Browning's England: A Study in English Influences in Browning. Helen Archibald Clarke

      Finally Mr. Lee in his book looks at the subject in an unbiased and perfectly sane way. He thinks the opening Sonnets are to the Earl of Southampton, known to be Shakespeare's patron, but he warns us that exaggerated devotion was the hall-mark of the Sonnets of the age, and therefore what Shakespeare says of his young patron in these Sonnets need not be taken too literally as expressing the poet's sentiments, though he admits there may be a note of genuine feeling in them. Also he thinks that some of the sonnets reflecting moods of melancholy or a sense of sin may reveal the writer's inner consciousness. Possibly, too, the story of the "dark lady" may have some basis in fact, though he insists, "There is no clue to the lady's identity, and speculation on the topic is useless." Furthermore, he thinks it doubtful whether all the words in these Sonnets are to be taken with the seriousness implied, the affair70 probably belonging only to the annals of gallantry.

      It will be seen from the poem that Browning took the uncompromisingly non-autobiographical view of the Sonnets. In this stand present authoritative opinion would not justify him, but it speaks well for his insight and sympathy that he was not fascinated by the William Herbert theory which, at the time he wrote the poem, was very much in the air.

      In "Shop" is given, in a way, the obverse side of the idea. If it is proved that the dramatic poet does not allow himself to appear in his work, the step toward regarding him as having no individuality aside from his work is an easy one. The allusions in the poem to the mercenariness of the "Shop-Keeper" seem to hit at the criticisms of Shakespeare's thrift, which enabled him to buy a home in his native place and retire there to live some years before the end of his life. In some quarters it has been customary to regard Shakespeare as devoting himself to dramatic literature in order to make money, as if this were a terrible slur on his character. The superiority of such an independent spirit over that of those who constantly sought patrons was quite manifest to Browning's mind or he would not have written this sarcastic bit of71 symbolism, between the lines of which can be read that Browning was on Shakespeare's side.

HOUSE

       Table of Contents

      I

      Shall I sonnet-sing you about myself?

       Do I live in a house you would like to see?

       Is it scant of gear, has it store of pelf?

       "Unlock my heart with a sonnet key?"

      II

      Invite the world, as my betters have done?

       "Take notice: this building remains on view,

       Its suites of reception every one,

       Its private apartment and bedroom too;

      III

      "For a ticket, apply to the Publisher."

       No: thanking the public, I must decline.

       A peep through my window, if folk prefer;

       But, please you, no foot over threshold of mine!

      IV

      I have mixed with a crowd and heard free talk

       In a foreign land where an earthquake chanced:

       And a house stood gaping, nought to balk

       Man's eye wherever he gazed or glanced.

      V

      The whole of the frontage shaven sheer,

       The inside gaped: exposed to day,

       Right and wrong and common and queer,

       Bare, as the palm of your hand, it lay.

      72

      VI

      The owner? Oh, he had been crushed, no doubt!

       "Odd tables and chairs for a man of wealth!

       What a parcel of musty old books about!

       He smoked—no wonder he lost his health!

      VII

      "I doubt if he bathed before he dressed.

       A brasier?—the pagan, he burned perfumes!

       You see it is proved, what the neighbors guessed:

       His wife and himself had separate rooms."

      VIII

      Friends, the goodman of the house at least

       Kept house to himself till an earthquake came:

       'Tis the fall of its frontage permits you feast

       On the inside arrangement you praise or blame.

      IX

      Outside should suffice for evidence:

       And whoso desires to penetrate

       Deeper, must dive by the spirit-sense—

       No optics like yours, at any rate!

      X

      "Hoity toity! A street to explore,

       Your house the exception! 'With this same key Shakespeare unlocked his heart,' once more!" Did Shakespeare? If so, the less Shakespeare he!

SHOP

       Table of Contents

      I

      So, friend, your shop was all your house!

       Its front, astonishing the street,

      73 Invited view from man and mouse

       To what diversity of treat

       Behind its glass—the single sheet!

      II

      What gimcracks, genuine Japanese:

       Gape-jaw and goggle-eye, the frog;

       Dragons, owls, monkeys, beetles, geese;

       Some crush-nosed, human-hearted dog:

       Queer names, too, such a catalogue!

      III

      I thought "And he who owns the wealth

       Which blocks the window's vastitude,

       —Ah, could I peep at him by stealth

       Behind his ware, pass shop, intrude

       On house itself, what scenes were viewed!

      IV

      "If wide and showy thus the shop,

       What must the habitation prove?

       The true house with no name a-top—

       The mansion, distant one remove,

       Once get him off his traffic-groove!

      V

      "Pictures he likes, or books perhaps;

       And as for buying most and best,

       Commend me to these City chaps!

       Or else he's social, takes his rest

       On Sundays, with a Lord for guest.