Transcendentalism: a Poem in Twelve Books
A speaker addressing a fellow poet criticizes verse that states bare thoughts instead of giving them sights and sounds. Contrasting Boehme’s difficult prose with a magician’s sudden roses, the speaker argues that poetry should restore vivid experience to adults and urges the poet to return to his harp.
By Robert Browning · Genre: Metapoetry, Dramatic Monologue, Philosophical Poetry · 651 words
First lines
Stop playing, poet! May a brother speak? / 'Tis you speak, that's your error. Song's our art: / Whereas you please to speak these naked thoughts / Instead of draping them in sights and sounds. / -- True thoughts, good thoughts, thoughts fit to treasure up! / But why such long prolusion and display, / Such turning and adjustment of the harp, / And taking it upon your breast, at length, / Only to speak dry words across its strings? / Stark-naked thought is in request enough: / Speak prose and hollo it till Europe hears! / The six-foot Swiss tube, braced about with bark, / Which helps the hunter's voice from Alp to Alp -- / Exchange our harp for that, -- who hinders you?
Genres
- Metapoetry — The speaker argues about how verse should work, contrasting bare thoughts with images, melody, and song.
- Dramatic Monologue — One speaker addresses a fellow poet, reproves his practice, and urges him to resume playing; the addressee gives no recorded reply.
- Philosophical Poetry — The comparison between interpreting Boehme’s prose and encountering a magician’s roses develops an argument about thought and poetic experience.
Tags
poetic craft · imagery · music and verse · thought and experience · youth and adulthood
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Transcendentalism: a Poem in Twelve Books 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: Metapoetry, Dramatic Monologue, Philosophical Poetry
- Length: 651 words
- Structure: 1 section, 3 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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