Johannes Agricola in Meditation: Difference between revisions
Content deleted Content added
No edit summary |
Adilalishah (talk | contribs) added references section |
||
| (16 intermediate revisions by 11 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} |
|||
'''"Johannes Agricola in Meditation"''' (1836) is an early [[dramatic monologue]] by [[Robert Browning]]. The poem was first published in the ''[[Monthly Repository]]''; later, it appeared in ''[[Dramatic Lyrics]]'' (1842) paired with ''[[Porphyria's Lover]]'' under the title "Madhouse Cells. |
'''"Johannes Agricola in Meditation"''' (1836) is an early [[dramatic monologue]] by [[Robert Browning]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Robert Browning's "Johannes Agricola in Meditation" |url=https://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english233/Browning-JAM.htm |access-date=2024-11-04 |website=www.k-state.edu}}</ref> The poem was first published in the ''[[Monthly Repository]]''; later, it appeared in ''[[Dramatic Lyrics]]'' (1842) paired with ''[[Porphyria's Lover]]'' under the title "Madhouse Cells". |
||
[[Johannes Agricola|Agricola's]] "meditations" serve primarily as a critique of [[ |
[[Johannes Agricola|Agricola's]] "meditations" serve primarily as a critique of [[antinomianism]].<ref name=":0" /> The speaker believes in an extreme form of [[predestination]], claiming that, since he is one of the elect, he can commit any sin without forfeiting his afterlife in heaven. |
||
==Text== |
|||
'There's heaven above, and night by night |
|||
I look right through its gorgeous roof; |
|||
No suns and moons though e'er so bright |
|||
Avail to stop me; splendour-proof |
|||
I keep the broods of stars aloof: |
|||
For I intend to get to God, |
|||
For 't is to God I speed so fast, |
|||
For in God's breast, my own abode, |
|||
Those shoals of dazzling glory, passed, |
|||
I lay my spirit down at last. |
|||
I lie where I have always lain, |
|||
God smiles as he has always smiled; |
|||
Ere suns and moons could wax and wane, |
|||
Ere stars were thundergirt, or piled |
|||
The heavens, God thought on me his child; |
|||
Ordained a life for me, arrayed |
|||
Its circumstances every one |
|||
To the minutest; ay, God said |
|||
This head this had should rest upon |
|||
Thus, ere he fashioned star or sun. |
|||
And having thus created me, |
|||
Thus rooted me, he bade me grow, |
|||
Guiltless for ever, like a tree |
|||
That buds and blooms, nor seeks to know |
|||
The law by which it prospers so: |
|||
But sure that thought and word and deed |
|||
All go to swell his love for me, |
|||
Me, made because that love had need |
|||
Of something irreversibly |
|||
Pledged soley its content to be. |
|||
Yes, yes, a tree which much ascend, |
|||
No poison-gourd foredoomed to stoop! |
|||
I have God's warrant, could I blend |
|||
All hideous sins, as in a cup, |
|||
To drink the mingled venoms up; |
|||
Secure my nature will convert |
|||
The draught to blossoming gladness fast: |
|||
While sweet dews turn to the gourd's hurt, |
|||
And bloat, and while they bloat it, blast, |
|||
As from the first its lot was cast. |
|||
For as I lie, smiled on, full-fed |
|||
By unexhausted power to bless, |
|||
I gaze below on hell's fierce bed, |
|||
And those its waves of flame oppress, |
|||
Swarming in ghastly wretchedness; |
|||
Whose life on earth aspired to be |
|||
One altar-smoke, so pure! -- to win |
|||
If not love like God's love for me, |
|||
At least to keep his anger in; |
|||
And all their striving turned to sin. |
|||
Priest, doctor, hermit, monk grown white |
|||
With prayer, the broken-hearted nun, |
|||
The martyr, the wan acolyte, |
|||
The incense-swinging child, -- undone |
|||
Before God fashioned star or sun! |
|||
God, whom I praise; how could I praise, |
|||
If such as I might understand, |
|||
Make out and reckon on his ways, |
|||
And bargain for his love, and stand, |
|||
Paying a price at his right hand?' |
|||
== References == |
|||
<references /> |
|||
==External links== |
==External links== |
||
{{wikisource}} |
|||
*[http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english233/Browning-JAM.htm An essay] discussing the poem's historical antecedents. |
*[http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english233/Browning-JAM.htm An essay] discussing the poem's historical antecedents. |
||
{{Robert Browning}} |
|||
[[Category:Poetry by Robert Browning]] |
[[Category:Poetry by Robert Browning]] |
||
{{poem-stub}} |
|||
Latest revision as of 04:11, 4 November 2024
"Johannes Agricola in Meditation" (1836) is an early dramatic monologue by Robert Browning.[1] The poem was first published in the Monthly Repository; later, it appeared in Dramatic Lyrics (1842) paired with Porphyria's Lover under the title "Madhouse Cells".
Agricola's "meditations" serve primarily as a critique of antinomianism.[1] The speaker believes in an extreme form of predestination, claiming that, since he is one of the elect, he can commit any sin without forfeiting his afterlife in heaven.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Robert Browning's "Johannes Agricola in Meditation"". www.k-state.edu. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
External links
[edit]
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
- An essay discussing the poem's historical antecedents.
