Robert Browning: Poems “prospice”

Prospice

Analysis

The first line offers a question - "FEAR death?" which works not only as an impulse for the speaker, but also as a challenge for the reader. From the beginning, the speaker doesn't make any attempt to hide the darkness which death brings, and some of the images used are quite grotesque.

There is no pretence that death brings nobility to life, rather that the imminence of death is a "battle" and life leads up to "pain, darkness and cold"

Poems for Comparison

Due to the contemplation of death which occurs, this poem can be compared to 'A Bishop Orders His Tomb at St Praxed's Church'.

It can also be compared to 'Soliloquy of a Spanish Cloister' as the speaker undergoes a mental battle against a foe, in this case, death, in Soliloquy, Brother Lawrence

Finally, the poem can also be compared to 'A Toccata of Galuppi's' because there's the idea of Death coming "tacitly" and creeping up on the Venetians, whereas in Prospice, the speaker faces death knowingly and with courage.

Background

Prospice was written by Browning in 1861, shortly after Elizabeth's death. It was published three years later in 1864 in his Dramatis Personae collection.

In Latin, "Prospice" means 'to look forward' or 'to go forward'.

Summary

In the poem, the speaker contemplates death and asks himself what it is like to "FEAR death?"

He starts the poem by describing the oppressive imagery of it in lines such as "to feel the fog in my throat" and "The mist in my face". In spite of all the ills which face him on the way, he insists "the strong man must go on"; he wishes to fight death rather than "creep past" it.

In the second half of the poem, he reveals his true motivation. He wants to reunite with his beloved who has died before him. Browning illustrates