E510100A. The Poems of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (New York, 1850).
Holden’s Dollar Magazine, January 1851, pp. 40–41.
As reprinted in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 16, 332.
Madame De Stael, in Corinne, sets forth the intimate, perhaps necessary connection between deep, dark sorrow, and the best and bravest intellectual strength, by the following beautiful illustration. “Are not the Heavens more beautiful by night? Thousands of stars shine in the kindling sky which is an azure desert during day. Thus do the gathering of sorrow’s shades over the firmament of mind, reveal innumerable thoughts, half lost in the full daylight of prosperity.” The poetry and the life of Mrs. Browning are a striking ex- [p. 41→] emplification of this truth. She has suffered deeply and searchingly, and out from the depths of her sorrow, her soul has spoken, and a world has turned a listening ear to its earnest utterings.
The poetess herself recognized this truth, when she says, that the object of poetry is “to vindicate the necessary relation of genius to suffering and self-sacrifice;” and in the preface to her poems, she remarks that they “were not written because there is a public, but because they were thought and felt;” as she expresses the idea in another place, “My poems, while full of faults, have my soul and life in them.” So was it with Milton. Not only was the world all dark to his external sight, but the gloom of sorrow, brooded over his soul. Yet with it all his genius seemed to receive a new life, and a higher power. And indeed there is a certain similarity between the poetry of Mrs. Browning and Milton, hardly describable, but so distinct as that one reminds of the other. Her poetry is all serious; much of it religious. It is of the earnest, dignified, genuine character which commands profound respect, while it stirs a strong enthusiasm.—None of it is frivolous—none of it superficial.—Some may feel a lack of a gushing spontaneity, a glad, fresh, inspiring liveliness, and may be repelled by a certain stateliness of style. But liveliness is too common to be greatly missed, and dignity, depth and elaborateness too rare not to be greatly prized.
Reviewed:
Poems (EBB), New York: C.S. Francis, 1850.
___________________
