Jochanan Hakkadosh by Robert Browning
A dying rabbi regrets acquiring wisdom without putting it into practice; his followers lend him a year of life, but renewed impulses toward love, war, poetry and statecraft bring disappointment. Found alive after his followers flee on hearing rumors of persecution, he reconciles hope with experience and describes earthly failures as preparation for another life before his burial. An appended note adds three sonnets about Moses, Og and a stork above unfathomable water.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Philosophical Poetry · 10,055 words
First lines
"This now, this other story makes amends / And justifies our Mishna," quoth the Jew / Aforesaid. "Tell it, learnedest of friends!"
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Genres
- Narrative Poetry — Rhymed verse follows the rabbi's recovery through four seasonal visits, his followers' flight, their return and his burial.
- Philosophical Poetry — The rabbi weighs youthful aspiration against accumulated knowledge in love, warfare, poetry and government, then argues that earthly failures prepare a fuller understanding.
Tags
borrowed life · old age · youth and experience · rabbinical legends · faith and doubt · mortality
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Jochanan Hakkadosh 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: Narrative Poetry, Philosophical Poetry
- Length: 10,055 words
- Structure: 1 section, 277 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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