La Saisiaz by Robert Browning
After a companion's sudden death and burial at Collonge, the speaker climbs Salève alone, recalling their walks and planned mountain excursion. Through a dialogue between Fancy and Reason, he tests the consequences of certainty about an afterlife and settles on hope. In London in mid-November, he revisits the reasoning and memory of that mountain evening.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Philosophical Poetry, Elegiac Poetry · 11,076 words
First lines
Dedicated to Mrs. Sutherland Orr
Good, to forgive; / Best, to forget! / Living, we fret; / Dying, we live. / Fretless and free, / Soul, clap thy pinion! / Earth have dominion, / Body, o'er thee!
Genres
- Philosophical Poetry — The speaker develops a sustained verse argument about knowledge, divine goodness, immortality, and how certainty about another life would affect human choices.
- Elegiac Poetry — The speaker recalls a dead companion's conversation, mourns her absence from their familiar paths, and seeks grounds for hoping they will meet again.
Tags
grief · immortality · afterlife · faith and doubt · moral choice · mountain walking
What this Textopian page supports
La Saisiaz 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: Philosophical Poetry, Elegiac Poetry
- Length: 11,076 words
- Structure: 1 section, 38 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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