Paper Two: Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came

Grayson Pipher

ENGL 370

Dr. Hague

10 December, 2013

Childe Roland: Dream or Reality?

Robert Browning, author of the ambiguous poem Child Roland to the Dark Tower Came, was often accused of being too obscure. However, William Morris, author of the critical essay Browning's Alleged Carelessness, argues against these accusations, stating, "I assert, fearlessly, that this obscurity is seldom so prominent as to make his poems hard to understand," (502). In most cases, Morris would be right. Most of Browning's works, such as My Last Duchess and Soliloquy of a Spanish Cloister as well as many of his other works, are not too obscure to be able to determine their meaning. Childe Roland, however, is one legitimate example of the obscurity Browning was accused of. Browning admitted that the poem came to him as a dream and after he woke, he finished the poem in one day. He also said that he was inspired by no work outside that of Shakespeare's King Lear; however, many more literary works have been suggested as sources of inspiration. This poem is a sort of dramatic monologue where Childe Roland (childe meaning young warrior before becoming a knight not a child as in a young human being) speaks to the listener (or the reader) about his thoughts and perceptions during his long and arduous quest to find the Dark Tower.  Upon reading this poem for the first time, it may seem as if that is all there is to the story; however, that may not be the case. When asked if the poem was indeed meant to have a deeper meaning, Browning answered, "Oh, no, not at all. Understand, I don't repudiate it, either. I only mean I was conscious of no allegorical intention in writing it," (Browning, p.181). By his own admission, Browning was not aware of any double meaning to the poem. However, by delving deeper into the text and the details of each section of the poem, it seems as if  it is more analogous than even Browning intended it to be. There are two possible readings for this poem. One, the poem is about a literal quest and the speaker (Childe Roland) is really on a physical journey to the Dark Tower. Two, the journey is not a literal one but a figurative one, taking place in Roland's mind rather than in reality. This essay will examine both of these possibilities. 

In order to answer the question, "Is the quest real or in his head?" we must first take into account Roland's state of mind. According to Harold Bloom, author of the critical essay Browning's "Childe Roland": All Things Deformed and Broken, "What happens in in the poem, difficult to determine, perhaps impossible to know with final assurance, depends upon the reader's judgment of Roland, the poem's speaker," (634). If the reader is able to make a judgment on Roland's state of mind, he might be able to decide what is real and what is an illusion. The poem opens with the line, "My first thought was, he lied in every word," (ln. 1). Through this one statement, the reader instantly becomes aware that, for whatever reason, Childe Roland is in a jaded and cynical state of mind. He allows no room for benefit of the doubt and judges the cripples advice as a lie and the cripple himself as malicious. For what else does this cripple have to do, "save to waylay with his lies, ensnare/ All travelers who might find him posted there," (ln. 8-9). Roland believes the cripple's sole purpose is to impede the progress of travelers and laugh while he does it. Roland's state of mind is important in answering our question because we now understand that all accounts Roland makes throughout the poem are seen with a lens of hatred and cynicism. 

The first evidence that we encounter suggesting that Roland's quest is a literal one, is in the second stanza where he mentions the cripple lying to other travelers and not just to Roland himself. There is no one else in one's mind, save one's own conscious, so the cripple must be a real being and not just a figment of Roland's imagination, otherwise other travelers would be unable to encounter him. Despite the fact that Roland believe the cripple to be a liar, he fallows the cripple's advice anyway and proceeds down the directed road. Again, his state of mind is obvious when he says, "neither pride/ Nor hope rekindling at the end descried,/ So much as gladness that some end might be," (ln. 16-18). Roland sees as end to his journey, yet it is not a hopeful one. As he continues his journey toward what he hopes is the Dark Tower, he reveals that the day has been a "dreary one at best," and is finally coming to an end. It is at this point where reality seems to set with the sun and his quest becomes more of an illusion or nightmare.

Although there are still instances where evidence points towards reality, his accounts and descriptions become more and more dreamlike as his joinery, and the night, goes on. After a few paces down the directed road, Roland pauses, "to throw backward a last view/ O'er the safe road," but the road had disappeared and he was now surrounded by grey plains as far as the eye could see (ln. 51-52). In reality, if a road that one was traveling were to instantly vanish, it seems the appropriate reaction would be, at the very least, shock and awe. Roland, however, does not seem shocked at all and merely continues on his journey, stating, "I might go on; nought else remained to do," (ln. 54). This is evidence that what is happening to Roland now is happening mainly within his mind. He still may be traveling towards the dark tower, but he has turned within himself and now sees only what he wants to see. The next few stanzas support this statement.

As Roland walks through the plains, he describes the scenery around him. What might be ordinary grasslands with flowers, and trees, and weeds suddenly become, "Such a starved ignoble nature," (ln. 56). The weeds (what many people may revive to be the nuisance of nature), have taken over the plains without check and any plant that dared rise above the rest would have its head chopped off by the jealous weeds. What green grass there was would only be beaten down by "brutes". A person traveling through this area who is not in a hatful state of mind might perceive the land to be overgrown but beautiful. Not Roland though, who sees it only as dead and only curable by "Judgement's fire" (ln. 65). Only then would the land be set free. 

Roland also comes upon a horse which he describes as "stiff and blind, his every bone a-stare,/ Stood stupefied" (ln. 75). He refers to the horse as, "the devil's stud" and says, "I never saw a brute i hated so; he must be wicked to deserve such pain," (ln. 78, 83-84). Like his initial thoughts about the cripple at the beginning of the poem, Roland leaves no room for compassion or sympathy for this horse. As soon as he sees it, he hates it more than he has ever hated a beast before. His perception of the old horse on the plains is seen only through a lens of hate and it is hard to discern whether the horse is truly as hatful as he seems. It seems as if Roland truly does come upon this horse as he travels, but his nightmarish state of mind only allows him to see it through a hatful lens, rather than through the lens of a right-minded consciousness. In the next line he states, " I shut my eyes and turn them in my heart," (ln. 85). The perception of the horse could very well be a reflection of his own perception of himself. In his heart he does not feel worthy of success and hates himself for it and he believes he deserves the pain he has encountered on his journey. 

Up until this point, Roland's delusions seem to come only from his distorted frame of mind. Now, however, he turns from his head to his heart and begins to remember happy times with his old friends and a battle ensues within Roland between his negative mind and his aching heart. His heart wants to see his friends as they used to be but his head just brings back memories of their downfalls. The battle is short-lived, though, and his mind wins out, "Better this present than a past like that;? back therefore to my darkening path again," (ln.103-104). Roland returns to his journey (what seems to be his literal journey) and has suddenly come across a river, "as unexpected as a serpent comes," (ln. 110). When first reading this part of the poem, it seems as if the river appears out of thin air, eluding to the fact that his journey is not literal at all. However, readers could read the scene differently. While walking, Roland withdraws so much into his thoughts and memories that he does not realize the passage of time or space. The internal battle between his heart and mind distracts him so much that he no longer sees his surroundings.  Again, his negative and dark descriptions of the river reminds the reader of Roland's state of mind. 

As Roland crosses the river, he feared, "to set (his) foot upon a dead man's cheek/ Each step, or feel the spear (he) thrust to seek," (ln. 122-123). He imagines there might be bodies in the water and, in fear, thrusts his spear below the surface. it is evident that he is imagining these bodies when he says, "It may have been a water-rat I speared/ But, ugh! it sounded like a baby's shriek," (ln. 125-126). In his disillusioned state, he mistakes what could have been a water rat for a human baby, suggesting that he is actually crossing the river, but is still not in a stable state of mind. After he reaches the other side of the river comes a "vain presage" (typically a sign or warning that something bad is going to happen) (ln. 128). Roland soon comes upon the sight of a recent battle and we wonders why the strugglers fought at this place and what they fought over. Although it seems as if the battleground is set in reality, Roland notices there are no footprints leading to or from the site. This might indicate that what Roland is seeing is the battle within himself, rather than a literal battle; perhaps both. 

Roland continues on his journey, again negatively describing his surroundings. His mind set has not changed and we as readers must be sure to take this into account. A bird flied over his head, brushing his cap, and he calls the bird "Apollyon's bosom-friend," (ln. 160). Appollyon is sometimes referred to as Abaddon, which means "destroyer" that has wings like a dragon (Browning, p.186). He perceives what could have been just a regular black bird as something out of his own mind. He believes this bird is the guide he has been hoping for because suddenly he realizes he has found the place he has been searching for. As he looks at the Tower, the sun sets and it is once again day. As before, the rising sun is s symbol for the end of his illusion, but in a different way. He has reached his destination, and good or bad, his quest will soon be over.  He imagines the surrounding mountains are watching what will happen and they they are calling to him to put an end to the creature (ln. 190-192). He sees those who have failed this quest before him, as if they were there to watch him fail as well. Instead of fearing what seems to be his eminent doom, he puts his slug-horn to his lips and calls, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came," signaling the end of his journey (ln. 203-204).

I was captivated by this poem from the first time I read the title. Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came. It still gives me goose bumps when I say or hear it. When I first read this poem, I definitely took it to be a strictly literal quest. I am an avid reader of fiction, so much so that it seems a lot like reality to me at this point, so I was not particular shocked by the illusionistic qualities of this poem. I just passed by them without even noting them and took the poem as reality. Once it was pointed out in class, however, that the quest could in fact be a figurative one, I began to notice these illusionistic details more and more. To me, the poem can be taken both literally and figuratively. Roland's encounter with the cripple, and his judgment thereafter, suggests to me that the quest was real. As I said before, other people would not be able to encounter a man who i a complete figment of Roland's imagination. At the same time, Roland's frame of mind throughout the entirety of the poem suggests that he is not only on a literal quest to find the Dark Tower, but on a figurative journey towards his own death. As the Tower (death) vastly approaches, Roland becomes more and more aware of his eminent doom and the end to his journey, therefore, his outlook on life is extremely bleak and dreary. Therefore, we are only allowed to see the way he preserves his environment, rather than what it actually is. The ambiguity of this poem is what makes it so enrapturing. i am constantly stuck between states of imagination and reality and this poem seems to reflect this part of me perfectly. There is one quote in particular that sums up how I feel about Childe Roland's ambiguity, "See/ Or shut your eyes…It nothing skills (it makes no difference)," (ln. 62-64).

Work Cited

Bloom, Harold. "Browning's 'Childe Roland': All Things Deformed and Broken." Robert Browning's Poetry: A Norton Critical Edition. Ed. James F. Loucks and Andrew M. Stauffer. New York. W.W. Norton & Company. 2007. 634-643.

Browning, Robert. "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came." Robert Browning's Poetry: A Norton Critical Edition. Ed. James F. Loucks and Andrew M. Stauffer. New York. W.W. Norton & Company. 2007. 181-188.

Morris, William. "Browning's Alleged Carelessness." Robert Browning's Poetry: A Norton Critical Edition. Ed. James F. Loucks and Andrew M. Stauffer. New York. W.W. Norton & Company. 2007. 501-502.

Paper 1

Grayson Pipher

Professor Hague

English 370/475

November 1, 2013

Sonnets from the Portuguese 

Elizabeth Barret Browning (EBB) wrote "Sonnets from the Portuguese," between the years of 1845-46 during her nineteen-month courtship with Robert Browning (RB). It wasn't until after they were married and their son was born that EBB revealed the sonnets to her husband. Although EBB had never intended to publish the sonnets, RB would not allow them to be lost. Both EBB and RB desired a certain amount of privacy, so they, "devised the enigmatic title to shield the personal elements of the sonnets by implying that they are translations," (Stone, 205). The title was a reference to the RB pet-name for EBB, "My Little Portuguese." EBB's "Sonnets of the Portuguese," became famous throughout the world and have been translated into German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Hungarian, and Polish. I have chosen to analyze four of the forty-four sonnets: V, XIV, XXIII, XLIII. Sonnets are a fourteen line poem written in iambic pentameter and usually fallow a particular rhyme scheme specific for that sonnet (or series of sonnets). The rhyme scheme for the four poems I have chosen is ABBA ABBA CDCDCD. Although it is not indicated specifically in the sonnets, once the background information on the collection became known, so did the identity of the speaker. The speaker in the sonnets is EBB herself. There is no apparent setting for the four sonnets I have chosen. The plot of sonnets is significant because they represent the transition between EBB refusal of RB's love, her gradual acceptance of it, and her eventual whole-hearted embrace for both his love for her as well as her love for him. Unlike other Victorian sonnets which provide a male speaker pining over the unrequited love of a beautiful woman, EBB's sonnets give a unique insight to a woman's passion and desire. Also unlike other sonnets, EBB"s poetry does not describe love as, "Frustrated desire imprisons the lover and makes him ill, instead portraying love as a force that liberates, restores health, and renews life," (Stone, 206). 

The first two lines of Sonnet 5, "I lift my heavy heart up solemnly/ As once Electra her sepulchral urn," paints a picture of the speaker's deep sorrow. The reference to Electra and her urn containing the supposed ashes of her brother Orestes is used to portray EBB’s grief over the death of her beloved brother. These first two lines set the mood for the rest of the poem as the speaker mentions, "a great heap of grief," (5) that is inside her and the, "red wild sparkles dimly burn/ Through the ashen greyness," (5-6). EBB uses this metaphor to suggest that underneath the pile of ashen grief is a burning, lonely rage that threatens to flare up and consume her and anyone who might stand too close. EBB is somewhat hopeful when she says, "If thy foot in scorn/ Could tread them out to darkness utterly/ It might be well perhaps," (9-8). If her lover could suppress the hurt inside her, she might have the chance to heal; however, the next lines suggest that she is not particularly optimistic about this outcome. She says: 

...But if instead 

Thou wait beside me for the wind to blow

The grey dust up,.. those laurels on this head,

 O my beloved, will not shield thee so,

That none of all the fires shall scorch and shred

The hair beneath.  (9-14)

In part, EBB's depression was due to her feelings of imminent old age and the fact that she felt like her writing career was coming to an end. Her young lover, on the other hand, was just beginning coming into his prime (although we know that EBB became more famous than her husband before and after their deaths). She uses the reference to "laurels" as representative of his young success. If RB were to linger near her, not even his success as a young poet could "shield" him from the fire that burns within her.  The sonnet is concluded with the speaker pleading with her lover to, "Stand further off then! go" (14). The exclamation mark implies EBB's urgency for the man who loves her to leave before it is too late. 

The second sonnet I have chosen at is Sonnet 14. The opening lines states plainly, “If thou must love me, let it be for nought/ Except for love’s sake only,” (1-2) The speaker has moved from outright refusal of the man’s love to a reluctant acceptance of it, albeit on her terms. EBB had written to RB that the first time she was able to admit to herself that he really cared for her was when he had told her he loved her because he loved her and for no other reason (Stone, 214). This is described in more detail in lines two, three and four when the speaker commands her lover not to love her for her “smile” her “look” or her “way of “speaking gently” or the easy way their thoughts “fall in well” together. The speaker argues that “these things themselves… may be changed” and a love “wrought” from them can be “unwrought” just as easily. In line nine, she begs her sweetheart not to love her only because he pities her for her infirmities, saying, “Thine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks dry” (10) (Stone, 14). Lines eleven and twelve express the speakers fear that if he were to love her because he felt pity on her, he might grow tired of trying to comfort her and she would lose his love after all. Instead, she again pleads with him in the final two lines to “love (her) for love’s sake” because it is the only form of love that lasts.  

Sonnet 23 spans enough of EBB and RB's courtship that she no longer refuses his love completely but still questions it thoroughly. The sonnet is a response to a letter from RB and is opened with the questions, "Is it indeed so? If I lay here dead/ Would'st thou miss any life in losing mine?" She asks if his sun would "more coldly shine" because of her death and she "marveled" when the letter from RB said it would (Stone, 220). She has finally allowed herself to accept his love and says, "I am thine," (6). She is shocked by her lovers deep feelings for her, so much so her "hands tremble," (8). Before this passionate love bestowed on her by RB, she only dreamt of death; however, now her soul "resumes life's lower range," (9). His love has given her the will to live again. By line ten, she is no longer talking to her lover, but to love itself. She pleads, "Then, love me, Love! look on me.. breathe on me!" (10). She is asking for Love to touch her as it has touched him and allow her to return his feelings. She recognized that "brighter ladies" are able to sacrifice land and station for love and that she will also make a sacrifice. She will "yield the grave" for her lover and trade her, "near sweet view of Heaven, for earth with thee!" (14). Again, the exclamation here is showing her urgency, not to pushing him away, but to live a life with him on earth instead succumbing to death. 

Sonnet 43 is one of the most famous of "Sonnets from the Portuguese" and shows the deep, undying love of EBB for RB. The famous line, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways," is one that will be used by lovers for many years to come. Although this is the second to last sonnet in the series, it is used to conclude and summarize the rest of the poems altogether. She relates her love for RB to Christ's love in Ephesians 3.17-19 by saying, "I love thee to the depth and breadth and height," (2). The third and fourth lines, "My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight/ For the ends of Being and ideal Grace," are an ultimate declaration of the speakers eternal love. She is declaring that, even after death when her soul is "feeling out of sight," she will still deeply love her sweetheart in Heaven. As lines three and four describe a love that can encompass something as large as both Earth and Heaven, lines five and six describe this love as a "level of everyday's most quiet need," (5-6). The love between EBB and RB is so vast it could span Earth and Heaven and at the same time be so intimate it is as necessary as eating and drinking. The beginning of lines seven and eight are fairly straightforward, "I love thee freely" and "I love thee purely," meaning she gives all her love willingly and exclusively to him. The second half of these two lines, "as men strive for Right" and "as they turn from Praise," can be joined together much like the first halves of the two lines. Men (human beings) choose to live an ethic and morally sound life where purity is achieved by being modest and "turning from Praise." This metaphor describes how EBB's love for RB is one she chooses, not because of the praise she might receive, but because it is what is good and "right". Lines nine and ten, “I love thee with the passion put to use/ In my old greifs…” (9-10) refer to EBB’s passionate depression before and shortly after she met RB; however, now that their love has reached euphoria, that passion is used for love rather than for her intense sadness. Line ten continues with the speaker admitting to loving her sweetheart with a “childhood’s faith.” Children love and believe with no restriction and it is not until children become adults that they become cynical and pessimistic. The speaker’s love and faith in her sweetheart has no restriction, like that of a child. The seventh way the speaker describes her feelings is, “with a love I seemed to lose/ With my lost saints,” (12). Again, there is a religious reference here. However, it doesn’t seem to mean literal saints, but rather the person or people that the speaker once looked up to but has lost faith in. All the love she once felt for those “heroes” is now channeled towards her lover. The eighth and final way the speaker describes her love is describes in the last three lines. She says, “I love thee with the breath/ Smiles and tears of all my life!—and, if God choose/ I shall but love thee better after death.” As we live our lives, we usually experience “highs” and “lows”. During the “highs” we smile and during the “lows” we weep and all the time in between we are always breathing. That is the last way the speaker loves; during the good times, during the bad times, and all the times in between. This love will not only last every moment during their lifetime, but also after death. 

EBB’s “Sonnets from the Portuguese” is a unique set of poems compared to the typical sonnets of the time. Sonnets can be described as, “One of the most popular and significant poetic forms of the Victorian period,” (Billington). Victorian sonnets usually featured a male speaker pining over the unrequited love of a beautiful woman. This love is usually characterized as an “imprisonment” or “ill fated”. The love described in many sonnets of this era (most often written by men) is one that takes hold of a man’s soul and consumes him with “frustrated desire” and it is never returned by the desired woman. This is what sets EBB’s sonnets apart from the others. “Sonnets from the Portuguese” features a female speaker who feels unworthy of the man who loves her. This fact goes against the norm in three ways. First, the speaker is woman. Second, the speaker does not immediately love the person she is speaking to. Third, the speaker is loved by the person she is speaking to. As the poems progress, the speaker gradually realizes that her lover’s feelings are true and that she is able to return them with intensity matching his own. Instead of love imprisoning the speaker, it rescues her from her own self-loathing and allows her to embrace life instead of dreaming of death. The four poems I chose to analyze show EBB progression from refusal, to acceptance, and all the way through to complete liberation. 

  I chose to analyze these four poems from “Sonnets from the Portuguese” because they provide a rare and private insight to EBB’s innermost thoughts and feelings. Although it is not rare for poets to write about themselves and their feelings, EBB’s sonnets were never meant for the public eye. She poured her heart and soul into each and every one of the poems, not to please an audience, but because she was dealing with so many unfamiliar emotions and she had no other way to release them. Poetry is the only means of escape from the unknown and she uses it to vent her her very intense feelings. The series was not even known to RB until after their marriage and EBB never intended to publish them and she did not write them to persuade him to love her or even not to love her. They were not meant to describe to some personal friend of EBB’s to describe her feelings. Like many artists, EBB used poetry as a means of escape from her own confusion and she did it beautifully. Even after the couple decided to publish the series they made a considerable effort to conceal the true meaning behind it. To me, this makes “Sonnets from the Portuguese” the one of the truest and most believable confessions of the feeling of a real human being. 

Work Cited

Billington, Josie. "Sonnet." Oxford Bibliographies: Your BEst Research Starts Here. N.p.. Web. 2 Nov 2013. <http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document /obo-9780199799558 /obo-9780199799558-0118.xml>.

Stone, Marjorie, and Beverly Taylor. Elizabeth Barrett Browning Selected Poems. Broadview Editions, Print.

Presentation

In this blog, I have attached a link to a Prezi presentation on how Elizabeth Barret Browning uses Genre Subversion and Gender Inversion in her work Aurora Leigh.

http://prezi.com/ffx90izn0mmh/genre-subversion-andgender-inversion/

Enjoy!

Last Blog

       This semester in Major Author has really been an a great learning experience for me. Throughout all my years of school, I have not become familiar with much poetry and it was very interesting for me to be able to have a class that focused on not one but two major Victorian poets. The fact that these two poets happened to be married was definitely icing on top of the cake. It was so interesting to see a both a husband and a wife's perspective on different issues and to read both their styles of poetry almost side by side.

       Out of the two poets, Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her husband Robert Browning, I was captivated by Elizabeth's poems. Her Sonnets from the Portuguese has touched my soul in a way that I feel like poetry is supposed to touch one's soul. The series of poems shows EBB's personal struggle with herself as she battles her own feelings and the feeling of the man who was courting her, Robert Browning. Throughout the sonnets, the reader is able to see her progression from denying Browing's love for her, her gradual acceptance, and how she eventually allows herself to return his love in a very powerful way. Before this class, I had never even heard of EBB and after reading this particular series of sonnets, I felt as if I was connected to her in some way. So when I read other poems of hers, like The Cry of the Children and The Runaway Slave, I couldn't help but be moved by them as well. I really feel like EBB pours her heart and soul into her writing and I love the fact the she used her talent and popularity to speak out for people who might not be able to speak out for themselves. In Cry of the Children she practically pleads with her country to see how the children of England suffer and berates those who do not actively participating in the effort to relieve children of their heavy burden. I also loved how she speaks up for people who are not from her native land. In The Runaway Slave, EBB talks about the rape of a young slave woman and her resulting pregnancy. The slave tries and fails to escape and eventually kills her young infant. Because of EBB's passionate writing, we as readers are almost forced to sympathize with something we think to be completely unnatural. Through her novel poem Aurora Leigh, EBB also makes a statement for the rights of woman of the era by creating a heroine much like herself. A Victorian herself, Aurora fights against the norms of her society as well as her inner female in order to make her way as a poet. This story reminds me a lot of Sonnets from the Portuguese, where EBB also struggles with both her poetic and womanly nature. Finally, both Aurora and EBB give in and are able to be both great poets and wives.

      Although I really enjoyed Robert Browning's work, I can definitely see why his poetry was, and still is, out-shined by his wife's. Through her poetry, I can see her deep passion for what she did and how she wanted to make a difference by doing something she was great at. I think this is a lesson we can all learn form.