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Quest for Eros

Browning and 'Fifine'

By: Samuel B. Southwell

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Quest for Eros

Browning and 'Fifine'

By: Samuel B. Southwell

Students of Browning have long been puzzled by the discrepancies between the dramatic framework of Fifine and its symbolic development, but these difficulties are resolved in Southwell's explication by a biographical hypothesis. The powerful influence of the memory of his beloved wife, Elizabeth, involved Browning in a deep ambivalence, and Fifine at the Fair represents his effort to escape the effects of the profound inhibitions associated with her memory, while at the same time remaining loyal to it. The poem is itself a flawed quest for Eros. Browning's symbolic vision of sexuality as the central vitalizing force in human culture—a supreme achievement of the poem—is followed by a renunciation of the quest, but the validity of the vision is explicitly affirmed and its promise recognized. In Fifine at the Fair Browning's artistic powers are splendidly in evidence. Southwell's fresh examination of the tensions within the poem offers new understanding of its power.

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Page Count

332

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813195020

ISBN 13

9780813195025

Quest for Eros

Browning and 'Fifine'

By: Samuel B. Southwell

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Quest for Eros

Browning and 'Fifine'

By: Samuel B. Southwell

Students of Browning have long been puzzled by the discrepancies between the dramatic framework of Fifine and its symbolic development, but these difficulties are resolved in Southwell's explication by a biographical hypothesis. The powerful influence of the memory of his beloved wife, Elizabeth, involved Browning in a deep ambivalence, and Fifine at the Fair represents his effort to escape the effects of the profound inhibitions associated with her memory, while at the same time remaining loyal to it. The poem is itself a flawed quest for Eros. Browning's symbolic vision of sexuality as the central vitalizing force in human culture—a supreme achievement of the poem—is followed by a renunciation of the quest, but the validity of the vision is explicitly affirmed and its promise recognized. In Fifine at the Fair Browning's artistic powers are splendidly in evidence. Southwell's fresh examination of the tensions within the poem offers new understanding of its power.

Average ratings

N/A

5

0%

4

0%

3

0%

2

0%

1

0%

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Age

Page Count

287

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813164559

ISBN 13

9780813164557