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, hand it to the dogs the sun Has just now an hour to stumble 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(p) To smother 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 plainly spoken.Long work night, in my bed, I turned and turnedAs a good deal 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 tell you how I mean Do looks work,Honor your wife, your word, and yourselfIf it pleases you. But be fi rst a manNoa husbandabove 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 turn 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 say 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 hornswoggle of words or a psychological puzzle, tempting his reader to dig for it there, later. I have come to appreciate the rich expressiveness inherent in the salient mono-logue format. Without actually stating or describing very much, the poet is able to depict a scene and its props, a nimate characters, and imply swear out, emotion, and rhthym for the audience. I discovered that each time I implied challenge on the part of either Lucrezia or Andrea, (put away your plate . . . But even now you entwine 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, complex 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.