How it Strikes a Contemporary by Robert Browning
A speaker recalls a poet who watched daily life in Valladolid and whom neighbors suspected of secretly reporting to the king. He rejects rumors of lavish living, describes the poet's modest evenings with his maid and dog, and imagines his death as relief from a long campaign of service.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Dramatic Monologue, Narrative Poetry · 1,464 words
First lines
I only knew one poet in my life: / And this, or something like it, was his way. / You saw go up and down Valladolid, / A man of mark, to know next time you saw. / His very serviceable suit of black / Was courtly once and conscientious still, / And many might have worn it, though none did: / The cloak, that somewhat shone and showed the threads, / Had purpose, and the ruff, significance. / He walked and tapped the pavement with his cane, / Scenting the world, looking it full in face, / An old dog, bald and blindish, at his heels. / They turned up, now, the alley by the church, / That leads nowhither; now, they breathed themselves / On the main promenade just at the wrong time: / You'd come upon his scrutinizing hat, / Making a peaked shade blacker than itself / Against the single window spared some house / Intact yet with its mouldered Moorish work, -- / Or else surprise the ferrel of his stick / Trying the mortar's temper 'tween the chinks / Of some new shop a-building, French and fine. / He stood and watched the cobbler at his trade, / The man who slices lemons into drink, / The coffee-roaster's brazier, and the boys / That volunteer to help him turn its winch. / He glanced o'er books on stalls with half an eye, / And fly-leaf ballads on the vender's string, / And broad-edge bold-print posters by the wall. / He took such cognizance of men and things, / If any beat a horse, you felt he saw; / If any cursed a woman, he took note; / Yet stared at nobody, -- you stared at him, / And found, less to your pleasure than surprise, / He seemed to know you and expect as much. / So, next time that a neighbor's tongue was loosed, / It marked the shameful and notorious fact, / We had among us, not so much a spy, / As a recording chief-inquisitor, / The town's true master if the town but knew! / We merely kept a governor for form, / While this man walked about and took account / Of all thought, said and acted, then went home, / And wrote it fully to our Lord the King / Who has an itch to know things, he knows why, / And reads them in his bedroom of a night. / Oh, you might smile! there wanted not a touch, / A tang of... well, it was not wholly ease / As back into your mind the man's look came. / Stricken in years a little, -- such a brow / His eyes had to live under! -- clear as flint / On either side the formidable nose / Curved, cut and colored like an eagle's claw. / Had he to do with A's surprising fate? / When altogether old B disappeared / And young C got his mistress, -- was't our friend, / His letter to the King, that did it all? / What paid the bloodless man for so much pains? / Our Lord the King has favorites manifold, / And shifts his ministry some once a month; / Our city gets new governors at whiles, -- / But never word or sign, that I could hear, / Notified to this man about the streets / The King's approval of those letters conned / The last thing duly at the dead of night. / Did the man love his office? Frowned our Lord, / Exhorting when none heard -- "Beseech me not! / Too far above my people, -- beneath me! / I set the watch, -- how should the people know? / Forget them, keep me all the more in mind! " / Was some such understanding 'twixt the two?
Genres
- Dramatic Monologue — A speaker addresses a listener, recounting local suspicions about a poet before imagining his death and proposing a visit to the Prado.
- Narrative Poetry — The verse recounts the poet's walks, the rumors surrounding him, his domestic routine, and the speaker's childhood recollections.
Tags
poets · town gossip · public suspicion · daily life · mortality
What this Textopian page supports
How it Strikes a Contemporary 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, Narrative Poetry
- Length: 1,464 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for How it Strikes a Contemporary by Robert Browning
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph