Browning's "Pippa Passes": Drama, Poetry, and Monologue

Introduction: 'Pippa Passes' as Dramatic Experiment

Robert Browning's lengthy poem Pippa Passes is in some ways a precursor to his characteristic dramatic monologues. It 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 he would continue in shorter works thereafter. As a play, Pippa Passes consists of a series of rather disjointed dramatic scenes held together largely by being part of the same work. As a poem, it 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. These are elements that would be characteristic of the dramatic monologue style Browning would further develop in later works.

Setting and the Character of Pippa

As a drama, Pippa 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!" — specifically, 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 later use — meaning she does not tell a story or relate to other people but instead rhapsodizes about the beauty of the day and about the possibility of love. With one speaker delivering this introductory monologue, this section is more like any lyrical poem of the time and less like the dramatic situations Browning would later use so effectively.

The Drama of Passing Through: Pippa's Role

Dramatic characters as a rule take action to some degree, but Pippa literally does simply pass through as dramatic events happen around her — events of which she is usually oblivious. She truly believes 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 things right to a degree through the influence she has on other people.

The central dramatic situation in the 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, their situation, and the change of heart they may experience upon hearing Pippa sing could readily serve as fodder for a dramatic monologue in the way Browning would later shape that form.

Conclusion: A Precursor to the Dramatic Monologue

Pippa Passes can be seen as a precursor to the dramatic monologue, at times using some of the conventions that would later infuse that form, and at other times seeming to want to be a stage play. The poem is more successful as a poem made up of separate incidents joined by a common thread. Robert Browning would go on to refine the techniques first explored here — the psychologically revealing speaker, the moment of dramatic crisis, the self-exposure within apparent self-concealment — into the compact and powerful form of the dramatic monologue for which he is best remembered.