LOOKING FORWARD

 

LOOKING   FORWARD

Looking forward is the theme of a poem written by the English poet Robert Browning (1812-1889).  The title of the poem is Prospice. It  is a dramatic monologue and was written in 1861 soon after the death of his wife Elizabeth Barrett Browning. The poem not only pays tribute to the dear memory of his wife but also shows his optimistic faith in the immortality of the soul.

            According to literary historian William J. Long of all the poets in English literature , no other was so completely, so consciously , so magnificently a teacher of men.  He felt his mission of faith and courage in a world of doubt and timidity.

            ‘Prospice’ is a poem of fearless self-assertion. It teaches the readers to be bold and heroic, and  not to be afraid of death. They should confront it courageously like fighters  because they will be winners and will be reunited with those whom they loved, who were their souls of souls but are now cut off from  them.    

            The poem runs as follows:

                        PROSPICE

Fear death ? --- to feel the fog in my throat,

The mist in my face,

When the snows begin, and the blasts denote

I am nearing the place,

The power of the night, the press of  the storm,

The post of the foe ;

Where he stands,  the Arch Fear in a visible form,

Yet the strong man must go :

For the journey is done and the summit attained

And the barriers fall,

Though a battle’s to fight ere the guerdon be gained,

The reward of it all.

I was ever  a fighter, so --- one fight more,

The best and the last!

I would hate that death bandaged my eyes, and forebore,

And bade me creep past.

No ! let me taste the whole of it, far e like my peer,

The heroes of old,

Bear the brunt, in  a minute pay glad life’s arrears,

Of pain , darkness and cold.

For sudden  the worst turn  the best  to the brave,

The black minute’s at  end,

And the elements’ rage, the fiend voices that  rave,

Shall dwindle, shall blend,

Shall change, shall become first  peace out of pain,

Then a light, then thy breast,

O though soul of my soul ! I shall clasp the again,

And with God be the rest !

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12^th March 2021                                                                     G.R.Kanwal