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SactoValleyGal

  • Last seen on Feb 13 10:19 AM 2006. Member since February 14, 2006.

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  • on Why I Am a Liberal by Robert Browning, on July 29, 2005
    I'm reminded that I was taught "liberal" has done a virtual 180 since the mid-19th century. In a poem (or essay) today with this title, I'd expect a communitarian message about social justice and equal opportunity. To my contemporary ear, this reads a little - gasp - libertarian.

  • on Introduction: Pippa Passes by Robert Browning, on July 29, 2005
    While photocopying some of my grandmother's 1954-55 letters to her best friend, I noticed that one led off with the quotation "My day, if I squander one wavelet of thee--" Well, so I googled it (google rules!) and here I am, squandering half an hour deciding what login and email address to register under. So--wow! All I knew of "Pippa Passes" was "God's in His Heaven, all's right with the world" (I'm right about that, yes?) .. I should have known the poem would be psychologically subtle, coming from the author of those monologues "My Last Duchess" and the one by the malicious monk ("Grrr.. you swine!"). I am especially impressed by the way the verse form fluctuates to mirror the flux of Pippa's thoughts: more and less regular metrically, rhyming more or less regularly.. I'm a little surprised to find this in 1841--seems more of a 20th century technique. But I probably just haven't been reading the Romantics enough.