Browning's Shorter Poems, page 129 by Robert Browning
<< Return to Title Details & Download130
n Paris, or in some Italian city. The poem is a plea for the freedom of the individuality of a soul against the restrictions imposed by conventional standards of value. Its touches of humor, of human nature, and its summary of two lives in brief, are admirably done. Its rhymes sometimes need the indulgence accorded to humorous writing.
A TALE. (PAGE 61.)
The source of the story is an epigram given in Mackail's _Select Epigrams from Greek Anthology_. It is one of the happiest pieces of Browning's lighter work.
65. =Lotte=, or Charlotte. A character in Goethe's _Sorrows of Werther_, said to be drawn from the heroine of one of Goethe's earlier love-affairs.
Who are the speaker and the one addressed? Whom does the cicada of the tale symbolize? Whom the singer helped by the cicada? What application is made of the story? What serious meanings and feelings underlie the tone of raillery? What things mark the light and humorous tone of the speaker? Point out the harmony between style and theme.
CAVALIER TUNES. (PAGE 67.)
Note the swinging, martial movement, and the energetic spirit in these lyrics. For an account of the history of the period, see Green's Short History of the English People, Chapter VIII, and
Macaulay's History of England, Chapter I. For an account of the qualities of the Cavaliers, see Macaulay's Essay on Milton.
I. MARCHING ALONG
- =Kentish Sir Byng=. The first of the family known to fame was George Byng, Viscount Torrington (1663-1733), who could not be the man meant here by Browning.
- =crop-headed=. In allusion to the close-cropped hair of the Puritans. Long wigs were the fashion among the Cavaliers; hence the Puritans were nicknamed "Roundheads."
- =King Charles= the First. =Pym=, John (1584-1643). Leader of the Parliament in its actions against King Charles and the Royalist party.
- =Hampden=, John (1594-1643). One of the leaders of Parlia