Graduate Graduate Poetry Poetry Robert Browning

Nature Of Browning’s Optimism

By Golam Mortuja

Published on: December 26, 2021

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Question : Essay-type

Examine the nature of Browning’s optimism with reference to ‘The Last Ride Together’.

Robert Browning [1812-1889]

Introduction

Browning’s genius is dramatic and at the same time metaphysical. He is famous for his optimistic philosophy. Optimism is at the very core of his message and his view of human life and love. Every poem is written by him contains a robust philosophy. His optimism is in striking contrast to the attitude of his contemporaries, for the general tone of the nineteenth century literature is pessimistic. Living in an age of science when new discoveries shook the foundation of old faith, Browning kept up a fervid faith in the inherent nobility and the goodness of the world. To him the world ‘means intensely, and means good.’ In his philosophy he has wavering faith in God.

He says :

“God’s in his heaven”,
“All’s right with the world!”

Another chief stand in his philosophy is the conviction that human life in this world is not end but the beginning in respect in the realisation of human aspirations. In his opinion, man’s yearning soars beyond his achievement.

Browning’s Philosophy of Life and Love in The Last Ride Together

Browning’s poem ‘The Last Ride Together’offers his philosophy of life and love. The poem is of unrequited love. The lover has been rejected by his beloved, and has granted the favour of a last ride together. He gathers strength out of the defeat. The momentary joy exalts him. He finds himself happier than statesmen, soldiers, poets, sculptors and musicians who spend their life in vain for material achievements. It is Browning’s favourite idea that man can pluck the sting of failure and can make of it something better than success.

When we see the lovers passing in review the lives of the poets, sculptors, statesmen and soldiers, we think that it is Browning, the poet who is the speaker. A statesman, for example, for all his labour for his country gets nothing more than a single line in the pages of history. A soldier who conquers for his country, is rewarded with only a brief notice of transient. The lover consoles himself by the thought that his reward is far better. A poet strives all his life to preach the notice, ideals of life for the benefit of society, but he himself lives a poor life, grows sick and becomes old before his time. At best he can only write a poem with a joy of a ride. But the lover is better placed because he practically enjoys the joy of a ride. Similarly, the sculptors spend his best portion in his life in practising his art. He makes a statue of Venus, but men instinctively turn to the living, moving figure of a rustic girl. The musicians grow grey in the cultivation of notes; but in music , in fashion is liable to change. The lover has spent only his youth in love and has got the pleasure of the riding with his beloved.

This poem of love is an impassioned expression of Browning’s optimistic philosophy of life. This philosophy gives his poetry an enduring quality. In his opinion, real success is rare in this world. Many men strive, but very few succeed. The lover expresses this philosophy of life. He thinks that failure is large writ in the lives of all men. The ‘pretty done’ is in grim contrast with the ‘undone vast’. The hand can achieve little of what brain conceives. For example, the statue that a sculptor produces after years of toil hardly reaches the ideal of a living beautiful girl. Similarly the poet who seeks to express what is best in his thoughts and feelings invariably, fails to reach his highest ideals. This history of failure gives strength to the lover.

Another point in this philosophy is that a man who achieves everything in the world, has little to hope for in heaven “One must lead some life beyond“, and therefore one should –“Have a bliss to die with, dim-descried.” Success in this world is but the other name of failure in Heaven. It is his belief of immortality that that the lover gathers strength out of defeat. The lover thus philosophizes in the poem–

“I sink back shuddering from quest–

Earth being so good, would Heaven seem best?

Now, Heaven and she are beyond this ride.“

Conclusion

So, we find that in the poem the lover’s failure does not arouse a feeling of grief or scorn in him. He turns disappointment into noble resignation. Evidently the poem is an illustration of Browning’s vigorous and robust optimism.

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