Introduction to Robert Browning [80]
-- When the door opened, and more than mortal Stood, with a face where to my mind centred All beauties I ever saw or shall see, The Duchess: I stopped as if struck by palsy. She was so different, happy and beautiful, I felt at once that all was best, And that I had nothing to do, for the rest, But wait her commands, obey and be dutiful. [720] Not that, in fact, there was any commanding; I saw the glory of her eye, And the brow's height and the breast's expanding, And I was hers to live or to die. As for finding what she wanted, You know God Almighty granted Such little signs should serve wild creatures To tell one another all their desires, So that each knows what his friend requires, And does its bidding without teachers. [730] I preceded her; the crone Followed silent and alone; I spoke to her, but she merely jabbered In the old style; both her eyes had slunk Back to their pits; her stature shrunk; In short, the soul in its body sunk Like a blade sent home to its scabbard. We descended, I preceding; Crossed the court with nobody heeding; All the world was at the chase, [740] The court-yard like a desert-place, The stable emptied of its small fry; I saddled myself the very palfrey I remember patting while it carried her, The day she arrived and the Duke married her. And, do you know, though it's easy deceiving One's self in such matters, I can't help believing The lady had not forgotten it either, And knew the poor devil so much beneath her Would have been only too glad, for her service, [750] To dance on hot ploughshares like a Turk dervise, But, unable to pay proper duty where owing it, Was reduced to that pitiful method of showing it. For though, the moment I began setting His saddle on my own nag of Berold's begetting (Not that I meant to be obtrusive), She stopped me, while his rug was shifting, By a single rapid finger's lifting, And, with a gesture kind but conclusive, And a little shake of the head, refused me, -- [760] I say, although she never used me, Yet when she was mounted, the gypsy behind her, And I ventured to remind her, I suppose with a voice of less steadiness Than usual, for my feeling exceeded me, -- Something to the effect that I was in readiness Whenever God should please she needed me, -- Then, do you know, her face looked down on me With a look that placed a crown on me, And she felt in her bosom, -- mark, her bosom -- [770] And, as a flower-tree drops its blossom, Dropped me. . .ah! had it been a purse Of silver, my friend, or gold that's worse, Why, you see, as soon as I found myself So understood, -- that a true heart so may gain Such a reward, -- I should have gone home again, Kissed Jacynth, and soberly drowned myself! It was a little plait of hair Such as friends in a convent make To wear, each for the other's sake, -- [780] This, see, which at my breast I wear, Ever did (rather to Jacynth's grudgment), And ever shall, till the Day of Judgment. And then, -- and then, -- to cut short, -- this is idle, These are feelings it is not good to foster, -- I pushed the gate wide, she shook the bridle, And the palfrey bounded, -- and so we lost her.
-- 501. you: ethical dative; there are several examples in the poem, and of "me"; see especially v. 876.
586. impinge: to strike or fall upon or against; in the following passage used ethically: -- "For I find this black mark impinge the man, That he believes in just the vile of life." -- The Ring and the Book: The Pope, v. 511.
567-689. "When higher laws draw the spirit out of itself into the life of others; when grief has waked in it, not a self-centred despair, but a divine sympathy; when it looks from the narrow limits of its own suffering to the largeness of the world and the sorrows it can lighten, we can dimly apprehend that it has taken flight and has found its freedom in a region whither earth-bound spirits cannot follow it. Surely the Gypsy's message was this -- if the Duchess would leave her own troubles and throw
-- 501. you: ethical dative; there are several examples in the poem, and of "me"; see especially v. 876.
586. impinge: to strike or fall upon or against; in the following passage used ethically: -- "For I find this black mark impinge the man, That he believes in just the vile of life." -- The Ring and the Book: The Pope, v. 511.
567-689. "When higher laws draw the spirit out of itself into the life of others; when grief has waked in it, not a self-centred despair, but a divine sympathy; when it looks from the narrow limits of its own suffering to the largeness of the world and the sorrows it can lighten, we can dimly apprehend that it has taken flight and has found its freedom in a region whither earth-bound spirits cannot follow it. Surely the Gypsy's message was this -- if the Duchess would leave her own troubles and throw