Ponte Dell' Angelo, Venice by Robert Browning
A speaker stops a boat in a Venetian canal to explain an angel statue through a tale about an extortionate lawyer. Matteo da Bascio discovers that the lawyer's ape-servant is Satan, prevented from seizing him by his nightly prayer, and orders the fiend out through a wall. A miraculous bleeding napkin exposes the lawyer's cruelty; he vows reform, and an angel's likeness is installed to guard the breach.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Supernatural · 2,493 words
First lines
Stop rowing! This one of our bye-canals / O'er a certain bridge you have to cross / That 's named, "Of the Angel: " listen why! / The name "Of the Devil" too much appalls / Venetian acquaintance, so -- his the loss, / While the gain goes... look on high!
An angel visibly guards, yon house: / Above each scutcheon -- a pair -- stands he, / Enfolds them with droop of either wing: / The family's fortune were perilous / Did he thence depart -- you will soon agree, / If I hitch into verse the thing.
Genres
- Narrative Poetry — Rhymed six-line stanzas recount the lawyer's encounter with Satan and Matteo da Bascio within a boat passenger's explanation of an angel statue.
- Supernatural — Satan serves in an ape's disguise, a nightly prayer prevents his attack, and a saint wrings blood from a clean napkin.
Tags
extortion · demonic disguise · miracles · repentance · angels · Venetian canals
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Ponte Dell' Angelo, Venice 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, Supernatural
- Length: 2,493 words
- Structure: 1 section, 32 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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