Pisgah-Sights by Robert Browning
A dying speaker sees life's opposing qualities as inseparable and accepts their mixture. Imagining another lifetime, the speaker would abandon greed and ambition, remain a learner rather than reshape the world, and let others pass with their praise and blame.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Philosophical Poetry, Lyric Poetry · 651 words
First lines
I
Over the ball of it, / Peering and prying, / How I see all of it, / Life there, outlying! / Roughness and smoothness, / Shine and defilement, / Grace and uncouthness: / One reconcilement.
Genres
- Philosophical Poetry — The speaker argues that good and evil, joy and sorrow are interdependent, then questions whether another lifetime would warrant renewed striving.
- Lyric Poetry — Short rhymed stanzas carry a first-person meditation on dying, ambition, learning, and others' praise or blame.
Tags
mortality · contradictions · ambition · acceptance · self-reflection
What this Textopian page supports
Pisgah-Sights 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: Philosophical Poetry, Lyric Poetry
- Length: 651 words
- Structure: 1 section, 12 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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