Prologue to Asolando
"The Poet's age is sad: for why?In youth, the natural world could showNo common object but his eyeAt once involved with alien glow--His own soul's iris-bow.
"And now a flower is just a flower;Man, bird, beast are but beast, bird, manSimply themselves, uncinct by dowerOf dyes which, when life's day began,Round each in glory ran."
Friend, did you need an optic glass,Which were your choice? A lens to drapeIn ruby, emerald, chrysopras,Each object--or reveal its shapeClear outlined, past escape,
The naked very thing?--so clearThat, when you had the chance to gaze,You found its inmost self appearThrough outer seeming--truth ablaze,Not falsehood's fancy-haze?
How many a year, my Asolo,Since--one step just from sea to land--I found you, loved yet feared you so--For natural objects seemed to standPalpably fire-clothed! No--
No mastery of mine o'er these!Terror with beauty, like the BushBurning but unconsumed. Bend knees,Drop eyes to earthward! Language? Tush!Silence 'tis awe decrees.
And now? The lambent flame is--where?Lost from the naked world; earth, sky,Hill, vale, tree, flower--Italia's rareO'errunning beauty crowds the eye--But flame? The Bush is bare.
Hill, vale, tree, flower--they stand distinct,Nature to know and name. What then?A Voice spoke thence which straight unlinkedFancy from fact; see, all's in ken:Has once my eyelid winked?
No, for the purged ear apprehendsEarth's import, not the eye late dazed.The Voice said, "Call my works thy friends!At Nature dost thou shrink amazed?God is it who transcends."
Words in this poem
- drape v. t.
- To cover or adorn with drapery or folds of cloth, or as with drapery; as, to drape a bust, a building, etc. [F. draper, fr. drap cloth. See 3d Drab.]
- inmost a.
- Deepest within; farthest from the surface or external part; innermost. [OE. innemest, AS. innemest, a double superlative form fr. inne within, fr. in in. The modern form is due to confusion with most. See In, and cf. Aftermost, Fore]
- ablaze adv.
- On fire; in a blaze, gleaming. Milman. [Pref. a- + blaze.]
- earthward adv.
- Toward the earth; -- opposed to heavenward or skyward.
- tush interj.
- An exclamation indicating check, rebuke, or contempt; as, tush, tush! do not speak of it.
- lambent a.
- Playing on the surface; touching lightly; gliding over. [L. lambens, -enlis, p. pr. of lambere to lick; akin to lap. See Lap to drink by licking.]
- vale n.
- A tract of low ground, or of land between hills; a valley. [OE. val, F. val, L. vallis; perhaps akin to Gr. Avalanche, Vail to lower, Valley.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Prologue to Asolando is in the public domain. This text is taken from Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning, Project Gutenberg ebook #28041; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Browning, Prologue to Asolando, in Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning (1864), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #28041, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/browning-selections/prologue-to-asolando.html, id L25133.
Form and metre
Prologue to Asolando is 45 lines in 9 stanzas of 5 lines each. The commonest rhyme scheme is ABABA, in 4 of the 9 stanzas; the rest vary or could not be confirmed. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABB whyA · showB · eyeA · glowB · bowB
- 2 -A-AA flower · manA · dower · beganA · ranA
- 3 -A-AA glass · drapeA · chrysopras · shapeA · escapeA
- 4 ABABB clearA · gazeB · appearA · ablazeB · hazeB
- 5 -ABAB asolo · landA · soB · standA · noB
- 6 ABABA theseA · bushB · kneesA · tushB · decreesA
- 7 ABABA whereA · skyB · rareA · eyeB · bareA
- 8 ABABA distinctA · thenB · unlinkedA · kenB · winkedA
- 9 ABABA apprehendsA · dazedB · friendsA · amazedB · transcendsA
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| "The Poet's age is sad: for why? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In youth, the natural world could show | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| No common object but his eye | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| At once involved with alien glow-- | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| His own soul's iris-bow. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| "And now a flower is just a flower; | 9 | ···/···/˘ |
| Man, bird, beast are but beast, bird, man | 8 | ········ |
| Simply themselves, uncinct by dower | 8 | /˘˘/···· |
| Of dyes which, when life's day began, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Round each in glory ran." | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Friend, did you need an optic glass, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Which were your choice? A lens to drape | 8 | ········ |
| In ruby, emerald, chrysopras, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Each object--or reveal its shape | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Clear outlined, past escape, | 7 | ·/·˘·˘/ |
| The naked very thing?--so clear | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| That, when you had the chance to gaze, | 8 | ········ |
| You found its inmost self appear | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Through outer seeming--truth ablaze, | 8 | ·/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Not falsehood's fancy-haze? | 6 | ·/·/˘· |
| How many a year, my Asolo, | 8 | ·/······ |
| Since--one step just from sea to land-- | 8 | ········ |
| I found you, loved yet feared you so-- | 8 | ········ |
| For natural objects seemed to stand | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Palpably fire-clothed! No-- | 8 | /˘˘/˘·˘· |
| No mastery of mine o'er these! | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Terror with beauty, like the Bush | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Burning but unconsumed. Bend knees, | 8 | /˘······ |
| Drop eyes to earthward! Language? Tush! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Silence 'tis awe decrees. | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| And now? The lambent flame is--where? | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Lost from the naked world; earth, sky, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Hill, vale, tree, flower--Italia's rare | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| O'errunning beauty crowds the eye-- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| But flame? The Bush is bare. | 6 | ······ |
| Hill, vale, tree, flower--they stand distinct, | 8 | ···/··˘/ |
| Nature to know and name. What then? | 8 | /˘······ |
| A Voice spoke thence which straight unlinked | 8 | ········ |
| Fancy from fact; see, all's in ken: | 8 | /˘······ |
| Has once my eyelid winked? | 7 | ···/··˘ |
| No, for the purged ear apprehends | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Earth's import, not the eye late dazed. | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| The Voice said, "Call my works thy friends! | 8 | ········ |
| At Nature dost thou shrink amazed? | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| God is it who transcends." | 6 | ····˘/ |
On this poem
Notes from the edition 1
Notes by Myra Reynolds, Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning (Project Gutenberg #28041).
- Stanza 3, line 3 Chrysopras. The ruby and the emerald of this passage stand for rich red and green. The chrysopras is also green (an apple green variety of Chalcedony), but the first part of the word is from the Greek [Greek: chrysos], "gold," and that may be the color intended here.
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