with which he speaks of our dear
country. 'Open my heart and you will see, Graved inside of it Italy,' as
he exclaims in _De Gustibus_."]

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POEMS

(1833-1890)

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POEMS

(1833-1890.)

* * * * *

1. PAULINE: a Fragment of a Confession.

[Published anonymously in 1833; first reprinted (the text
unaltered) in _Poetical Works_, 6 vols., Smith, Elder and
Co., 1868 (Vol. I., pp. 1-41); revised text, _Poetical
Works_, 1889, Vol. I., pp. 1-45.]

_PAULINE_ was written at the age of twenty. Its prefatory motto from
Cornelius Agrippa (dated "_London, January, 1833_. _V.A.XX._") serves to
convey a hint that the "confession" is dramatic, and at the same time
lays claim to the indulgence due to the author's youth. These two points
are stated plainly in the "exculpatory word" prefixed to the reprint in
1868. After mentioning the circumstances under which the revival of the
poem was forced on him, Browning says:

"The thing was my earliest attempt at 'poetry always dramatic
in principle, and so many utterances of so many imaginary
persons, not mine,' which I have since written according to a
scheme less extravagant and scale less impracticable than
were ventured upon in this crude preliminary sketch--a sketch
that, on reviewal, appears not altogether wide of some hint
of the characteristic features of that particular _dramatis
persona_ it would fain have reproduced: good draughtsmanship,
however, and right handling were far beyond the artist at
that time."

In a note to the collected edition of 1889, Browning adds:

"Twenty years' endurance of an eyesore seems more than
sufficient; my faults remain duly recorded against me, and I
claim permission to somewhat diminish these, so far as style
is concerned, in the present and final edition."

A revised text follows, in which, while many "faults" are indeed
"diminished," it is difficult not to feel at times as if the foot-notes
had got into the text.

_Pauline_ is the confession of an unnamed poet to the woman whom he
loves, and whose name is given in the title. It is a sort of spiritual
autobiography; a record of sensations and ideas, rather than of deeds.
"The scenery is in the chambers of thought; the agencies are powers and
passions; the events are transitions from one state of spiritual
existence to another."