Robert Browning’s Andrea del Sarto Essay -- Andrea del Sarto

Robert Brownings Andrea del SartoLucrezia del Sarto (To My Dear Husband) My dear husband, put away your plate of breadOr, pray you, roll it to the dogs the sun Has precisely an hour to make its mid-way trek,And here sit you etching pewter with crust, And smearing cheese and jam with lazy thumbs.Ah, yes Kiss me so. Then kiss me better To discommode my lips. Your artlessness isWhat makes me smile so, dear, and not your kiss.No, I will speak. And should you be so kind As to listen, youll find me on the face of it spoken.Long last night, in my bed, I turned and turnedAs much as Id suffered your words while theyTumbled from your lips, I suffered them once More, and more fresh, fettered fast inside my headLove, the night wore on, black, blank, and at last Thinned. But how you wear me Tell me you shallKeep your promise to each one of the threeTo myself, to my cousin, and to theeI will manifest you how I mean Do lifes work,Honor your wife, your word, and yourselfIf it pleases you. But b e first a manNoa husband higher up all else. Tell me,Tis possibly better to honor yourself?My dear husband, I have much in replyTo offer your last eves soliloquySo perhaps it shall suit you to gaze lessDumbly at my brow and more at my mouthWhilst I so plainly speak. Your talents doNot waste themselves on me. Do not doubt it.I am more certain of your skill than youMay think. And so I am less humored by The fickle errantry of a mind which onceWas sharp and sweet. My pride in you has waned.Pick, pick, pick, but never paint Well enough, You pronounce we are all only but in Gods Hands Tis not God who binds you down, nor IYour works have touched heaven, but you are lowGod, you think, assign... ...ehind a play of words or a psychological puzzle, tempting his reader to dig for it there, later. I have come to notify the rich expressiveness inherent in the dramatic mono-logue format. Without actually stating or describing very much, the poet is able to depict a scene and its props , animate characters, and imply action, emotion, and rhthym for the audience. I spy that each time I implied action on the part of either Lucrezia or Andrea, (put away your plate . . . But even now you twist me . . .), I was, at the same time, implying actionand its accompanying emotionon the part of the second character, as well. The poem becomes a dancea dense, interlacing web of subtleties and surprises. This poetic form is a pleasure to read and a pleasure to mimic. It carries an intimacy which embraces the poet, the characters, and the reader all at once.