Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister - Essay Example

Gp Capt (Ret’d) NA Moitra VM Administrator Academia-research.com 16 May 2008 Essay About Poems ‘Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister’, by Robert Browning, written in 1842, is at first reading an extremely complex poem, with seemingly confused outbursts of various emotions, mainly deep-rooted hatred. But, on further analysis, it turns out an unusually entertaining metered poem wherein Browning’s protagonist, the monk who soliloquizes, actually castigates himself in a harangue against a fellow monk, Brother Lawrence, a sort of transferred epithet in a distant sense. It is most likely that the poem, directed at the moralists and preachers of Brownings day, is an expose of such peoples hypocrisy and essential immorality. http://www.sparknotes.com. Browning uses nine stanzas of eight lines, each serving a specific function, as well as providing a rich variety of images, comparisons, and intonations. He takes advantage of poetic license, using both bestial and reflective sounds, bordering on the onomatopoeia-like ‘Gr-r-r-‘ and ‘He-he!’ as well as unbridled invective, like ‘Water your damned flower-pots, do’ and ‘Hell dry you up with its flames!’ He explores morality, the grumbling monk presenting himself as the model of virtue. After revealing his bitter feelings, he lists his grievances against the despicable Brother Lawrence, who he judges against his own standards. He finds the way Lawrence speaks of his flowers repulsive; that he talks at the table is a cross he has to bear, slyly injecting sarcasm with references to ‘parsley’ and ‘swine’. He accuses him of moral turpitude and poor table manners, not knowing how to close his plate after a meal. All the while, he is seeking ways of luring the ‘model’ Brother Lawrence to perdition, in direct contravention to what his vocation and dress symbolize. He abhors Lawrence and rages against him for reasons that seem trivial, which is where the poem has its most ironic yet exhilarating stanzas. He would like to send Lawrence ‘off to hell, a Manichee’¹. He also portrays Lawrence as a pagan who is worse than an Arian² and would stoop to any level to indulge Belial³ - three not so flattering comparisons- that too in an Abbey, the last place a monk would consider communing with the Devil! Few methods of expression are as powerful as the language of rage. This soliloquy is mainly an extended fit of rage brought on by his deeply rooted hatred of his alter ego, Brother Lawrence, giving an important clue to his seething mental state. To heighten the sarcasm, Browning makes ample use of punctuation marks rarely seen in poetry of that era. Exclamation and question marks are used aplenty, from the first octet onwards. His sardonic references to Lawrence’s flowers are another indication of his bent of mind. Patterson, Rage in ‘Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister’, University of Florida, 2000. He mixes the antithesis artfully, coming across as erudite enough to know where each of the twenty-nine damnations are in Galatians, besides being conversant with French and Latin, which is out of place with a bestial nature. It could be his way of saying that his education has made him superior. It is in this belief of superiority that the ultimate irony of the work lies. The narrator, despite his disapproval of Lawrences frivolity is lower than Lawrence in spirituality. http://www.victorianweb.org. However, there is a dispute here, in that it may have been Browning’s idea to refer to another passage in the Bible, Deuteronomy (xxviii, 15-45). victorian.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp. Hatred has devoured the speaker. Every line of the poem reveals this fact, but it is crystallized by his mutilated praise of the Virgin Mary. Instead of the proper, ‘Ave, Maria, gratia plena,’ the speaker delivers a twisted form of the phrase, ‘Plena gratiâ // Ave, Virgo!’. http:// www.victorianweb.org. His singular hatred, so well expressed in a bout of rage, proves that he is not holy now, if he ever was. In Westminster Abbey is a much shorter and highly entertaining poem by John Betjeman, written during World War II. Here, Betjeman treats the theme of religion as a disrespectful ideology which is not worth believing or mentioning. This is quixotic, because Betjeman was committed not just to Christianity but to the Church of England. A devout Anglican, his poems celebrate the social and cultural significance of the Church of England. They also demonstrate the social and spiritual failure of the Church, particularly the snobbery and hypocrisy of its clergy and parishioners. Betjeman could be a brilliant ironist, but he could also be sentimental about the values of the Church. http://www.bookrags.com Rattigan, in Essential volume of Englands greatest 20th century poet, May 9, 2002 , believes that there is a down-to-earth quality to Betjemans poem. He is realistic about faith, life and human beings. His most amusing verses poke fun at characters giving the impression that it might easily be reflections of himself; his ability to laugh at himself certainly adds an air of ease and approachability to his work. Nevertheless, he is also able to deal with thorny subjects without trivializing the difficult questions they provoke, even if he often does so with a rather wicked sense of humor. Collected Poems: John, Sir Betjeman: Books, Amazon.com. The poem is structured like a hymn. From the very outset, it can be seen that Betjeman intends to change the hymn to a parody, selecting a well bred woman from the higher class of society as his instrument. He puts veritable sacrilege in her mouth when she says, “God, wait for me to take off my gloves.” She indirectly suggests that the world is overpopulated, but by others not from her ilk. Her condescending attitude is silkily phrased, ‘Here, where Englands statesmen lie,’ implying that the hoi polloi did not belong in Westminster Abbey. The first twist comes here, as she prays that their enemy, the Germans, be bombed but their womenfolk be spared. Almost immediately thereafter, she reverts to her patronizing and selfish best, asking the Lord to keep the bombs away from her and her upscale residence in Cadogan Square. Betjeman plays this self contradictory game throughout, in which manner he keeps the discerning reader amused. He gives the lady credit for asking that blacks from diverse countries fighting for Britain’s cause be spared an untimely end, but to negate that sentiment, she puts down the blacks when she wants that whites be protected, with an injection of racial bias. The bigoted and patronizing lady is soon at it again, in lines 19-21: Think of what our Nation stands for// Books from Boots and country lanes// Free speech, free passes, class distinction. Then she informs the Lord that she has committed the odd indiscretion or two, which she will atone for by coming to Evening Service when she has the time. She asks that her wealth remain untouched, so that she can contribute her tithe. This may have been intentionally included to show that the rich were not only the ones who favored most from the church, but also the most selfish. http:// www.bookrags.com. The ending is no different-she promises boundless service to the Lord after death and suggests that during her current visit to the Abbey, she gave the Lord a chance to speak! But she points out that she is behind schedule for a luncheon date and leaves without even excusing herself, treating God like an underling. Small wonder that Betjeman was never a popular poet. The two poems analyzed above are both different yet similar. Both are exposes of peoples hypocrisy and attitude to religion, even though a century apart. In both, the main character lacks true faith in the Almighty and this is put across in individualistic ways, in keeping with the tone of the poem. Both are set in Abbeys, though of different kinds. Betjemans verse is traditional. http:// www goliath.ecnext.com. Instead of innovating with meter and form, he has cast his poem in molds successfully employed by Victorian poets and hymnodists, whereas Browning stays with a meter in octets. Both use poetry and sarcasm to chastise society for its cultural, spiritual and aesthetic failures. Both are ironical, while also poking fun at themselves. But the difference lies in the fact that the world at large is willing to accept the religious poems of nineteenth-century poets and writers, not of the present generation, even if he had been a poet laureate till death. Footnotes 1. Manichee. Manichee, line 56: archaic for Manichean, a follower of a religion or philosophy that believes God and Satan have equal power. The Zoroastrians, an ancient Persian faith, are the best-known Manichean denomination; St. Augustine followed Manichineanism before converting to Christianity. 2. Arian. Arian, line 39, was a follower of Arius, a heretic who denied the doctrine of the Trinity. 3. Belial: Belial, line 60, is another name for Satan in the Old Testament of the Bible, used here to represent wickedness. References Cited Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister, by Robert Browning as extracted from http://www.sparknotes.com. Rage in ‘Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister’, University of Florida, 2000, Thomas Patterson. Robert Brownings "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister" — Commentary and Notes; Philip V. Allingham, PhD, Contributing Editor, The Victorian Web; Associate Professor, Lakehead University, Canada, available at http://www.victorianweb.org. victorian.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp. Galatians and Deuteronomy (xxviii, 15-45). The Holy Bible. Collected Poems: John, Sir Betjeman: Books, Amazon.com. In Westminster Abbey http://www.bookrags.com Essential volume of Englands greatest 20th century poet, May 9, 2002 on www.DavidLRattigan.com., extracted from amazon.com. http:// www.goliath.ecnext.com Read More