"The Politics of Dramatic Form", Isobel Amstrong

Summary

Armstrong's essay deals with Robert Browning's dramatic poetry and also presents several politics of dramatic forms from Browning's contemporaries. Indeed, Armstrong presents Mill's and Fox's points of view concerning dramatic form. She explains Mill's distinctions between two kinds of knowledge (poetic and scientific) and between two kinds of poets (the poet of nature and the poet of culture). Then, she presents Mill's objections concerning Browning's poetry by using two poems as examples throughout her essay : "Porphyria's Lover" and "Johannes Agricola in Meditation" (first called "Porphyria" and "Johannes Agricola"). She uses these two examples because they both deal with solipsism. Armstrong thinks that Fox's poetics are not based what she called "psychological identification" but they are more based on emotion. Then Fox's and Schlegel's visions of a dramatic poem are explained. Armstrong also explains the dramatic poet's role and Mill's and Fox's opinions about it. Eventually, she presents Browning's objective vision of dramatic poetry and his use of fiction in his own poetry.

Analysis

In Isobel Armstrong's essay, two critical visions of Robert Browning's dramatic poetry are presented. Mill believes that a poet should not take part in political or social subject because a poet has not a scientific knowledge. Fox disagrees with that statement, as we can read in the essay: "Like Fox, he believed that the poet educates feelings, but unlike Fox he believed that poetry educates by belonging to the domain of private feeling and not by negotiating the public world of power"; "where Mill made a distinction between poetry and science or knowledge, Fox puts the two together". To Fox, Robert Browning is a political poet not only because he writes about political issues of his time but also because he is critical toward "the structure of the monologue itself".

To Fox, a poem is dramatic if there is contrasting feelings in it but it does not necessary need a dialogue and a personae as in Browning's dramatic monologues. To Schlegel, drama in a poem needs dialogues between two different parties because it can bring change in the reader's mind. Robert Browning's poems often include dialogues but the sometimes the listener remains silent. To Fox, a dramatic poet is able to analyze any "modern psychological condition".

To Browning, dramatic poetry is objective and so is the dramatic poet: "Browning writes that objective poetry 'is what we call dramatic poetry', when 'even description, as suggesting a describer with'. Thus, the reader is forced to hear, not overhear, a substantive and public poetry. The man passes, the work remains". The two poems presented in this essay ("Porphyria" and "Johannes Agricola") are seen as objective poems. Armstrong also explains that Browning's uses fiction in his poetry because it allows poetic language and it avoids solipsism.

"The Embodied Muse" : Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh and Feminine Poetics, Joyce Zonana

In her essay, Zonana explains that the muses in EBB's Aurora Leigh are important. Indeed, they allow Aurora to discover herself throughout her story. Zonana also argues that Aurora Leigh contains many elements of feminism.

The Muses

EBB gives an important part to the muses in Aurora Leigh. Indeed, early in Book 1 she refers to the Muse. In her essay, Zonana affirms that Aurora does not need a muse to tell her story because she is speaking about herself that is to say about what she knows. However, Aurora has several muses in her epic. Moreover, Zonana explains that the muses Aurora refers to are important to understand how she completely discovers herself.

Joyce Zonana differentiates different kinds of muses : the "heavenly'' muse, the "earthly muse", the muse as "object" and the muse as "subject". According to her, the "heavenly" muse is "the idealization and objectification of the female" whereas the "earthly" muse is "an imminent, embodied, earthly woman". In other words, the "heavenly" is a muse seen as an "object". She is only the object of men's inspiration. There is a distance between the poet, who is generally a male and his muse who is generally a female. An "earthly'' muse is more considered as a subject in her own right by the poet. To Aurora, a muse must "embody her poetic spirit".

 

Aurora's self discovery

Zonana explains that there are three main steps in Aurora's self discovery. At the beginning of the novel, she sees herself as a heavenly muse. Indeed, because of the "patriarchal tradition" of her father's book, she sees the muses as the poets of Antiquity such as Homer and Virgil saw them. Zonana wrote : " she envisages inspiration as elevation and transcendence of the sense".

The second steps in Aurora's self discovery is what Zonana calls " the disembodied muse". Aurora sees different aspects of herself in other female characters : her aunt is "a deadening Madonna", Lady Waldemar is "a threatening Lamia" and Marian is "a suffering Madonna".  Then, Aurora finds out that she has all these qualities she saw in others in herself.

The last step of her self discovery is the moment when she becomes an "embodied muse". Indeed, throughout her poem, Aurora becomes an embodied muse because she is "a passive Aurora" but then she becomes aware of "the impulses of desire and love".  Zonana explains that Aurora is fully a poet and a woman when she admits that she loves Romney. Then, she becomes an embodiment of the "union of heaven and earth", in other words she is the muse and the poet who connects the two worlds.

Feminism

There are many elements of feminism in Aurora Leigh. Zonana argues that Marian partly represents Aurora's feminist mind because she believes that Aurora's identification with Marian is a feminine act. Indeed, Marian is one of Aurora's muses but she is considered as a subject and not as an object as male poets would consider her. Zonana wrote that Marian is "an essential mirror in Aurora's process of self-discovery". This can be confirmed by the fact that Aurora completely discovers herself in Italy just after her "rediscovery" of Marian in Paris.

Other elements of feminism can be found in Aurora Leigh, such as the opposition of Aurora and Romney. Aurora embodies the feminine spirit, in other words the spiritual, whereas Romney embodies the masculine spirit, that is to say the material. Moreover, as a muse and a female poet, Aurora is at the center of her story and she stands out from male "epic singers" such as Homer and Virgil.

Joyce Zonana's essay shows her that Aurora Leigh is a novel about poetry and muses but it is also about feminism and we could make a parallel between Aurora Leigh and Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

Summary and Analysis of “Appendix D.2-D.5: Review of ‘Casa Guidi Windows’”

Summaries

From [Guiseppe Mazzini], “Europe: Its Conditions and Prospects”, Westminster Review (April 1852): 236-50

                Mazzini first underlines the fact that the literature of the first half of the 19^th century was linked to the political context of the time: “The literature of the Continent during the last few years has been essentially political, revolutionary, and warlike.” Then he explains the ideas of change and revolution which were spread through Europe at his time. Eventually Mazzini explains that this change is unavoidable and England should take part in it.

From “Mrs. Browning’s New Poem”, The Leader (14 June 1851) : 560-61

                First, we are reminded of Mrs. Browning’s talent and also of the weaknesses in her writing. Then the author said that Casa Guidi Windows demarcates of her previous writings: “In her Casa Guidi Windows we notice an immense improvement”. Finally the author declares that according to him the second part of the poem is better than the first one.

From [Henry Fothergrill Chorley], “Poems before Congress”, The Athenaeum 1690 (17 March 1860) : 371-72

                In this short text Chorley explains that the political dimension in Browning’s Poems before Congress has taken a too big part to the detriment of the poetic dimension. Then he gives an example of this political dimension in her poetry by quoting “A Curse of Nation”. Finally he says that Mrs. Browning is still a great poetess in her time.

Analysis

                These three texts give us an idea of the political context in Europe during the 19^th century and they also present two different opinions about Elizabeth Browning’s work about this period.  Mazzini’s text presents the context in Europe during the 19^th century and he insists on change. Indeed, according to him, the idea of absolutism is not as much as strong than it was in the past: “Europe […] no longer believes in the sanctity of royal races… She has invented the political axiom, “Kings reign without governing;” wherever they govern and govern badly, she overthrows them”. To Mazzini, revolutions through Europe are an inevitable consequence of absolutism and privileges: “Now look at the organization of Europe – is it not altogether based upon privilege, by whatever name it may be know ? How then can one wonder at the struggle which is engendered within it ?”. Mazzini also explains that England has to take part in the struggle for liberty: “If England persist in maintaining this neutral, passive, selfish part, she must expiate it. European transformation is inevitable”.

                This political context and this period of change has led to a lot of writings. Elizabeth Browning’s “Casa Guidi Windows” is one of them. In the text “Mrs. Browning’s New Poem”, the author clearly says that this poem is a great achievement and that according to him Browning’s poetry is better thanks to her presence in Italy during the events she tells: “the actual experience of the things she utters in musical creativeness has given a graver and more touching tone to the rhythm of her thoughts”. Nevertheless he makes a distinction between the parts of the poem and says that “the whole of the first part is inferior, we think of the second, written three years afterwards, in 1851, when all the hopes of Italy had been frustrated”. We can wonder if the author’s opinion is only based on Browning’s poetic work in these two parts or if it is based on the difference of tone due to the evolution of the events that occurred in Italy.

                A different opinion is given in Chorley’s text. To him, Browning’s main default in her work Poems before Congress is that it is more focused on the political context and events than on her poetry: “She is more political than poetical”; “It must be remarked that Mrs. Browning’s Art suffers from the violence of her temper. Choosing to scold, she forgets how to sing”. This statement is very different from the previous text’ author. However, Chorley asserts than Elizabeth Browning remains one of the greatest poetess of her time: “Mrs. Browning is, as before, a real poetess – One of the few among the few, - one who has written, in her time, better than the best of English poetesses”.

 

Summary and Analysis of “Appendix B: Religion and Factory Reform”, Elizabeth Barrett Browning Selected Poems

In this blog, I will be summarizing a text from Peter Bayne about religion in Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry and two other texts from Frances Trollope and the Irish Unviversity Press Series of British Parliamentary Papers, both dealing with the employment of children in factories.

Religion

From Peter Bayne, Two Englishwomen: Mrs. Browning and Charlotte Brontë (London: James Clarke, 1881)

Summary

First, Bayne makes a comparison between Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s and the 17^th century poet John Milton’s works about religion and explains that Milton’s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained are better works than Browning’s A Drama of Exile and The Seraphim. Then he makes a distinction between the two poet by explaining how their works deal with the death of Christ.

Analysis

Peter Bayne’s text is based upon a comparison between Elizabeth Barrett Browning and John Milton. At first he affirms that Milton’s literary skills were better than Browning’s: “As works of literary art, the performance of Mrs. Browning cannot enter into rivalry with those of Milton”. But then he explains that the two poets’ ways of dealing with the death of Christ differ. To Bayne, the best treatment of this topic is Browning’s: “On the other hand, Mrs. Browning is in some respect – and these important – more successful in the treatment of the subject than Milton”. According to him, Milton “has almost ignored the death of Christ” whereas Browning “seeks to penetrate into the spiritual meanings of the death of Christ, into the mystery of sorrow shared by Divinity, into love that, through death, conquers death and hell”. It seems obvious that to Bayne, Browning’s work deals more deeply with the subject of religion and particularly with the death of Christ.

 

Factory Reform

Summaries

From Frances Trollope, The Life and Adventures of Michael Armstrong, The Factory Boy (London: Henry Colburn, 1844; serial publication, 1840)

In this excerpt of his novel, Trollope first describes the factory in which children are working. He gives many details concerning the machinery and the atmosphere there. Then he describes the working children. He insists on their appearance, the way they have to do their work and their movements.

From On the Employment of Children and Young Persons in the Irons trades and another Manufactures… and on the actual State, Condition, and Treatment of such Children and Young Persons (1841)

This text is composed of five parts which describe the working conditions of five children and young persons. These excepts of reports give details about the work of these people and  their harsh working conditions. These are the five people presented in this text: Eliza Field, age going on 10; Mary Field age going on 11; Sarah Field, age going on 14; Edward Coleman (age unknown); Unknown, aged 19.

Analysis

These two texts clearly condemn the working conditions of children during the 19^th century. Trollope presents the factories as being like an hell thanks to his descriptions: “every sight, every sound, every scent that kind nature has fitted to the organs of children, so as to render the mere un fettered use of them a delight, are banished for ever and ever”; “the scents that reek around, from oil, tainted water, and human filth”. The emphasis on senses makes the reader realizes the unpleasant and awful atmosphere of the place.

Both texts presents the children as victims of the work in factories and manufactures. Trollope describes them as: “hundreds of helpless children, divested of every trace of health, of joyousness, and even of youth”; “lean and distorted limbs – sallow and sunken cheeks – dim hollow eyes, that speak unrest and most unnatural carefulness, give to each tiny, trembling, unelastic form, a look of hideous premature old age”. With these descriptions, children appears as weak, old, exhausted. It shows how they were exploited and reinforces the feeling of injustice we can feel. In the excerpts of the reports from the Irish University, children are presented with a more individual way, but the impact on the reader is the same. The children are perceived as low-paid victims with no possibility of education and no better future: “gets a shilling a week”; “never heard of another world, nor of heaven, nor of another life”; “she has worked over-hours”; “was taken away at 10 years of age to go to work; has never been able to go to school since; would be glad if she could”.

The dangerous aspect of working in the factories is also mentioned in these texts. Indeed, the working conditions of children were dreadful and children were often wounded or died because of the lack of safety, as we can read in the reports: “many children are burnt to death”; “only yesterday a boy was killed, another had both legs fractured, and several were injured”; “a boy […] was killed on the spot by the weight of the tips that fell upon him; another boy had both his thighs broken and one arm, another boy had his knee hurt, another his arm, and one hurt his back”. All these descriptions deliberately inform the readers to make them react against the work for children in such conditions.

I think that these texts make us be aware of this terrible aspect of the 19^th century society. It also make us understand why poets such as William Wordsworth and Elizabeth Barrett felt concern about it and wrote poems such as Wordsworth’s “The Chimney Sweeper” and Browning’s “The Cry of the Children”.

Summary and Analysis of "Appendix A: Views, Reviews of Collected Poems, and Criticism", Elizabeth Barrett Browning

In this blog, I will be summarizing three views and reviews of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry from Edgar Allan Poe, William Stigand and Peter Bayne.

 

Summaries

 
From Edgar Allan Poe, a review of EBB’s 1844 Poems, in the Broadway Journal (New-York) I, #1 & #2 (4 and II January 1845): 4-8, 17-20

In his review, Poe shows his admiration for Elizabeth Barrett Browning : “we doubt whether one exists, with more profound - with more enthusiastic reverence and admiration of her genius, than the writer of these words”. Then Poe gives several example of Browning’s poems to illustrate what he calls “profusion” in her poetry, such as: “The Cry of the Children”, “Bertha in the Lane”, “Democratic Review” and “Lady Geraldine’s Courtship”. Poe also explains that the rhythm in her poetry was not usual : “In some cases it is nearly impossible to determine what meter is intended. “The Cry of Children” cannot be scanned”. Eventually, Poe affirms that Elizabeth Barrett Browning is the best poetess of her time.

 

From William Stigand, “The Works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning”, Edimburg Review 114 (July-October 1861): 512-34

 

Here Stigand writes just after Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s death and sings her praises : “The gifted person, whose recent death calls forth this notice from us”. As Poe does in his review, Stigand explains that to him, Browning’s style was ‘inflated”, that is to say full of elements: “more quaint than Quarles in her imagery, more grotesque than Cowley or Donne in her ideas, more eccentric in her rhymes than the author of “Hudibras”, and often more coarsely masculine than any known female writer”. Then, Stigand affirms that Browning was a woman of great talent.

 

From Peter Bayne, Two Great Englishwomen: Mrs. Browning and Charlotte Brontë; with an Essay on Poetry, Illustrated from Wordsworth, Burns, and Byron (London: James Clarke, 1881)

 As Poe and Stigand, Bayne praises Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s work, as we can read: “In no poet whatever was the lyrical glow more authentically fervid and genuine”. He explains what he thinks to be her most “characteristic poem” according to her readers, that is to say “Lady Geraldine’s Courtship”. Then he explains that to him, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poetry was close to the social concerns of her time.

 

Analysis

All the three authors of the texts that I summarized praise Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s work. Indeed, Poe speaks about “her magnificent genius” and qualifies her as “the greatest – the most glorious of her sex”, Stigand says that “she was unquestionably a woman of rare genius” and to Bayne, “she embodied woman’s”. Both Poe and Stigand notice that the poetess has a particular style which distinguishes itself by its “profusion”, as Poe writes. To him, Browning was inattentive to rhythm. To Stigand, Browning’s poetry has “a crowd of incoherent thoughts and extravagant images”. But I believe that these opinions are given more in order to underline Browning’s genius than to be read as bad critics. Bayne does not mention Browning’s singular style, but he underlines the importance of Browning’s poetry for her time. Because she lived in a time of political reforms and social transformation (Bayne mentions the Reform Bill), her  politically committed poetry had a strong effect.

"Victorian Views"

In this blog, I will be summarizing and analyzing three criticisms about Robert Browning. The first one will be Gerard Manley Hopkins’ “Strictures on Browning”, the second one will be Oscar Wilde’s “Browning as “Writer of Fiction”” and the last one will be John Ruskin’s “Browning and the Italian Renaissance”.

Gerard Manley Hopkins’ “Strictures on Browning”

In his criticism, Hopkins first explains that there is strictures in Browning’s writings: “Browning has, I think, many frigidities. Any untruth to nature, to human nature, is frigid”. To illustrate his idea, Hopkins refers to Charles Kingsley and Alfred Tennyson. Then Hopkins refers to William Shakespeare in order to oppose Browning to him. In a second part, Hopkins explains that he read a part of Browning’s The Ring and the Book but he did not find it interesting enough to read the all work: “I did not see, without a particular object, sufficient reason for going on with it.” The he compares Honoré de Balzac to Browning.

Hopkins criticizes Browning’s way to deal with human nature. Indeed, he explains that there are what he calls “frigidities”. Then he explains the sense of this word, that is to say “an untruth to nature, to human nature”. Through Hopkins’ criticism, Browning is compared to several writers in order to reinforce Hopkins’ thesis. For instance, to Hopkins, Browning does not have “a reserve and a simplicity of style” as Balzac has. Having read some of Balzac’s works, I agree with Hopkins about the difference of style in their writings. But is it appropriate to compare two writers who did not write the same kind of works and not in the same language ? At the end of his criticism, Hopkins writes: “Indeed, I hold with the oldfashioned criticism that Browning is not really a poet, that he has all the gifts but the one needful and the pearls without the string; rather one should say raw nuggets and rough diamonds.”

 

John Ruskin’s “Browning and the Italian Renaissance”

In his criticism, John Ruskin explains that many writers of his time and of the past have been interested in the Italian Renaissance : “How far in these modern days, emptied of splendor, it may be necessary for great men having sympathies for those earlier ages”. Then Ruskin gives his opinion concerning Browning and his writings about Italian Renaissance and makes a comparison between him and Shakespeare. Eventually, Ruskin writes about what he thinks of Browning’s poetry.

Ruskin praises Browning’s work, as we can read : “Robert Browning is unerring in every sentence he writes of the Middle-Ages; always vital, right, and profound”. Through his criticism, it is quite obvious to see Ruskin’s admiration for Browning. We can see it, for instance, when he compares Browning to Shakespeare. Indeed, once again, Browning is compared to him but this comparison is different from the one Hopkins made. Here, Ruskin explains that Shakespeare’s work and Browning’s work about the Italian Renaissance are different because they did not live at the same time and did not experienced the same things (we must remember that Browning lived in Italy, but not during the Italian Renaissance) : “the modern poet, living much in Italy, and quit of the Renaissance influence, is able fully to enter into the Italian feeling, and to see the evil of the Renaissance tendency, not because he is greater than Shakespeare, but because he is another element, and has seen other things”. Ruskin thinks that Browning really understood the “Renaissance spirit” : “I know no other piece of modern English, prose or poetry, in which there is so much told, as in these lines, of the Renaissance spirit,- its worldliness, inconsistency, pride, hypocrisy, ignorance or itself, love of art, luxury, and of good Latin”.

Oscar Wilde’s “Browning as “Writer of Fiction””

Wilde first criticizes the Browning Society : “seem to me to spend their time in trying to explain their divinity away”. He also criticizes Browning’s work, but both in a negative and positive way, as we can read: “But I speak merely of his incoherent work. Taken as a whole, the man was great.” Wilde explains that the music of Browning’s poetry was not harmonious. But the second part of his criticism, Wilde gives his opinion concerning the fiction in Browning’s poetry.

In his criticism, Wilde gives his negative opinion of Browning’s poetry and especially its musicality and its rhymes: “There are moments when he wounds us by monstrous music”. But even if he expresses his dislike concerning Browning’s way to write poetry, he still praises him through his text: “the man was great”, “Still, he was great”, “Even now, I am speaking, and speaking not against him but for him”, “Yes, Browning was great”. Indeed, Wilde sings the praise of Browning as a writer of fiction: “And as what will he be remembered ? As a poet ? Ah, not as a poet ! He will be remembered as a writer of fiction, as the most supreme writer of fiction, it may be, that we have ever had”. Here, Wilde shows his admiration for Browning. I believe that even if it is true that Browning’s poem are often narrative, we should remember his as a poet because poetry is not only a matter of rhymes.

Summary and analysis of Jennifer A. Wagner-Lawlor's "The Pragmatics of Silence, and the Figuration of the Reader in Browning's Dramatic Monologues"

In this blog, I will be summarizing and analyzing an essay : “The Pragmatics of Silence, and the Figuration of the reader in Browning’s Dramatic Monologues” by Jennifer A. Wagner-Lawlor who is professor at the Pennsylvania State University.

 

Summary  

In her essay, Wagner-Lawlor analyses the silence and its effect in Robert Browning’s dramatic monologues. She argues that because of the speaker’s behavior the listener has to be a silent figure. Indeed, the speaker seems to be superior to the auditor. He can be an aggressive and narcissistic character and the listener seems to have no choice but listening to him. But this silent from the listener can lead to this ambiguity : is his silence a kind of approval or is it the opposite ? In a second part, Wagner-Lawlor argues that the reader must be set apart from the listener. According to her, the reader is not submitted to the speaker of the dramatic monologue and he has more freedom. Moreover, the meaning of the silence can be interpreted differently. The listener’s silence can be perceived as an agreement whereas the reader’s silence can be interpreted as a disagreement.

 

Analysis

I agree with Wagner-Lawlor’s idea concerning the meaning of the auditor’s silence. “The aggressive narcissism of the speaker, who does not let the auditor speak, sets up a violation of “access rights” to discourse” wrote Wagner-Lawlor. Indeed, the listener is deprived of his right to respond to the speaker and that could explain his silence. If it is true that the speaker puts himself in the foreground of his monologue, the silence of the auditor does not necessarily means that he agrees with him. If we can interpret it in this way as readers, we can also interpret it differently. The silence does not always means approval even from a submitted character.

In her essay, Wagner-Lawlor also wrote : “ Whereas the auditor’s silence may represent an involuntary consensus, the silence of the actual reader, who is forced to step out of the place of the noninterpretive auditor, may signify the opposite”. I agree that the reader may be opposed to the speaker. As we can read in Robert Langbaum’s essay “The Dramatic Monologue: Sympathy versus Judgment”, the reader is shared between sympathy toward the speaker of the dramatic monologue and moral concerns. But the reader tends to be more sympathetic than ready to condemn the speaker’s action. I believe that even if the reader, through his silence, has more freedom to express his opposition to the speaker, it must not be necessarily interpreted in this way.