Aurora Leigh

This is a poem in many books (chapters to you and me). Interesting but quite hard going. Here I review book 5.

Introduction

This Book continues the narrative of Aurora’s relationship with her cousin Romney but really only as sideshow for the main event which is a disposition of her literary knowledge and an examination of woman’s place in art. This book is a mixture of these 2 themes and it is really difficult to tell which is the main one.

Romney

In the opening pages she complains that she has failed to “hold and move” Romney, whom she has not seen for 18 months. She decides that fame is not enough-she needs a man. Later she attends a ball and eavesdrops a conversation about Romney and Lady Waldemar between 2 men, a student of show more Germany and an older gentleman. Aurora is disappointed to discover that her cousin has moved on from the peasant girl Marian, whom he was to marry, across the class divide, for reasons of social equality driven by religious belief. He has fallen for Lady Waldemar, whose influence Aurora describes as “this vile woman’s way of trailing garments, shall not trip me up”. Lord Howe rescues her from the strangers and engages Aurora in conversational sparring about art. But being pestered by fans of her writing, promises to escort Aurora out. On the way, they meet Lady Waldemar, who boasting of her new relationship with Romney, taunts Aurora awkwardly. Aurora makes her excuses, leaves the ball early to reflect at home. She resolves to send a congratulatory note to Lady Waldemar and leave the country.

Literature

In this book, Browning makes 110 references to places, constructions and characters both living, dead and mythological. She refers to God 12 times and to the devil twice. 3 mentions each go to the Greeks, Proclus, Wolff (“the kissing Judas”), Mark Gage and Graham. St Lucy, Belmore, Bacchus, Pygmalion and Gottingen get 2 mentions. A further 80 get solitary mentions.
Aurora hopes to write poems that will evoke as nature impels. She says that a poem needs to “humanise”, like the view from a hill needs inhabitants. The poet must give nature a “voice with human meanings” in order to get the message across. She feels she must do more because of “this inferior nature”. Women artists, she complains, are not fairly judged-“Honour us with truth, if not with praise”. Her own attempt at a pastoral failed, she said, because it was just a book of surface pictures, pretty to look at but unmoving and functional. She discusses form in poems and plays and concludes that artists should not be bound by rules but “trust the spirit” and not be led by popularity, praise or hire. show less

The story of a woman's Wordsworthian search for her poetic voice. All the while, Browning gives the reader glimpses into 19th century society: gender norms, social concerns, politics, the role of art in society, and the responsibilities of the artist. Browning's language charms even at its less-than pristine moments.

Really enjoyed this, though I didn't get many of the allusions and the flowery language got to be a bit much.

The best part were the sections discoursing on aesthetics. The most boring parts were the conversations and the unreadable parentheses in already-longish bits of dialogue.