perfect understanding about the trait of optimism that underlined Browning’s poetry. ‘Optimism’ means positive attitude or thought process. If a person is optimistic, he will have the tendency to concentrate on the good or positive side of everything that happens, even though it seems challenging and negative. Browning had the same tendency and this attitude to life can be seen in his poetic works also. This optimistic note is found in his poetry and makes him superior to other poets of his time. During that era there was spirit of sadness, sorrow, meaninglessness and hopelessness all around but Browning is the only man to echoing with peace, hope and joy for all the troubled race. He became inspiration for other people to get rid of their fear, hopelessness, skepticism and frustration.
It is essential to understand and appreciate the great contribution of Browning to the realm of poetry and the attitude of the era in which he lived and wrote. The period, when Browning wrote, was scientific and materialistic and people had lost their faith in religion, morality and spirituality. But Browning’s works were totally different from his contemporaries. He was confident and optimistic about the existence of God and the idea of perfect heaven. Browning had not followed the scientific temperament of his age in his works. His works are full of optimism. This is fantastically narrated in the lines of his poem “Rabbi Ben Ezra” where he exhorts one and all to
“Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be”
Several such examples can be seen in his poems but it is not possible to quote all of them here.
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It is quite essential to have a look at Browning’s philosophy which is reflected in all his works. It is well known that Browning is a consistent thinker of the optimistic philosophy of life. It is clearly visible that he is a moralist and religious teacher also. His optimism is based on the realities of life. Browning says ‘life is full of imperfections’ but he strongly believes that in this imperfection lies hope. His philosophy is the philosophy of a man searching at the world with more than a ray of hope in his eyes. Browning has a very distinct place among the writers of the Victorian age just because of his optimistic spirit. It is noted that his optimism has its roots on the strong realities of life and hence, it is not blind as the poet never closes his eyes to the evil lurking in the daily life routine of human beings. According to Browning, life is a mixture of good and evil, of love and ugliness, of despair and hopefulness but he says hope lies in this imperfection of life. Hence it can be said that his optimism is based on the imperfections of life. This optimistic spirit can be seen in the famous line of “Pippa Passes”
“God is in the Heaven
All right with the World”
These lines clearly express the poet’s hopeful attitude to the struggle of human life. He says that struggle provides a greater and deeper meaning to life. He doesn’t care about the result if the struggle’s outcome is nothing other than failure. He believes that the aim of life rests on the effort to become perfect, not in accomplishment, but in the strife to accomplishment.”
Examples of Optimism in Browning’s Poetry
A deep look at the works of Robert Browning explores that they all are clear expressions of the optimistic spirit of the poet. In his famous poem “Rabbi Ben Ezra” he celebrates both the incarnate life and the life of the spirit. The lines are:
Let us cry ‘All good things are ours.’
An optimistic belief in progress and striving for achievements can be seen in his poem “Andrea Del Sarto”. The lines are:
“A man’s reach should exceed his grasp or what’s heaven for?”
Browning was a great fighter. He was not ready to accept failure neither in his life nor in anything he did. This attitude can be seen in the incident of his own love and married life such as his love affair with Elizabeth Barret and his fight to marry her against her father. This attitude forced him to elope with Elizabeth Barret and married. He took her to Italy for the revival of her health. Browning and her wife Elizabeth Barret celebrate their love in many of their poems. Browning and Elizabeth Barret had a fruitful married life. They both lived in Italy till the death of Elizabeth. If Browning had hesitated or was scared of Elizabeth’s father, the story would have been totally different. Hence Browning acclaims in his poem “The Last Ride Together” that one should:
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“Welcome each rebuff that turns earth’s smoothness rough,
Each sting that ages not sit nor stand but go”
Browning also suggests in the same poem that we should not consider struggles as painful. He says that judgment is not passed on the accomplishment, but on the impulse and the intention of the soul which promotes the efforts. His optimism also can be seen in the line of “Rabbi Ben Ezra”:
“All I could never be all,
Men ignored in me,
This I was worth to God,
Whose wheel the pitcher shaped”
The poet says that there can never be ‘broken arcs’ on the earth but only in paradise can be found a ‘perfect round’. Browning had a strong belief that life on the earth is a preparation for the life to come. This belief can be seen in his poem ‘Evelyn Hope’ where the lover does not allow despair to win him, but he gets consolation from his faith derived out of optimism and tells that “God creates love to reward love”. In this poem the lover is hopeful like the poet that true love will definitely be rewarded in the life after death, if not in this life. This unshaken optimism of Robert Browning is beautifully depicted in the poem “Andrea Del Sarto” where he asks:
“What would one have? In heaven, perhaps new chances, One more chance”
Andrea is optimistic to get something better in the next life. He says that he will be given another chance or at least one more chance to prove his greatness as an artist. It can be said that Browning’s optimism is founded on the fair belief in God. He always manifests the relationship between God and Human being. It is quite noted that his optimism is firmly based on his belief in the immortality of soul. According to poet, if the body dies, the soul does not die, it is immortal and it lives on in the infinite. This belief of Browning is portrayed in the form of a metaphor in the poem “Rabbi Ben Ezra” in the lines:
“Earth changes, but thy soul and God stand sure:
What entered into thee, that was, is and shall be;
Time’s wheel runs back or stop : Potter and clay endure”.
In these lines the potter is a symbolic representation of God, clay of man and the wheel refers to time. In “The Last Ride Together” the speaker says that through their death, his and his beloved’s soul will enter into eternity and as a result their ride will go on eternally. And what they could not find here will be achieved in the next world. The lines:
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“The instant made eternity,
And heaven just prove that I and she Ride, ride together, forever ride”
Browning had a fantastic optimistic attitude towards failure and held the opinion that every human must leave some of the desires unfulfilled on the earth so that he can fulfill these in his next life. Hence Browning was always ready to face death. He also had faith in the futility of this earthly life. He says that failure can work as a source of inspiration for a man’s progress which is seen in “Andrea Del Sarto”
“Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what’s heaven for?”
In ‘The Last Ride Together’ we can see another same thought:
“We fall to rise, are baffled to fight better Sleep to wake”
In this fantastic love poem, the rejected lover is portrayed as manly, brave and optimistic like a typical Browning character. He is portrayed as consoling himself for his failure to get his beloved’s love with great optimism. He is depicted as extremely optimistic that he does not want to remorse frustrating past. Same kind of attitude is depicted in “Rabbi Ben Ezra” with the Rabbi’s statement that he does not show any remorse for his lost youth and he never understand his present condition of old age as useless rather he considers it as the most important part of his life. So he invites all to grow old eagerly and says;
“Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made
See all, nor be afraid”
In fact, this is excellent expression of Browning’s optimism which can inspire to many dejected soul who sits and weeps for the lost of youth and waning beauty. Thus we can say Browning’s philosophical view of old age is optimistic which can be seen in Rabbi Ben Ezra. Browning’s optimistic view to love can be seen in his poem “Andrea Del Sarto” where Andrea is drawn as not in a mood to quarrel with his wife Lucrezia, rather he just wants a opportunity to draw a painting. And for this purpose, he is eager to give all the money he has, in her hand and allures her. Unwillingly of the fact that his wife does not pay attention to him or entertain his desire, he neither nurses any objection nor anger for her. In against of it he loves her so much and longs to get inspiration from her for his next painting. He believes that her smile will inspire him to create better works. Again, a fine portrayal of Browning’s optimistic attitude towards love can be seen in his work “The Last Ride Together”. In this work, the lover is so hopeful that his sincere love
International Research Journal of Management Sociology & Humanity ( IRJMSH ) Page 157 www.irjmsh.com IRJMSH Vol 10 Issue 9 [Year 2019] ISSN 2277 – 9809 (0nline) 2348–9359 (Print) will be rewarded and he tries to find solace and satisfaction in the realty of world where they are riding together. He says:
“I hope she would love me; here we ride”
This is excellent depiction of Browning’s optimism. Truly here lies the greatness of Browning and his attitude and unshaken belief in God and life. The poet ends the poem with hope that paradise might just prove the present condition permanent and bless them. He opines his hope that heaven is nothing other than the bliss enjoyed by the lover and his beloved and says that:
“The instant made eternity,
And heaven just prove that I and she Ride, ride together, forever ride”
This excellent optimism of Browning comes through his firm belief in God and his mercy. According to him, life in this world is really worth living as both life and world are the manifestations of Divine Love. Browning’s poetry was an manifestation of the strongest words of optimistic belief in the Victorian Age of skepticism and pessimism to which the poet was alive. The optimism of Browning can be seen in his characterization too. He pick up his characters and present them in crisis, and when the crisis reaches its climax he ends with optimism. Thus it can be said that his characters are mostly presented as manly, optimistic and courageous. His character Fra Lippo Lippi finds the meaning of life in the love of a woman in “Fra Lippo Lippi”. Browning says that loveless life is nothing better than a grave. In his another poem “Love Among the Ruins” the lover can be seen singing the victory of life.
Browning’s optimism was based on the theory of evolution that life is progressive to higher levels. He mentioned that evil is a opportunity that the divine power had given to human so that they can advance in spirituality. It can be noticed that Brownning’s life came to an end of 1889, while everything, the atmosphere and the prevailing conditions were suitable at least for his social class and in words “right with the world”. Fortunately, He didn’t take experience of the carnage of First World War which had shaken the intellectual world’s optimism or belief in human progress.
Conclusion:
Browning had sung more fervently the delight of life than any other poet of his period. His optimism finds the passion of joy. The examples can be seen in his portraits of David in “Saul”, Pippa in “Pippa Passes”, Lippo in” Fra Lippo Lippi”. His character Rabbi in “Rabbi Ben Ezra" denunciate the aesthetic negation of the flesh and strongly advocates the necessity and moral usefulness of the flesh and soul. Hence he claims:
As the bird wings and sings, Let us cry
“All good things are ours, nor soul help flesh more, now, than flesh helps soul”.
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Browning’s works can be seen as plentiful with characters and images of courage and inspiration addressing people that they will face no difficulties which are too hard to win, if they possess self dependence and self control. It was really fortunate for English literature, that the two great poet in Victorian poetry, Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning, were different from one another in their thoughts and attitudes, vision and philosophy of life. Through analysis of their works we come to know that Tennyson was a pessimist at heart, Browning was optimism personified. Thus it can be said that , Robert Browning, the great Victorian poet, is an optimist and as an optimist his position is superior to almost all writers of his period. His optimistic attitude towards love lends him the position of an optimist in every aspect of life. Being an optimist, Browning had belief in the goodness of man and his salvation through the tough struggles he had to endure. Hence Browning wanted his readers to desist from the habit of judging others. Browning had expanded the approach that every human being should possess at least a noble aspiration even if he fails to accomplish them. Browning is known as a strong voice against the skepticism and pessimism that had engulfed the Victorian era. He is undoubtedly a great poet in every sense. He always sought optimism in every situation of life and propagated the universality of the soul. He always engaged in advocating God and inspired people to be optimistic.
References:
Browning, Robert (2009). Roberts, Adam; Karlin, Daniel (eds.). The Major Works. Oxford World's Classics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-955469-0. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 volumes (pub 1907-1921). XIII Ian Jack, ed. (1970). "Introduction and Chronology". Browning Poetical Works 1833–1864. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-254165-9. OCLC 108532 Browning, Robert. Ed. Karlin, Daniel (2004) Selected Poems Penguin Peterson, William S. Sonnets From The Portuguese. Massachusetts: Barre Publishing, 1977.
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