Robert Browning: Poems Summary and Analysis of "Rabbi Ben Ezra"

18th & 19th Century English Literature By-S. U. K. Pathan Robert Browning: Poems Summary and Analysis of "Rabbi Ben Ezra" Summary The poem is narrated by Rabbi Ben Ezra, a real 12th-century scholar. The piece does not have a clearly identified audience or dramatic situation. The Rabbi begs his audience to "grow old along with [him]" (line 1). He stresses that age is where the best of life is realized, whereas "youth shows but half" (line 6). He acknowledges that youth lacks insight into life, since it is characteristically so concerned with living in the moment that it is unable to consider the deeper questions. Though youth will fade, what replaces it is the wisdom and insight of age, which recognizes that pain is a part of life, but which learns to appreciate joy more because of the pain. "Be our joys three parts pain!" (line 34). All the while, one should appreciate what comes, since all adds to our growth towards God, and embrace the "paradox" that life's failure brings success. He notes how, when we are young and our bodies are strong, we aspire to impossible greatness, and he explains that this type of action makes man into a "brute" (line 44). With age comes acceptance and love of the flesh, even though it pulls us "ever to the earth" (line 63), while some yearn to reach a higher plane. A wise, older man realizes that all things are gifts from God, and the flesh's limitations are to be appreciated even as we recognize them as limitations. His reason for begging patience is that our life on Earth is but one step of our soul's experience, and so our journey will continue. Whereas youth is inclined to "rage" (line 100), age is inclined to await death patiently. Both are acceptable and wonderful, and each compliments the other. What complicates the philosophy is that we are wont to disagree with each other, to have different values and loves. However, the Rabbi begs that we not give too much credence to the earthly concerns that engender argument and dissention, and trust instead that we are given by God and hence are fit for this struggle. The transience of time does not matter, since this is only one phase of our existence; we need not grow anxious about disagreements and unrealized goals, since the ultimate truth is out of our reach anyway. Again, failure breeds success. He warns against being distracted by the "plastic circumstance" (line 164) of the present moment. He ends by stressing that all is part of a unified whole, even if we cannot glimpse the whole. At the same time that age should approve of youth and embrace the present moment, it must also be constantly looking upwards towards a heaven to come and hence simultaneously willing to renounce the present. Analysis "Rabbi Ben Ezra" is unique in Browning's oeuvre of dramatic monologues because though it is written from the perspective of a historical figure, it does not contain any clear audience or dramatic situation. As such, it is more a philosophical text than a proper poem. Much of its meaning is dissected in the "Summary" above, though this section will provide some context and simplification. Rabbi Ben Ezra was a real historical figure of the 12th century, known primarily for his philosophy that suggested good sometimes lies in its opposite (badness, or pain). Browning often 1 18th & 19th Century English Literature By-S. U. K. Pathan takes a figure from the past and uses dramatic irony to propose a conflict between the words and the meaning, but here, lacking any sense of the audience to whom he speaks (a congregation? God? Himself?) or of any stakes (what he hopes to gain), we are merely to dissect the philosophy. The Rabbi's philosophy is a paradox: the struggles of life hold little meaning since life is but our soul's first step, yet the wise man should appreciate everything about life. He praises old age as the time when our soul reaches best fruition on earth, because only in age can this paradox be appreciated. The Rabbi is willing to admire and appreciate every stage of life, even as he is quick to show the folly of those stages. For instance, youth operates from a place of carpe diem, 'siezing the day' constantly, and trying to transcend the limits of the body. The Rabbi notes that with age comes an awareness of the pain and difficulty of life, but he says that a wise man should not be weighted down but rather lightened by that realization. He preaches that we should accept the present, but not let the concerns of the present dominate us. What lies at the center of his creed is patience and complicity to what comes. He does not deny the basic tenants of a carpe diem philosophy: time is short and transient; the body does not keep its youth; the world is full of wonderful things to be exploited. But at the same time, he believes that focusing on the ways of the world distracts us from our greater goal, which is to continue growing even in the afterlife. However, it is important to see that while he praises age as superior, it is only superior because it recognizes the beauty of youth's yearnings. Without the latter, the former does not have the insight to both admire and renounce such actions. The most important lesson we learn in old age is that we can know nothing and never truly transcend ourselves. By accepting this limitation, we learn to be content and patient as we near death, which is not an end but a release to a greater sphere where our soul may continue to grow. The Rabbi embraces body and soul, youth and age, death and life, pain and joy, all the while recognizing that the contradictions are the goal. They are beyond our comprehension, and by accepting that can we find true serenity Robert Browning: Poems Themes Death Much of Browning's work contemplates death and the way that it frames our life choices. Many poems consider the impending nature of death as a melancholy context to balance the joy of life. Examples are "Love Among the Ruins" and "A Toccata of Galuppi's." Other poems find strength in the acceptance of death, like "Prospice," "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," and "Rabbi Ben Ezra." Some poems – like "My Last Duchess," "Porphyria's Lover," "Caliban upon Setebos," or "The Laboratory" – simply consider death as an ever-present punishment. Truth/Subjectivity If any prevailing philosophy can be found throughout all of Browning's poetry, it is that humans are not composed of fixed perspective, but instead are full of contradiction and are always changing. Therefore, a wise man acknowledges that every person sees the world differently not only from other people but even from himself as his life changes. Many of the dramatic 2 18th & 19th Century English Literature By-S. U. K. Pathan monologues make this implicit argument, by suggesting the remarkable human facility to rationalize our behavior and attitudes. Consider "My Last Duchess" or "Porphyria's Lover." Even those who believe that there is a truth to be discovered, like Rabbi Ben Ezra or St. John, acknowledge that each man must get to it in his own way and through his own journey. Delusion Perhaps Browning's most effectively used literary device is dramatic irony, in which the audience or reader is aware of something of which the speaker is not aware. Most often, what this dramatic irony reveals is that the speaker is deluded or does not quite realize the truth of something. Some poems feature a demented character who is not aware of the extent of his or her depravity or insanity. Examples are "My Last Duchess," "Porphyria's Lover," "Caliban upon Setebos" and "The Laboratory." Other poems feature a character whose reasons for behavior are not as clear-cut as he or she believes. Consider "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister" or "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at St. Praxed's Church." Finally, one can observe manifestations of this in less obvious ways through poems like "Fra Lippo Lippi," "Andrea del Sarto," "A Death in the Desert" and "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came." In these cases, the narrators are not clearly insane or demented, but are so fixed in their own perspectives that they are unable to appreciate why they are being punished or oppressed. Beauty Though Browning's work typically eschews the Romantic poetry that was once his greatest influence, he does continue to contemplate the nature and limits of beauty through his poetry. Some of his poems take beauty or love as their primary subject: "Meeting at Night," "My Star," "Two in the Campagna," or "Life in a Love." Of course, even these poems always contemplate the theme through the lens of an individual's unique perspective. Others see absent beauty as a cause for melancholy. Consider "Home-Thoughts, From Abroad," "Love Among the Ruins," and "Evelyn Hope." Even some of the more sophisticated monologues consider beauty and the pursuit of it as something that can torment us. Examples are "Fra Lippo Lippi," "A Toccata of Galuppi's," and "A Death in the Desert." The quest A theme that runs through much of Browning's poetry is that life is composed of a quest that the brave man commits to, even when the goal is unclear or victory unlikely. In some poems, this quest is literal, particularly in "Childe Roland to Dark Tower Came." This is a useful poem for considering the use of the quest in other poems. Some of them use the metaphor to suggest the difficulties of living in the face of inevitable death: "Prospice," "Two in the Campagna," "Rabbi Ben Ezra," and "Life in a Love." Others have less intense quests than that which Roland undertakes, but nevertheless show Browning's interest in the theme: "Meeting at Night," "How They Brought the Good News From Ghent to Aix," and "A Grammarian's Funeral." Overall, the 3 18th & 19th Century English Literature By-S. U. K. Pathan theme serves as a metaphor for life and most poems can be understood through the lens of "Childe Roland" in this way. Religion Through Browning never proposes a fixed religious perspective or subscribes to any organized religion, much of his poetry contemplates the nature or limits of religion. Most often, he casts doubt on the structure and hypocrisy of organized religion. Consider "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister," "The Bishop Orders His Tomb at St. Praxed's Church," and "Fra Lippo Lippi." However, Browning often creates characters whose religious sense is a strong part of their personality. In all of these cases, of course, each individual has his own unique take on religion. Examples are "A Death in the Desert," "Caliban Upon Setebos," and "Rabbi Ben Ezra." Finally, much of Browning's poetry can be interpreted through its lack of a religious sense, a world that has death and an afterlife but eschews any relation to a God. This happens in some of the grander poems like "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" or in the more personal ones like "Prospice." The grotesque One of the elements in Browning's poetry that made him unique in his time and continues to resonate is his embrace of the grotesque as a subject worthy of poetic explanation. Most often, he explores the grotesque nature of human behavior and depravity. Consider "Porphyria's Lover," "Evelyn Hope," and "The Laboratory." Then there are examples like "Caliban upon Setebos," where the character is easy to sympathize with while being objectively a grotesque creature. And then there is "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," which plunges head-first into a grotesque landscape. 4