Pippa Passes Robert Browning's Lengthy

Pippa Passes Robert Browning's lengthy poem "Pippa Passes" is in some ways a precursor to his characteristic dramatic monologues. "Pippa Passes" is a much longer work than those monologues, though it has the same dramatic sense and is in fact labeled "A Drama" by the poet. Indeed, Browning saw the work as a play, though one rarely if ever performed, and it can be seen as an experiment in dramatic form that the poet would continue in shorter works thereafter.

As aplay, "Pippa Passes" consists of a series of rather disjointed dramatic scenes held together largely by being part of the same work. As a poem, "Pippa Passes" involves a number of poetic experiments and different poetic forms, developed to enable the poet to present characters at moments of psychological stress and speaking for themselves rather than simply being observed objectively by the poet, elements that would be characteristic of the dramatic monologue style Browning would further develop in later works.

As a drama, "Pippe Passes" has a setting in which the characters interact and to which they react. That setting is a small Italian mill town. The situation is expressed at the beginning of the opening section, entitled "Day!" Specificlalyk it is New Year's day at Asolo in the Trevisan. The main character is Pippa, the first person introduced in the piece, a girl who works in the silk mills of the town.

She is cheerful and philosophical and speaks directly to the reader in the manner that will become traditional in Browning's dramatic monologues. This first section has the structure and power of those monologues, with the speaker musing on some aspect of life.

The speech in this opening section is more lyrical than the dramatic monologues would be later, and it does not develop the sort of dramatic situation that would mark Browning's later monologues, which often seemed to come out of the center of a lengthier dramatic situation, with the speaker sometimes deliberately dissembling while also revealing the truth.

Here, Pippa greets the day and expresses her attitude toward life and love without the dramatic structure Browning would late ruse, meaning she does not tell a story or relate to other people but instead rhapsodizes about the beauty of the day and about then possibility of love. With one speaker delivering this introductory monologue, this section is more like any lyrical poem of the time and less like a dramatic situation such as Browning would later use so well.

Dramatic characters as a rule take action ikn some degree, but Pippa literally does simply pass through as dramatic events happen around her, events of which she is usually oblivious. She realy believs that all is right with the world, but it is not right with many of the characters she meets. Early in the play, she passes by Sebald and Ottima, murderers who have killed Ottima's husband so they can continue their adulterous affair. However, they are now experiencing great remorse and atone with a double suicide.

In part, they do this in response to Pippa's song. Throughout the work, Pippa expresses herself in such songs, and these songs have an effect on those who hear them. All may not really be right with the world, but Pippa puts them right to a degree by the influence she has on other people.

The central dramatic situation in this poem is that Pippa passes through life and sets things right by her attitude and her songs, though she does not do so through any willful action but only as a result of the effect she has on others.

What many of these other people have to say about themselves and their situation an about the change of hear they may have now that they have heard Pippa sing could be fodder for a dramatic monologue in the way Browning would later shape that form. The poem covers an entire day, New Year's Day, a day of remembrance and renewal, a day of change from one year to the next and from one state of mind to another.

Significantly, then, Pippa's songs serve as a form of forced New Year's resolution for many of these people, making them rethink their lives and make a decision where before they could not. This story contrasts in some ways with that of Sebold and Ottima. The lovers now are Jules and Phene. Jules is the butt of a cruel joke by his fellow art students.

He is inclined to leave Phene and avenge his grievance, but after hearing Pippa's song, he gives up his hatred of the other students and instead accepts his love for Phene. In this case as well, it is Pippa's song that brings about the change and that allows for the fulfillment of love on a different plane. Once more, Pippa brings about this change by her attitude to life and the world and not because she takes any direct action or even recognizes the effect she is having.

This is also the case with the other people she meets in the course of the day. In the evening, she passes Luigi, a man subject to the repressive rule of Austria in northern Italy. Luigi is the champion of liberty who is about to abandon the struggle to remain with his love, Chiara. He is supposed to go on a mission to Austria, and he finally does jut that after hearing Pippa's song.

In the long-term, this leads to his death, though it is now a patriotic death such as he would want. The last.