R511200A. Sordello and Bells and Pomegranates
The American Whig Review, December 1851, p. 466
As reprinted in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 17, 394–395.
Modern English Poets.
Mr. and Mrs. Browning are psychological curiosities. Independently of the singular fact of two of the greatest poetical minds of the day being “united in the holy bonds of matrimony,” there are many peculiar traits connected with their history which render them possibly the most interesting married couple on record. Both shrouded as it were from the world, and dedicated to the service of Apollo almost from their very cradle, they, like young Hannibal, have given themselves up to that worship which, though requiring a native genius, is yet more generally determined by some particular accident. In order to render their idiosyncrasy the more intelligible, we shall briefly allude to their personal history, and as a matter of course commence with the lady.
[This article continues with a notice of EBB’s Casa Guidi Windows; see pp. 000–000.]
Browning has enjoyed for some two or three years an American fame, his poems having been reprinted here. That he will ever be popular is doubtful, as it requires a study to master his symbols. In the words of Heraud, Browning is a poet who, tired with the old symbols of poetry, cast them aside and invented new. To instance a case: he would not write “red as a rose;” that, he would say, is commonplace—every poetling has said that. No; Browning would select the name of something which nobody had ever heard of. What renders this the more curious, is the fact of his conversation being eminently intelligible. There is, however, something very foreign, indeed half Jewish, about the expression of his countenance; or perhaps it would be nearer the exact fact to say, half Italian, half Judaical. Of a small person, very active and slender, his whole manner is full of a marked courtesy, which conveys the idea of insincerity, although nothing can be farther from his real nature. That he is most admirably mated, no doubt can exist, for we have never met one who had less sensuality than the author of “Sordello.”
In politics he is sternly but quietly republican, seldom entering into political discussions: indeed, we have heard him repeatedly declare that he considered it infra dig. for a poet to argue—on subjects of government more especially—with the masses; and he carried this pride to such an extent as to seem rather to concur with the mass than to combat the popular opinion. We remember very well, one evening at a friend’s house, that he refused to come to the rescue of one of his own favorite opinions; and when reproached by his friend afterwards for his apparent want of sincerity, he rebuked the other for condescending to argue with a mixed company, which he declared was really “throwing pearls before swine.”
There is, however, much in the personal history of Robert Browning, to account for this apparent pride and shyness. His family are of the middle class of gentry; his father being engaged in commercial pursuits. His mother is half a Creole: he thus has some fiery blood in his veins. His parents being partially independent, and detecting in their son, even as early as his fourth year, singular traces of poetical genius, resolved to give him a careful education, and, in a word, to devote him to the God of Song. After acquiring the rudiments of education in Camberwell, he was sent to the London University, where he rapidly rose to the head of his class.
As an instance of his singular precocity, we have seen translations he made from Horace and Propertius even so early as in his eighth year. What is still more remarkable, they exhibit the same peculiarities which distinguish his more mature productions.
His chief productions are “Pauline,” (his earliest,) published in 1833; “Paracelsus,” (1836;) “Sordello,” (1841). His best works are a series of dramas, entitled “Bells and Pomegranates,” comprising under this fantastical name some of the most remarkable productions of the age. He is about forty years of age.
[Thomas Powell]
Reviewed:
General Review Essay (RB).
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