After by Robert Browning
A speaker asks for a dead man's face to be uncovered and reflects that the dead man is oblivious to both his wrong and the speaker's vengeance. Wishing they were boys again, the speaker protests that death has not erased the offence or his own disgrace, then orders the face covered.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Dramatic Monologue · 178 words
First lines
Take the cloak from his face, and at first / Let the corpse do its worst!
How he lies in his rights of a man! / Death has done all death can. / And, absorbed in the new life he leads, / He recks not, he heeds / Nor his wrong nor my vengeance; both strike / On his senses alike, / And are lost in the solemn and strange / Surprise of the change.
Ha, what avails death to erase / His offence, my disgrace? / I would we were boys as of old / In the field, by the fold: / His outrage, God's patience, man's scorn / Were so easily borne!
I stand here now, he lies in his place: / Cover the face!
Genres
- Dramatic Monologue — A single speaker commands the uncovering and covering of a corpse while voicing anger at the dead man's offence and recalling their shared boyhood.
Tags
vengeance · disgrace · death · childhood memories · dramatic monologue
What this Textopian page supports
After is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Browning, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Browning
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Dramatic Monologue
- Length: 178 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for After by Robert Browning
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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