“the glory of the imperfect,”—that is a phrase which i read in a pamphlet by that fine old grecian and noble christian philosopher, george herbert palmer, many years ago. it seems to me to express the central meaning of browning’s poetry.
he is the poet of aspiration and endeavour; the prophet of a divine discontent. all things are precious to him, not in themselves, but as their defects are realized, as man uses them, and presses through them, towards something higher and better. hope is man’s power: and the things hoped for must be
[270]
as yet unseen. struggle is man’s life; and the purpose of life is not merely education, but a kind of progressive creation of the soul.
“man partly is and wholly hopes to be.”
the world presents itself to him, as the germans say, im werden. it is a world of potencies, working itself out. existence is not the mere fact of being, but the vital process of becoming. the glory of man lies in his power to realize this process in his mind and to fling himself into it with all his will. if he tries to satisfy himself with things as they are, like the world-wedded soul in easter eve, he fails. if he tries to crowd the infinite into the finite, like paracelsus, he fails. he must make his dissatisfaction his strength. he must accept the limitations of his life, not in the sense of submitting to them, but as jacob wrestled with the angel, in order to win, through conflict, a new power, a larger blessing. his ardent desires and longings and aspirations, yes, even his defeats and disappointments and failures, are the stuff out of which his immortal destiny is weaving itself. the one thing that life
[271]
requires of him is to act with ardour, to go forward resolutely, to “burn his way through the world”; and the great lesson which it teaches him is this:
“but thou shalt painfully attain to joy
while hope and love and fear shall keep thee man.”
browning was very much needed in the nineteenth century as the antidote, or perhaps it would be more just to say, as the complement to carlyle. for carlyle’s prophecy, with all its moral earnestness, its virility, its indomitable courage, had in it a ground-tone of despair. it was the battle-cry of a forlorn hope. man must hate shams intensely, must seek reality passionately, must do his duty desperately; but he can never tell why. the reason of things is inscrutable: the eternal power that rules things is unknowable. carlyle, said mazzini, “has a constant disposition to crush the human by comparing him with god.” but browning has an unconquerable disposition to elevate the human by joining him to god. the power that animates and governs the world is divine; man cannot escape from it nor overcome it. but the love that stirs in man’s heart is also divine; and if man will follow
[272]
it, it shall lead him to that height where he shall see that power is love.
“i have faith such end shall be:
from the first power was—i knew.
life has made clear to me
that, strive but for closer view,
love were as plain to see.
when see? when there dawns a day
if not on the homely earth,
then yonder, worlds away,
where the strange and new have birth
and power comes full in play.”[17]
browning’s optimism is fundamental. originally a matter of temperament, perhaps, as it is expressed in at the mermaid,—
“i find earth not gray, but rosy,
heaven not grim but fair of hue.
do i stoop? i pluck a posy,
do i stand and stare? all’s blue——”
primarily the spontaneous tone of a healthy, happy nature, it became the chosen key-note of all his music, and he works it out through a hundred harmonies and discords. he is “sure of goodness as of life.” he does not ask “how came good into
[273]
the world?” for that, after all, is the pessimistic question; it assumes that the ground of things is evil and the good is the breaking of the rule. he asks instead “how came evil into the world?” that is the optimistic question; as long as a man puts it in that form he is an optimist at heart; he takes it for granted that good is the native element and evil is the intruder; there must be a solution of the problem whether he can find it or not; the rule must be superior to, and triumphant over, the exception; the meaning and purpose of evil must somehow, some time, be proved subordinate to good.
that is browning’s position:
“my own hope is, a sun will pierce
the thickest cloud earth ever stretched;
that, after last, returns the first,
though a wide compass round be fetched;
that what began best, can’t end worst,
nor what god blessed once prove accurst.”
the way in which he justifies this position is characteristic of the man. his optimism is far less defensive than it is militant. he never wavers from his intuitive conviction that “the world means
[274]
good.” he follows this instinct as a soldier follows his banner, into whatever difficulties and conflicts it may lead him, and fights his way out, now with the weapons of philosophy, now with the bare sword of faith.
