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Page 83
137. =galley-slaves= whom =the Turk=, etc.
140. =engine=. Machine.
143. =Tophet=. Hell.
160. =Apollyon=. The Devil.
Note the hero's mood of doubt and despair. At what point in his quest
do we see him? What does he do after meeting the cripple? How does the
landscape seem as he goes on? What _moral_ quality does it seem
to have? See lines 56-75. What new elements are introduced to add to
the horror of the scene? What memories come to him of the failures of
his friends? Was their disgrace in physical or moral failure? How does
he come to find the Tower? Why does Browning represent it as a "dark
tower"? Does his courage fail at the end of his quest? Or does he win
the victory in finding the tower and blowing the challenge?
AN EPISTLE. (PAGE 183.)
The Arabs were among the earliest in the cultivation of mathematical
and medical science. This fact, together with their monotheism, makes
Karshish an appropriate character for the experience of the poem.
1-14. An ancient and oriental idea of the soul and its relation to the
body.
15. =Sage=. Abib, to whom the letter is sent.
17. =snake-stone=. A stone used to cure snake-bites.
19. =charms=. Note here and elsewhere the mixture of science and
superstition.
21-33. The poet has given local color to the journey.
28. =Vespasian= was appointed general-in-chief against the insurgent
Jews in 67 A.D., and began the great siege of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The
date of the poem and the length of time since Lazarus's return to
life may thus be estimated.
37-38. Note the vividness gained by making Karshish keep the
physician's point of view.
44. =falling-sickness ... cure=. Epilepsy. Karshish is already
admitting into his letter the story of Lazarus.
48. Not only spiders, but many other animals or parts of animals were
formerly used as medicines.
64-65. Karshish, still half ashamed of his interest in the marvellous
story he has to tell, first gives this as a pretext, and then, in the
next lines confesses.
171 ff. Belief in magic survived in some degree among the educated
until a century or two ago.
177. =Greek-fire=. A violently inflammable substance, supposed to
have been a compound of naphtha, sulphur, and nitre, which was hurled
against the enemy in battle. As it was first used in 673, in the siege
of Constantinople, Browning is guilty of an unimportant anachronism.
252-255. A good touch, to make the earthquake mean to Karshish an omen
of the gravest event within his ken.
268-269. Karshish, still unconvinced by the story of Lazarus,
naturally regards it as irreverent.
304-311. This comes to Karshish as an afterthought, a corollary to the
idea in the body of the poem.
How is the general style of the verse-letter maintained? What is
Karshish's mission in Judea? How does he show his devotion to his art?
Point out instances of local color. Are they in harmony with the main
current of the poem, or do they detract from the interest in the
story? Why does Karshish work up to his story so diffidently? Why has
the incident taken such hold upon him? What do you conceive to be his
character and worth as a man?
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