E600412A. Napoleon III in Italy, and Other Poems.
The Independent (New York), 12 April 1860, p. 8.
As reprinted in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 27, 385–386.
Dante himself would applaud such a tribute as this to the freedom of his loved Italia: a poem in which volcanic fires blend with sunny skies, and icy peaks echo the surging enthusiasm of the plains. Mrs. Browning, who, whether in England or in Italy, is the poet of the people, and who has never stooped
To stroke the ermine beast
On any kind of throne,—
has found at last a hero for her worship, where many see only a calculating villain or scheming despot. Her admiration of Napoleon in Italy rises to the loftiest pitch of enthusiasm; still she reserves her homage for the idea which the Emperor impersonates before her. She has no adulation for the man, no flattery for imperial grandeur, but her worship is for the champion of Liberty. The moral sublimity of this elevation of the poet’s soul above the accidents and accompaniments of place and power, stands out finely in these lines:
But now, Napoleon, now
That, leaving far behind the purple throng
Of vulgar monarchs, thou
Tread’st higher in thy deed
Than stair of throne can lead,
To help in the hour of wrong
The broken hearts of nations to be strong,—
Now, lifted as thou art
To the level of pure song,
We stand to meet thee on these Alpine snows!
And while the palpitating peaks break out
Ecstatic from somnambular repose
With answers to the presence and the shout,
We, poets of the people, who take part
With elemental justice, natural right,
Join in our echoes also, nor refrain.
We meet thee, O Napoleon, at this height
At last, and find thee great enough to praise.
Receive the poet’s chrism, which smells beyond
The priest’s, and pass thy ways;—
An English poet warns thee to maintain
God’s word, not England’s:—let His truth be true
And all men liars! with His truth respond
To all men’s lie. Exalt the sword and smite
On that long anvil of the Apennine
Where Austria forged the Italian chain in view
Of seven consenting nations, sparks of fine
Admonitory light.
Till men’s eyes wink before convictions new.
Flash in God’s justice to the world’s amaze,
Sublime Deliverer!—after many days
Found worthy of the deed thou art come to do—
Emperor
Evermore.
We cannot accept Mrs. Browning’s estimate of Napoleon, nor award to him her tribute of sincerity. We know too much of his perjuries, oppressions, and villainies at home to forget all in a sudden enthusiasm for his foreign policy. Her poetry is vastly finer than its subject.
But when she touches upon Italy we feel the inspiration of every word. Her mustering of the hosts for the war is one of the finest specimens of imitative poetry in the language. Our readers have already had a foretaste of the exquisite beauty of composition in these poems, in the specimen given in the “Court Lady” published in The Independent.
Reviewed:
Napoleon III in Italy, and Other Poems (EBB), New York: C.S. Francis & Co., 1860.
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