Browning's portrayal of love shows that it can be a wireless
telegraphy, that, in the instance of Cristina and her lover, exerted
its force across a crowded room; in _The Statue and the Bust_, it is
equally powerful across a public square in Florence. The glance, or
as Donne expresses it, the "twisted eye-beams," is an important
factor in Browning's poetry--sufficient to unite two souls
throughout all eternity, as it does in _Tristan und Isolde_. Browning
repeats his favorite doctrine of the elective affinities in _Evelyn
Hope_, _Count Gismond_, _In a Gondola_, _Dis Aliter Visum_, _Youth
and Art_, and other poems; and its noblest expression is perhaps in
that wonderful scene in the crowded theatre at Arezzo; whilst the
flippant audience are gazing at a silly musical comedy, the sad eyes
of Pompilia encounter the grave, serious regard of Caponsacchi, and
the two young hearts are united forever.
Another leading idea in Browning's philosophy is _Success in Failure_.
This paradox is indeed a corner-stone in the construction of his
thought.
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