Robert Browning - Part 2

            
               Poems and Poets

               5. Robert Browning- contd.


Once we succumb to Browning's spell, it is difficult to come out! Such is his charm ! Its magic keeps growing.

Talking of his optimism, can anything excel this?

                            Pippa Passes

The year's at the spring
And day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;
The hill-side's dew pearled;
The lark's at the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in his heaven
All's right with the world!


The world is such a picture of perfection- what else do you expect when God is in the driver's seat? Unless you are a revolutionary like our celluloid poet Sahir Ludhianvi  who neatly turned it all upside down:-

Aasmaan pe hai khuda, aur zamin pe hum
Aaj kal woh is taraf  dekhta hai kam!

(God is high above, and we keep waiting below
Rarely doth he now his grace on us bestow! )

Not that Browning is not aware of the imperfections of the world- this is a place of broken arcs, he has said. But that is not the last word. We are here to learn, and leave the rest to God to fulfill.

                  Rabbi Ben Ezra

For more is not reserved 
To man, with soul just nerved
To act tomorrow what he learns to-day.
Here, work enough to watch
The Master work, and catch
Hints of the proper craft, tricks
        of the tool's true play.

So what if we grow old? We grow in God-wisdom too!

Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made:
Our times are in His hand
Who saith 'A whole I planned,
Youth shows but half; trust God:
     see all, nor be afraid!'

Elsewhere Browning is even more explicit and plain:

             World- how it walled about
                   Life with disgrace
             Till God's own smile came out:
                   That was thy face.
                                  (The Two Poets of Croisic)

When the scientific revolution was bringing in new hopes ( or fears), or at least making new promises, poets with faith responded differently. Tennyson became sad, but ended with some confidence, as in 'In Memoriam'. For Wordsworth the answer to the troubles of the world lay in a return to Nature,  with its pristine magnificence. But Browning turns squarely to God, old fashioned, which is the foundation of all his optimism. Does it make him a 'religious' poet?

May be, if we consider lines like these:

              Pauline
             
A mortal, sin's familiar friend, doth here
A vow that he will give all earth's reward,
But to believe, and humbly teach the faith,
In suffering and poverty and  shame,
Only believing he is not unloved.

The Christian tone here is unmistakable. But there is a difference.When religion touches philosophy ( insight into Truth), it turns it into theology and dogma, as only so may it  be made to appeal to the multitude. But in the hands of a true poet, even dense theology  is transformed into just light and love. Sample this:

               ASOLANDO

Through the barrier of flesh, till keen
She climbs from the calm and clear,
Through turbidity all between,
From the known to the unknown here,
Heaven's 'Shall be' from Earth's 'Has been'?

Then life is-to wake not sleep,
Rise and not rest, but press
From earth's level where blindly creep
Things perfected, more or less,
To the heaven's height, far and steep.

Where amid what strifes and storms
May wait the adventurous quest,
Power is Love - transports, transforms
Who aspired from worst to best
Sought the soul's world, spurned the worms.

I have faith such end shall be:
From the first, Power was- I knew.

May be, this sounds  a bit ( or more) like Christian theology modified- does it not echo the old lines "God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of Power, and of Love, and of a Sound  Mind"?

 But as a Hindu, I am not unduly perturbed.. To each, his faith! Browning was addressing a Christian audience, so he spoke their language, their religious language.  That is what society then needed, amid all the encircling gloom. As a matter of fact, what else does our own more ancient Gayatri chant seek- except Power and Love through understanding the Light that is the source of all Power, Love and Enlightenment? And we in our own day may do with some  such faith! Remove the labels, enjoy the stuff!

Browning is stunning. But he is like our Indian Jackfruit. It is hard to cut and open, needs special preparation. And it tastes good only when it is just ripe- a day early is too soon;a day late is too late. ( But in the case of Browning's poetry, ripeness refers to us, struggling to read him and understand.) But the fruit is so, so sweet!