Bishop Blougram's Apology by Robert Browning
After dinner, Bishop Blougram answers the writer Gigadibs's objections by defending faith amid doubt and the power and comfort his church position affords. The narrator says Blougram believes about half of what he has said; within a week, Gigadibs buys settlers' implements and departs for Australia.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Dramatic Monologue, Philosophical Poetry · 12,969 words
First lines
No more wine? then we'll push back chairs and talk. / A final glass for me, though: cool, i' faith! / We ought to have our Abbey back, you see. / It's different, preaching in basilicas, / And doing duty in some masterpiece / Like this of brother Pugin's, bless his heart! / I doubt if they're half baked, those chalk rosettes, / Ciphers and stucco-twiddlings everywhere; / It's just like breathing in a lime-kiln: eh? / These hot long ceremonies of our church / Cost us a little -- oh, they pay the price, / You take me -- amply pay it! Now, we'll talk.
Genres
- Dramatic Monologue — Blougram addresses Gigadibs at length after dinner, supplying his listener's objections within his own speech before a narrator comments on both men.
- Philosophical Poetry — The verse argument weighs belief against unbelief, questions demands for absolute certainty, and tests competing ways of living.
Tags
faith and doubt · religious skepticism · clerical power · self-justification · worldly comforts · dramatic monologue
What this Textopian page supports
Bishop Blougram's Apology is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Browning, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Browning
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Dramatic Monologue, Philosophical Poetry
- Length: 12,969 words
- Structure: 1 section, 41 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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