Rephan by Robert Browning
A speaker addresses weary humans and recalls a former life on a star where perfection excluded change and fellowship. Growing dissatisfied, the speaker longed for difference, effort, and love deepened through suffering. A voice declared that this desire to strive meant the speaker's place was Earth.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Dramatic Monologue, Philosophical Poetry · 1,177 words
First lines
How I lived, ere my human life began / In this world of yours, -- like you, made man, -- / When my home was the Star of my God Rephan?
Come then around me, close about, / World-weary earth-born ones! Darkest doubt / Or deepest despondency keeps you out?
What this Textopian page supports
Rephan 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, Philosophical Poetry
- Length: 1,177 words
- Structure: 1 section, 36 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Rephan by Robert Browning
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Dramatic Monologue — An imagined speaker addresses weary humans, recounts existence before human life, and recalls a voice assigning the speaker to Earth.
- Philosophical Poetry — The rhymed tercets contrast changeless perfection with the desire to learn, love, suffer, and aspire without finally attaining the goal.
Tags
perfection · discontent · spiritual aspiration · suffering · imagined worlds